CABARET LIFE NYC: A Baker's Dozen--Catching Up On Show Reviews From a Long, Long Winter

Cabaret Reviews and Commentary by Stephen Hanks

It's April 1st. Do you know when your Spring is coming? Is it just me or has this seemed like another longggggg New York winter? The good news is that I packed into this cold season a ton of warming cabaret shows. The bad news is that there were so many, even during this seemingly endless winter I didn't have enough time to review them right after the performances. So in what is becoming a seasonal ritual of this column, I offer yet another compilation of "catch-up" cabaret show reviews (in order from the most recent). But here's the rub: With more than a dozen shows coming up during April, I'm already feeling behind again. You might as well start looking for compilation Number 4 when the summer starts.

Bebe Neuwirth, Stories With Piano #4, 54 Below, March 19

As a long-time fan of Bebe Neuwirth's--mainly because of her Fosse dance chops, her performance as Lilith on the legendary TV comedy Cheers, and her killer legs--I was anxious to see her do cabaret at 54 Below. But while Neuwirth may have sung two John Kander & Fred Ebb numbers during her six-show run in mid-March, what she presented (along with her Musical Director/Pianist Scott Cady), was hardly cabaret. Like many current and former Broadway Musical stars being featured at 54 Below, Neuwirth's show was more of a mini-concert in which she recycled many of the songs she has performed in such shows over the past few years. And while I've long been charmed by the unique, haughty timbre of her speaking voice, her singing voice--at least at this point in her life and career--isn't smooth or strong enough for her to fall back on being a "storyteller," especially when even that aspect of her performance could be more intimate, involving, insightful, and introspective.

Looking elegant in a black, sleeveless gown and sophisticatedly sipping water through a straw in a champagne bottle, Neuwirth took on two Kander & Ebb's ("Ring Them Bells" and "But The World Goes Round" were among the stronger turns), a couple of Kurt Weill's (including just an adequate version of "The Bilbao Song"), and a pair of tunes by Tom Waits, including "Invitation to the Blues," which was one of Neuwirth's standout performances of the night. In fact, Bebe might want to consider wrapping her charmingly raspy voice and quirky vibrato around a whole set of Tom Waits songs (but she'd have to get in line because Waits seems to be enjoying a renaissance among cabaret performers lately). While Neuwirth almost salvaged the evening, for me at least, with a lovely version of the classic World War II ballad, "I'll Be Seeing You," I never really felt a connection to this show or the performer. Maybe after the fifth Stories With Piano, I'll feel like saying, "Cheers!"

Barbara Porteus, Up On The Roof, Don't Tell Mama, March 18

On a bitter and snowy Monday night during another relentless March winter, falling into Barbara Porteus' charming new show made me feel like I was hanging out with a bunch of friends on a New York City rooftop on a balmy spring evening. While her 2010 Feinstein's show, I Wish It So, was a bit too mannered for my taste, this effort was Porteus "unplugged" and proved that she could be a relaxed and more intimate performer. (Please click on Page 2 below to continue.)

For a show featuring pop tunes from her 1960s youth mixed with some contemporary hits, Porteus' decision to employ a strings-only band was inspired, and her Musical Director/Lead Guitarist Jack Cavari, John Miller on bass guitar, and guitarist Larry Saltzman, were excellent throughout. She opened with soulful, minimalist versions of Laura Nyro's "Stone Soul Picnic" and "Sweet Blindness," and followed with a jazzy arrangement of Joni Mitchell's "Chelsea Morning" and a languid version of Carol King's "Up On the Roof."

