BWW Reviews: PAMELA LEWIS Brings Interpretive Heat To Super Cool Billy Joel Songbook Tribute at the Metropolitan Room

"Yes, cabaret can be cool."

So insists Pamela Lewis (a.k.a. Champagne Pam), the 2013 BroadwayWorld New York Cabaret Award winner for "Best Female Vocalist" (for her show Daddy's Little Girl). Lewis performed her new solo cabaret show, New York State of Mind: The Songs of Billy Joel, in front of a rowdy, revved-up, packed house at the Metropolitan Room on Friday and Saturday, January 16 and 17. The singer with champagne-colored streaks in her long brown hair, Lewis embodies cool. And hot. She's a brassy chick from Long Island who knows who she is and she wants to party with you. In this show, she celebrates her roots, singing the songs of another Long Islander she grew up loving, first for his tuneful pop melodies and later for his words.

It's cool when a woman sings an entire show of songs written by a man, doesn't fear using the "wrong" pronouns, and puts her own spin on them by changing the feel, the tempo, and the arrangements. Pamela Lewis does all that with verve and then some in this show.

Her opening number, "The Entertainer" (from the 1974 album, Streetlife Serenade) had a sexy, muscular arrangement, which immediately established Lewis' vocal strength. She exuded confidence, engaging with the audience in a playful, knowing way, while also signaling her joy for performing. Lewis is an entertainer, as she gestured with her hands in a way that one audience member told me afterward, "Cast a spell." She introduced "Got To Begin Again" (from Joel's 1971 release Cold Spring Harbor by admitting that her New Year's resolution was "to have more fun," and she convincingly assured the audience she was "up for the challenge."

Lewis' song choices derived mostly from Joel's early catalogue, a thoughtful mix of beloved radio hits and lesser-known gems. Her director, the celebrated British cabaret artist Barb Jungr, known as the preeminent interpreter of Bob Dylan songs, helped Lewis reinvent some of the more familiar Joel tunes, and Lewis' marvelous band (including Marcus Parsley on trumpet, an inspired choice as an additional instrument) brought the new interpretations to life. "My Life" (from 1978's 52nd Street) became more of an intimate, folk song (my companion at the show compared it to songs written by the sensitive Irish singer-songwriter David Gray), allowing us to hear the lyrics-the angst-ridden struggle for independence-in a new light.

Lewis' voice is robust yet sinewy, a versatile instrument that easily travels between styles. Between songs, she was funny and responsive, eliciting huge laughs when poking fun at her Long Island accent, then inducing everyone to finger-snap at the beginning of the seductive song "Stiletto" (also from 52nd Street). Lewis followed with a sincere ballad version of "A Matter of Trust," showcasing the personal meaning of the lyrics. As she remarked in a pre-show interview with her hometown Island Park newspaper, "If you don't have trust, you don't have anything.'"

A key member of Lewis' four-piece band happens to be her husband and long-time collaborator John Hurley, who plays guitar and supplies backing vocals. Pamela's slinky, smoky version of "You May be Right" (from Glass Houses, 1980) allowed the couple to interact playfully onstage. Parsley's husky trumpet added intensity to the sensual arrangement and Lewis surfed the melody beautifully. Rounding out the band was the ever-creative Ritt Henn on bass, and Musical Director Bill Heller, on what Lewis called, "The big black beast with 88 teeth." Instrumental solos during an exotic version of "Zanzibar" showed off the each band member's talents, and then a simplified voice and acoustic guitar rendition of "Just the Way You Are" was at once tender and subtly steamy.

Lewis mostly kept her between-song patter short and uncomplicated--one-liners alternating between funny or moving. For years, the singer has fronted the Long Island-based wedding band Code Bleu, and she used her accumulated experiences at receptions to set up her finale, "The Is The Time" (from The Bridge, 1986). It's a song she likes to sing to newly married couples as a way to remind them to slow down and to soak in the moments, because life would certainly speed up and take off again before they knew it. Lewis' context lent the song unexpected gravitas and sentiment. For me, it proved to be the most moving song of the night.

Lewis' encore, the oft-sung "New York State of Mind," was transformed into an anthem, and she used her potent instrument to deliver the goods. Everyone in the house-especially her Long Island peeps-was roused. They knew and applauded the hometown references, especially when she changed the lyrics of New York newspapers into the names of the local baseball and football teams. It was an electric way to end a very cool cabaret show.

Pamela Lewis will return to the Metropolitan Room with New York State of Mind: The Songs of Billy Joel on March 7, May 8, August 21, and November 20. This show is a zestful romp through the early catalogue of one of New York's most prolific songwriting native sons. Who knows, perhaps Lewis has a sequel up her sleeve. There certainly is more great material to mine.

[Full discloser alert: BWW Cabaret Editor/Columnist Stephen Hanks is Lewis' publicist for this show.]

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