Review: Richard Holbrook Sings Richard Rodgers With A Lot Of Heart and Mixed Results at Metropolitan Room

Richard Rodgers (1902-1979) wrote more than 900 songs, and composed for 43 Broadway musicals, numerous films, and television. Musician/historian Alec Wilder conjectured that every hour of every day a radio station is somewhere playing one of Rodger's melodies. I suspect if you add live performance and theatrical revivals, frequency is much greater. He was the first recipient of Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony Awards and later won a Pulitzer Prize.

The artist's most successful, best known collaborations were with Lorenz Hart and Oscar Hammerstein II. All three met at Columbia University. Both lyricists worked with him until their respective passing. These partnerships produced some of our most iconic musical theater and resonant American Songbook contributions.

Veteran cabaret performer Richard Holbrook peppers his show, Sings Richard Rodgers With a Lot of Hart (at the Metropolitan Room this past Monday night) with facts about Rodgers' life and career. Though more anecdotes would be welcome, we do hear about differences in his and Larry Hart's characters (though not his and Hammerstein's). We're also privy to an obscure number written with Hart for Jean Harlow as an aspiring actress at a Hollywood party: Oh Lord, if you ain't busy up there/I ask for help with a prayer . . . whose melody later became that of "Blue Moon," the team's first commercial hit. The song is delivered with appealing mellowness.

It's obvious the performer feels strongly about his subject's work. Unfortunately, the same energy, volume, and mood predominate throughout. Arrangements are highly similar. Holbrook's musical self consciousness overrides lyric content. I almost never believe what he's singing. This is particularly true of "Soliloquy" from Carousel (with Oscar Hammerstein II), which requires real acting skill.

There are exceptions. "I Gotta Get Back to New York" and "Johnny One Note" (both with Lorenz Hart) are two examples. The first employs more than his perpetual open palms to express, making it less affected; the second is particularly good for the artist's range, exhibiting a steady, controlled vocal and, again, natural animation. "I Have Dreamed" from The King and I (with Oscar Hammerstein II) arrives with intermittent closed eyes and a real sense of sincerity.

"I Like To Recognize the Tune" (with Lorenz Hart) gives each musician in the accompanying Tom Nelson Trio a brief solo. Nelson, pianist and Musical Director, offers a bit of fast-fingered jazz. Bassist Tom Kirchmer deftly overlaps thrums. Drummer Peter Grant goes tight and swingy. Is it a cat meowing in the attic? Is it static?/Must you bury the tune? You can practically hear the writer's tone of voice.

A flight of "It's Grand Night for Singing" (with Oscar Hammerstein II), "Falling In Love with Love," and "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World" (both with Lorenz Hart) works wonderfully, each song cascading into the next. Other medleys, however, are simply songs in a group with no musical bridging and often little sympathy of meaning. The first song is introduced and attributed, but others follow as if to suggest they are by the same author and/or inhabit the same musical. Too many selections are represented by a single verse making us feel gypped.

Richard Holbrook presents spirit and heart, but inadequate direction.

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