I recently heard Amanda McBroom sing Melody Gardot's love ballad "If The Stars Were Mine," at her Carlyle show and Porteus' rendition of Cavari's bossa nova-style arrangement was even more compelling. After a fun Beatles' medley (including a lovely version of "She's Leaving Home" and revealing that she once had sex to "Happiness Is a Warm Gun," before singing just that one line from the White Album song), Porteus revealed her off-center side, nailing Matchbox Twenty's "Unwell" and Wardell Gray and Annie Ross' "Twisted," on the latter, offering the jazzy vocal while sensually straddling a chair. She didn't even stand at the mic until late in the show for an aggressive version of Joni Mitchell's classic "Help Me." On Adelle's haunting "Someone Like You," Porteus offered the song if she'd actually experienced the heartache in the lyrics, and for her finale, which featured a great guitar arrangement from Cavari, Porteus was passionate and poignant on John Mayer's "Stop This Train." Whether it was traveling on her train or hanging up on her roof, this was one cabaret ride I was sorry to see end.

Barb Jungr, Stockport to Memphis, Joe's Pub, March 13

Barb Jungr is the kind of singer/songwriter/storyteller who you need to experience like you're drinking a fine wine. You open the bottle and let her breathe a bit, then slosh her musical sensibilities around in your mind before taking in the full aroma. Ultimately, you enjoy the sublime taste.

So compared with her opulent Bob Dylan Tribute Show, which clocks in at an hour and a half and has had two fairly long runs in New York over the past couple of years, her recent show at Joe's Pub was more of an elegant one-off that really needed time to breathe. I'm sorry Joe's Pub managers, but you don't bring in a talent like Barb Jungr all the way from England and give her just a conventional one-hour cabaret show. (This was her fourth in five nights that took her to Indianapolis, Toronto and then to the Apple, all with the excellent Tracy Stark on piano.) Not that Stockport to Memphis, which featured most of the songs on Jungr's latest highly-praised CD, wasn't a fine set. The show just had a rushed feel to it that didn't allow Jungr to take full advantage of her qualities as a charming raconteur or do more than 13 of the 16 songs in her set list.

The ultimate pro, Barb did the best she could with the time she had and this was a show where Jungr could exhibit her Rhythm & Blues influences and songwriting chops. Jungr is a terrific interpreter of American pop/rock songs and she displayed that again at Joe's, diving into an uptempo version of Leonard Cohen's "Everybody Knows," a deep, introspective take on Neil Young's "Old Man," a power arrangement of Joni Mitchell's "River," a haunting turn on Dylan's "Lay Lady Lay," going deep into her soul on Tom Waits' "Way Down In the Hole," and turning Sam Cooke's classic "Change Is Gonna Come" into a gospel/blues ballad, during which she launched into one of the show's many extended and mesmerizing harmonica riffs. The only cover that didn't work was the Zombies' "He's Not There," which needs a full band to do it justice.

The real revelation in this particular show (and on the CD), however, was discovering Jungr's affinity for writing compelling pop songs with a personal edge. The CD's title track (co-written with Simon Wallace) and "Till My Broken Heart Begins To Mend" (co-written with Michael Parker) are pure late '60s-early '70s American rock-a-blues, while "New Life" and "Sunset To Break Your Heart" ("A song you sing after you get divorced after a weekend on the Isle of Skye [Scotland]," quipped Barb before the song) are strong mid-tempo pop songs where Jungr sounds eerily like a young Helen Reddy.

Here's to hoping Barb brings this show back to New York for a longer run--and that whichever room books it will end no show before its time.

Maria Guida Swings Standards, Metropolitan Room, March 9

I immediately had a queasy feeling about this show when I saw a two-person crew with elaborate filming and recording equipment camped out in the far back booth of the Metropolitan Room. My instinctive "self-indulgent singer" alert was further activated when I was handed a set list with a notation informing that the Met Room "Has approved that there will be no wait service during my 12 minutes of 'talk time.' [Bold face and underlined words from the actual handout.] You see, Maria Guida is a singer and actress with some past Broadway and TV experience and is now also an "executive performance strategist" who, according to her website, "helps corporate executives enhance their credibility and speak with poise, passion, and persuasive power." More on that later.

