City Cabaret Library and Reviews
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At Feinstein's at Loews Regency Teaming up with Cheyenne Jackson
at the end of last season was cabaret ka-chink for Michael Feinstein. Since you don't fix what's not broke, the host of Feinstein’s at Loew's Regency opened the club's second decade with Good Friends, co-starring his pal,
Christine Ebersole. Together, they wrapped the club in a
mutual admiration society.
Formed by music and personality,
the show had a smooth arc. A soft
swing got things going with countermelodies fitting in as many songs as
possible before anyone spoke a word.
The first of these tuneful mixings followed Murray Grand's opener,
"Good Good Friends," with the
metaphysical musing of, "Where or When" (Rodgers and Hart) mingling
and the earthiness of Cole Porter's "I've Got You Under My
Skin." All these counterpart
arrangements were by John Oddo and fit smoothly as
silk, though outstanding was their later delivery of the Gershwins'
"Embraceable You" embracing ten more Gershwin tunes. Ebersole
pointed out that Feinstein is a "supreme music archivist," not an
overstatement. Feinstein quipped,
"You're wacky. I like
that." Both points were valid,
supported by the next two songs. Feinstein went back to the '40's with Hoagy Carmichael and Johnny Mercer's "How Little We
know" as sung by Lauren Bacall in To Have and to Hold, part of a nod to
Mercer in his centennial year. He
commented that the studio wanted to dub Bacall's
voice with that of Andy Williams, but at the end, it was the husky Bacall tone that remained in the film. Ebersole looked
at the same era of film, selling an upbeat, "Love Isn't Born It's
Made," (Schwartz and Loesser) with the sharp
street-smarts delivered by Ann Sheridan in Thank Your Lucky Stars. High points came as the songs went
deeper. Feinstein's poignantly unfussy
rendition of "This Moment"
would make composer John Wallowitch
proud. At the piano he forsook the
perky advice in "Put on a Happy Face" (Strouse/Adams)
from Bye Bye,
Birdie for a more contemporary, thoughtful approach. "What Kind of Fool Am I?"
(Anthony Newley/Leslie Bricusse)
went definitely dark in Feinstein's somber and notable rendition. Perhaps the most touching pairing in this
show was Jerry Herman's "Kiss Her Now," sung by Feinstein and a
passionate, "I Don't Want to Know" by Ebersole,
invoking a feel for the fragility of life. After the trip into musically
personal territory, the duo ended strong, with good communication in
"Two For the Road" (Henry Mancini and Leslie Bricusse). They
were both in robust voice, Ebersole showing her
soprano power and dramatic and comedic strengths, and Feinstein again
displaying good range and robust vocalism.
John Oddo's band of vets were supportive
behind these performers who can individually hold their own against six
vibrant musicians. As Christine Ebersole commented early on, they were celebrating the
magic of lyrics. What they also
celebrated, without tricks or frills, was the bubbly spirit of talent and
experience. Elizabeth
Ahlfors September
10, 2009 . |
Send suggestions and comments to
ahlfors@citycabaret.com