The First Virtual Mabel Mercer Foundation Cabaret Convention Wraps Up with an Hour of Cabaret Classics

By Marilyn Lester*** The First Virtual Mabel Mercer Foundation Cabaret Convention is now over. The final night, a resounding success, produced in association with Birdland Jazz, was live to tape from the club. KT Sullivan hosting a night of “Cabaret Classics,” presented a celebrated group of A-list cabaret artists, which included Karen Akers, Christine Andreas, Eric Comstock, Natalie Douglas, Barbara Fasano, Jeff Harnar, Karen Mason, Steve Ross and Billy Stritch—all regulars at Birdland as well as other premier clubs around the world. In one short hour of performance, it was clear that here is why we love this art form so much, and why so many of us work to ensure that it will thrive.

The evening began on a highly informal note, with hjinx and banter between Sullivan and Birdland stalwart and Cast Party host, Jim Caruso. It was, Sullivan revealed, Caruso who suggested that the final night of the Convention originate from the club. It was a splendid idea, demonstrated the moment former Mabel Mercer Award and 13-time MAC Award winner, that Broadway star of many facets, Karen Mason, took the stage. With her winning personality shining through (as it always does) and authenticity galore, she offered a superb “Just in Time.” Thereafter followed a well-paced succession of cabaret stars who needed no introduction, but got one anyway, with the enthusiastic Sullivan referencing glorious quotes from the most august critics on the planet.

Singing piano-meister and MD go-to favorite, Billy Stritch, was in his usual prime form with a medley of “That Old Feeling/I Thought About You.” Stritch is so at ease at the keyboard he conveys a well-being that’s a guaranteed stress-buster no matter the “difficult times” we’re in. The “tall and slim” (that’s a quote from the NY Times) Karen Akers, who can always be relied on for thoughtful, considered gravitas, said she chose songs that “speak to the moment.” With the well-attuned Alex Rybeck at the piano, she sang “Live Alone and Like It” and “Whistling Away the Dark” with characteristic sensitivity and her ability to tell the story. (A note here: while pianists varied throughout the evening, the bass lines were constant, played by the ever-popular talent at the upright, Steve Doyle.)

The ever-charming, enduring and multi-talented Jeff Harnar performed at the very first Cabaret Convention in 1989 (as did his sometime partner in cabaret, KT Sullivan). With music director favorite, Alex Rybeck again at the piano, Harnar, a Donald Smith Award winner, performed a number he sang at that first Convention—the sophisticated Charles Aznavour song “There Is a Time.” The team of Harnar and Rybeck have been making exquisite music together from the beginning, and that synergy pays off in reliably brilliant presentations. Christine Andreas, who has both Mabel and Donald Smith Awards, and who is always stylishly cosmopolitan, had a decidedly world view in mind, beautifully singing a medley of “What a Wonderful World/If I Ruled the World.” And wouldn’t it be a grand thing if she did rule it! She was accompanied on the piano by her go-to number one MD, her husband, Martin Silvestri,

That very classy and sublime cabaret couple, Barbara Fasano and Eric Comstock, who were enjoying a weekly residency at Birdland pre-pandemic, looked very much at home in their return to the venue. Comstock’s keen wit was wonderfully in place. Their first offering was “I Cannot Hear the City,” while their second, “Count Basie meets Jerry Herman” was a lively, swinging, toe-tapping rendition of “Broadway,” the 1940 jazz standard that was most associated with the Count. It was preceded by a short but fun turn on one of the most American of poets, Walt Whitman, who poetically exclaimed, “give me the streets of Manhattan!” Who else but Comstock-Fasano would think of that! The pair would have been a tough act to follow had not the next performer been the magnificent diva dynamo herself, Natalie Douglas, this time in a contemplative mode. Her medley drew from one of her famed and acclaimed Tribute shows (Dame Shirley Bassey) and the musical Oliver!—“How Can I Tell You I Love You,” an earlier version of “As Long as He Needs Me,” both of which she sang with quiet intensity. As to the former, it was Douglas’ sleuthing that turned up Lionel Bart’s “hidden” tune. Good work, Natalie!

Finally, it was The Crown Prince of Cabaret, the incomparable Steve Ross, who so very fittingly closed out the evening and the Convention. Of him, critic Michael Feingold said, “When Steve Ross sings, New York is New York again.” Truer words were never spoken. Ever dapper and sophisticated in tux, cabaret treasure Ross rolled out an effortless medley of “Once in a Lifetime/Put a Shine on Your Shoes.” Whatever was to come next, though, was interrupted by the surprise appearance of Sullivan to present Ross with the annual Donald Smith Award, sponsored by Mabel Mercer Foundation board members, Adela and Larry Elow. John Fricke noted in his award text that Ross was now most certainly the King of Cabaret and we agree. It was back to music after the presentation, with Ross and Sullivan singing a number from Love, Noël, the show mounted at The Irish Repertory Theatre in 2019, starring both. The song was Coward’s timely “I’ll See You Again.” Charming and touching doesn’t half cover this delightful rendition. With Sullivan exiting the stage, it was up to Ross to play out pianistically with more Coward. A better finale could not possibly have been conjured.

The lesson to be learned from four nights of virtual performance at a very high level of professionalism and presentation is a double-edged sword. On one hand, virtual performance can be made to work wonderfully well. But on the other hand, it’s no substitute for live performance with an audience. This we all know. The future is particularly unknowable as we navigate a dangerous and long-lasting pandemic. We fervently hope there will be no Second Virtual Cabaret Convention and that once again we’ll be populating Rose Hall for the real thing. As we wait for that time to come again, hats are off and applause is nonstop for the great achievement created by KT Sullivan and all hands at the Mabel Mercer Foundation.