Review: Marilyn Maye Wows BY REQUEST at the Metropolitan Room

Outside of an arena, few performers can earn a minutes-long ovation without even opening their mouths. But the inimitable Marilyn Maye is certainly one of those performers.

At the Jan. 12 show for MARILYN BY REQUEST, her annual show at the Metropolitan Room, the applause followed Maye as she made her way onstage. The wait was well worth it, as she opened the show belting "It's Today" (Jerry Herman) from MAME, joyously punctuating her lines with high kicks.

As the show's title suggests, the set list was partially compiled from the crowd's suggestions in the room, including a rendition of "Bye-Bye Country Boy" (Blossom Dearie and Jack Segal). That kind of elasticity requires a great deal of preparation, but Maye---along with a trio consisting of pianist and conductor Billy Stritch, Tom Hubbard on bass, and Eric Halvorson on drums---was more than up to the task.

She kept the show loose, too. After crooning her heart out on "On the Street Where You Live" from MY FAIR LADY, one of the night's best numbers, Maye paused for just a moment. The band didn't miss a beat as she started up again with the same tune, before stopping herself with a laugh and joking, "No, not for one cover charge."

Explaining that she's been performing at the venue for years, Maye said the space feels like her living room. She did a roll call of several audience members who come to see MARILYN BY REQUEST each night of its run, and one woman at my table told me she'd seen Maye perform on and off for the past four decades.

There was even a convivial toast during the always-welcome "Old Friends" (Stephen Sondheim) from MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG. As she repeated the lyrics "Here's to us, who's like us?" she paused for the audience to play their part and chant, "Damn few."

Above all, though, MARILYN BY REQUEST showcased Maye's ability to think on her feet, with her words as much as with the night's song selection. When an audience member got a bit overzealous singing along, she lovingly, but effectively, shut it down, saying, "It's not in your key. Don't worry, I'll tell you when."

Regaling the crowd with her story of performing at an event honoring Dame Angela Lansbury's 90th birthday, she deadpanned, "I said I was glad there someone there older than me." Maye made of point of letting the audience know she'd cleared the joke with the birthday girl first, and there was something beautiful to this accomplished veteran admitting that she was intimidated by Lansbury.

Partway through the night, she ceded the stage to Eric Hoffman, who performed "Another Hundred People" (Stephen Sondheim). As she handed over the mic, Maye asked her guest if he'd just purchased his suit. When Hoffman told her he hadn't, she cracked, "You didn't buy anything new for this appearance?"

She took her maternal role seriously, at one point directing from the back, shouting, "Tell them about your grandfather," before letting Hoffman take the reins.

Maye's perfectionism was present throughout, undeniably a major catalyst for her enduring career. She had the band bring down the tempo on "Step to the Rear" so the audience could better understand the lyrics, and after going up on a lyric during another song, she searched until the words came to her--- without assistance.

That's not a knock, of course. It's likely also part of why, for a performer with such an infectiously cheery stage persona, there's a grounded-ness to her stage persona that lingers as well.

After singing "Guess Who I Saw Today" (Murray Grand)---the most sought-after song at the MARILYN BY REQUEST shows, according to Maye---she said, "I'm always surprised you request it when you know how it turns out."

Of course, after hearing it, the reason is clear. Maye doesn't hold back one iota, imparting the role with a haze of heartbreak that envelops you like a cloud.

Likewise, she brought a real emotional heft to the evening's final number, "Here's to Life" (Artie Butler), as she sang the words, "May all your storms be weathered/ And all that's good get better/Here's to life, here's to love, here's to you."

Instead of getting overly wistful and bordering on schmaltzy, her layered performance was buoyed by a sense of calm and resilience. A closing number has never been more fitting, as Maye, too, only seems to get better.

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