Broadway Blog - Phylicia Rashad & Marilyn Maye (Though Not Together)

Also quite marvelous is her regular accompanying trio of music director Ted Firth on piano, Tom Hubbard on bass and Jim Eklof on drums. There's a heck of a lot of titles covered in this one so much of the show consists of medleys, such as the peppy jazz arrangement combining "My Shining Hour," "Day In Day Out," "Too Marvelous For Words," "You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby," "Jeepers Creepers" and "Something's Gotta Give."

Her delicacy with dynamics floats a saloon standard like "One For My Baby" into sonnet-like poetry, but her money notes are firm and sure, as in the brassy tornado she makes of "Blues In The Night." Firth's solo on the latter is one of the many times throughout the evening he and the vocalist feed on each other's jazz stylings to whip the music into frenzied peaks.

Her "Skylark" lands on the ear like a soft rain, but she can bust out the fun with a combination of "I Wanna Be Around" and "Goody Goody," surrender to the optimistic joy of "Come Rain Or Come Shine" and just get a little silly with "Arthur Murray Taught Me Dancing In A Hurry."

By the time she's wrapping things up with "Anyplace I Hang My Hat Is Home," you'll probably have a few fresh superlatives of your own with which to describe Marilyn Maye. Do me a favor and send some over to me. I'm sure I'll need them for her next engagement.