By Marilyn Lester****Shifting focus from a broad panorama to a narrower lens celebrating three icons of cabaret, the second night of the 29th Annual Mabel Mercer Foundation Cabaret Convention saw a dozen A-list stars—many of them drawn from the Broadway ranks—perform songs most associated with the three divas being honored. The show, entitled The Night and the Music: Celebrating Rosemary Clooney, Barbara Cook and Julie Wilson, was written and hosted by Deborah Grace Winer, whose exhaustive narrative provided context.
The evening’s three-piece band was stellar, playing with superb versatility through several genres of music for a diverse range of performers. Music director/pianist John Oddo was Rosemary Clooney’s Music Director for twenty years, working often with composer/singer/bass player, Jay Leonhart. Leonhart presented a taste of his singing, demonstrating how he’d stand in for Clooney during sound checks (she didn’t like them) with a spirited “Hey There.” Rounding out the combo was the third musical wizard, drummer Ray Marchica.
In a concert chock full of top-tier talent—Karrin Allyson, Darius de Haas, Natalie Douglas, La Tanya Hall, Nicolas King, Marilyn Maye, Kenita Miller, James Naughton, Linda Purl, Laura Shoop, Billy Stritch and Karen Ziemba—where excellence reigns, it’s difficult to single out performances of note. Yet, noteworthy were the jazz influences of Allyson with a trenchant interpretation of the standard, “Body and Soul,” Hall’s emotive, straight-ahead “When Sunny Gets Blue” and Miller’s rousing “God Bless the Child.” It’s always a treat when the great Duke Ellington is represented among the stars of the songbook. Darius de Haas offered “Sophisticated Lady” interpreting the lyric from several subtle and meaningful angles. James Naughton delivered that uptempo blues, “I Ain’t Got Nothin’ but the Blues” in excellent voice, with plenty of swing.
Laura Shoop, an operatic soprano whose voice is reminiscent of Barbara Cook’s, did the honoree diva proud with “Ice Cream.” Linda Purl gave a lovely rendition of the wistful “My Ship” with strong, rich voicing, while a very appealing Karen Ziemba offered the 1934 novelty song “My Dog Loves Your Dog” with sweet, comic flair. With a delightful twist (ironically singing with piano only) Natalie Douglas applied the full range of her masterful voice to “It’s Better with a Band.” The usually swinging Nicolas King revealed another side of his prodigious talent with two ballads, the beautifully interpreted “I Fall in love Too Easily” with “Blame It on My Youth.”
Then there were the closers: Marilyn Maye and Billy Stritch. With pianist Tedd Firth, Maye brought the house down with an Act One tour de force of “I’m Still Here,” claiming the right to fully own the song. She is truly a talent that Duke Ellington would refer to as “beyond category.” As the penultimate singer of Act Two, she presented a signature medley—“As Time Goes By”/”Secret ‘O’ Life”/”Here’s to Life”—delivered with unsurpassable authenticity. Maye is an impossibly tough act to follow. Few performers are up to it, but Billy Stritch is one who can. He closed the show with two delightful numbers, the first, “Haven’t Got a Worry to My Name” at the piano, and the second, “Will You Still Be Mine,” at the mic and with John Oddo at the keys.
As to format: here is a full disclosure. This writer firmly believes that shows about singing should be about singing, featuring the vocalists and their songs as the number one priority. Perhaps writers should be barred from being presenters—they often tend to get carried away in favor of their own words. Worse yet is when writers allow their own personalities to upstage the focus of the show they’re supposed to serve. Retraining the spotliight on themselves doesn’t serve any aspect of performance.
After a robust career as producer of 92Y’s Lyrics and Lyricists series, Deborah Grace Winer has been replicating that format in her post “Y” endeavors. As a writer, historian and producer she scores high marks—not so much as an emcee. The proof of the pudding was the cold opening of Act Two by La Tanya Hall, moving right to Nicolas King before Winer appeared. This choice was a palpable demonstration that less is more where narrative is concerned. A final thought on an otherwise superb evening of talent: self promotion is not the place for an event where every arrow points to its producing and sponsoring group, the Mabel Mercer Foundation, especially when the event is the organization’s highlight of the year.
All photos by Natasha Castillo
Leave a Reply