Review: Consummate Entertainer Sidney Myer Delights in His Return to the Laurie Beechman Theatre

Twelve years after his last full show and a full 36 since he performed at the venerable Laurie Beechman Theatre, entertainer (and Don't Tell Mama booker) Sidney Myer commanded the stage as if he'd been there yesterday. I attended the second of three sold-out presentations marked as fundraisers for The Mabel Mercer Foundation, likely the only organization for which Sidney would take on such a project. The concerts are a "thank you" to the art's standard bearer and its creator Donald Smith, who gave Sidney wide exposure and exceptional latitude at every Cabaret Convention from the third on, a tradition maintained today.

When Steve Ross brought the idea of videotaping Sidney to the foundation's Artistic Director, KT Sullivan, she readily agreed on the importance of his been seen and not merely heard. All these years of exceptional delight in tiny teases should, they felt, be lengthened and packaged in a way to take home and fully enjoy. Thus, the shows will be edited into a DVD available to purchase for communal pleasure in support of cabaret. I, for one, can't wait.

I'm honored, I'm flattered/This greeting really mattered/This welcome is grand but I'm really concerned...You're playing with fire and you're apt to get burned... "I'm a Bad Bad Man." Shoulders squared, chest out, fists at his sides, Sidney begins with one of his signature numbers warning us of a lothario agenda. The song was, in fact, that with which he opened his 1980 show. Sidney calls it a tribute to the late, great Roy Rogers--- not, he assures us the fast food franchise.

Another of the numbers most of us identify with Sidney, "Man Around the House," is prefaced by the observation that in a few short years, things have happily changed and these lyrics are now far from daring. Against a light, percussive, brush beat and strolling piano (accompanied throughout the evening by music director Tracy Stark on piano, Skip Ward on bass, and Rex Benincasa on drums), Sidney reminds us, It's just a constant game of cat and mouse... meow! When he gets to the line about being helped with one's zippers, he visibly shivers with delight and emits a flirty giggle.

Next comes his sincere, understated version of "Pocket Full of Miracles," a happy-to-be-alive message. He's up and down on his heels, stepping slightly and swaying. My favorite miracle of all is you--- love... me, he sings arms out, palms up, eyebrows in a point. Every lyric is savored.

"A very wise man once said, the real mystery of the world is the visible, not the invisible."

In "Phi Beta Zappa" a Harvard preppie falls hard for a cyberpunk queen... Her name was Cherie/She looked like ET... Of course, the ivy-leaguer turns in his chinos for... A boa constrictor artfully placed... (Eyes lower.) Where does Sidney find these songs?! Timing is a master class in wry innuendo.

Utilizing rhymes like push-up and tush up to a straw-hat-and-cane music hall tempo, "I'm In Training (For You)" rationalizes philandering as practice. Drumsticks seem to tap dance. In the same rambunctious style, "G-Man": Gee, but I'd like to be a G-Man...Bang! Bang! Bang!... is sung part by exultant little boy, part by lascivious, ersatz-macho man virtually salivating at the prospect of a strip search. Sidney blows on and then pockets his lethal finger.

In "No Ring," poor little Daisy McGee still waits at the church having successively fallen in love with, among others, a hosiery drummer---Just like his stockings he ran---and a beauty products salesman---Just like his cold cream he vanished. Sidney sings without a flicker of a smile making this all the more droll. Pauses are perfection. He makes Daisy as sympathetic as a Lillian Gish heroine.

"Pheromones" are craved like a drug, criteria for attraction above yachts and jewels. Sidney leans forward addressing those who just might have something to offer. A little bounce, a little swing of the microphone wire, a little hip action and three, count'm, three rather neat leaps of anticipation. If I can have your--- his arms arcs left to right as if brandishing a feather boa over his shoulder--- pher-a-mones... Sidney does "come hither" like no one else.

The same artist who makes our cheeks hurt with Cheshire Cat grins can also be heartbreaking. Tonight there are two fine-grained, quietly intense numbers, "World in Your Eyes" and "Dance With Me Slow." The first sounds very 1920s emerging in deep sighing phrases of melancholy recollection. Sidney's voice quivers.

The second, from a new musical called MIDNIGHT AT THE NEVER GET in which he acted some months ago, is simply gorgeous. Directed over our heads towards "him," it's filled with ardor and yearning. A musically dramatic denouement precedes the song's potent finish as if choking back tears. Standing behind the guise of humorist is one of our finest balladeers.

The evening ends (too soon) with "Bare Necessities" from Disney's animated The Jungle Book: Look for the bare necessities/The simple bare necessities/Forget about your worries and your strife... "This is often construed as a children's song, but I think we adults can learn from it as well," Sidney reminds us. Lilting, light, and sweet, without fuss or bother, he conveys the message with humble charm.

There's nothing provisional about a Sidney Myer performance. He's disarming, funny, preposterous, touching, and utterly unique. Those of you lucky enough to have seen this show will undoubtedly never forget it. To others, I recommend the eventual CD.

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