Guida's nine-song set (hey, you can't get into the double digits when you have a speech to make, right?) was punctuated by pedestrian jazz scatting, a shrill soprano sound, and boring vocal arrangements during a show that had no discernible theme or script other than to showcase the singer. Ironically, her band--James Weidman on piano, Marcus McLauren on bass, and Tony Jefferson on drums--was excellent (in spite of looking like they wanted to be somewhere else) and I could have listened to them do instrumentals all night. Once the band's fine jazzy arrangement helped their singer get through "On the Street Where You Live," the wait service was officially halted and the audience was regaled with a 10-plus minutes shpiel about how Guida finally overcame continual rejection for acting and singing roles through constant rehearsal and hard work (what epiphanies!). She also advised the masses that when they find themselves using "fillers" in speech like "um," "ah," "er," etc., they should stop themselves before the utterances. Fascinating. Of course, during her entire speech Guida was focused directly on the film crew side of the room and the audience members stage right be damned.

Guida mercifully ended her "show" with "I Love Being Here With You." Needless to, um, er, ah, say, I didn't feel the same.

Laurie Krauz, Tapestry Rewoven, Metropolitan Room, February 7

It would be a huge disappointment for any self-respecting Jewish girl from the Bronx not to have a fair amount of chutzpah. Laurie Krauz, it turns out, possesses that quality--in spades. How else can you characterize a singer who takes one of the classic pop albums of all-time--Carole King's 1971, 12-song masterpiece, Tapestry--and attempts to re-interpret each cut as a jazz, soul, or Rhythm & Blues tune? After Krauz first launched the inspiredly-titled Tapestry Rewoven in 2009, the Back Stage Magazine Bistro Committee acknowledge her handiwork with an award (the same year she won the MAC Award as "Best Female Jazz Vocalist" for the third straight time), so her chutzpah obviously paid off. Krauz staged the show again in early February so a new audience (including this reviewer) could hear the intricate musical stitching she produced with Musical Director/Pianist/Arranger Daryl Kojak and what they heard was nothing short of interpretive magic.

Krauz and Kojak went out on the ultimate limb in re-imagining such an iconic album. There really wasn't any margin for error here and even Krauz acknowledged early in the show that she and Kojak would have abandoned the project unless they "produced great arrangements we both really loved."

Mission accomplished. Just like the great Carole King, Krauz and Kojak nailed every song. On a jazzy, languid arrangement of "So Far Away," Michael Blake's saxophone gave the song a wistful quality. Kojak produced an excellent mid-tempo blues arrangement of "I Feel the Earth Move," where the band (and Blake again) was so powerful they almost overwhelmed Krauz's vocals in spots. Krauz was solid on a jazzy version of "It's Too Late," turned "Home Again," into the kind of smoky, deep blues ballad that is sung until the last person has left the bar, and transformed "Beautiful" into a uptempo jazz riff. She even made the overdone and almost cliche "You've Got a Friend" listenable with a cool, bouncy arrangement after a bass and percussion intro.

Kojak produced the kind of jazzy and bluesy arrangements that make the songs very accessible to any generation of pop fans. He and Krauz provided a slow jazz groove to "Way Over Yonder," with Jamie Fox's guitar break giving the song a George Harrison-esque feel, while "Where You Lead" was given a terrific uptempo calypso beat. "Smackwater Jack" straight on fun and the title track was overlaid with an arrangement that made it sound like a shaman chant. "A Natural Woman" (one of my personal all-time faves) featured wonderful bits for all four of the band's instruments (including Gene Lewin on drums) and steadily built in power both instrumentally and vocally. Krauz kept the King sweetness in "Will You Love Me Tomorrow?" while turning it into a jazzy ballad. In answer to the song's question--yes, Laurie Krauz, after this show and it's brilliant song interpretations, I will love you tomorrow . . . and always.

Jim Speake Sings Til the Cows Come Home, Don't Tell Mama, February 23

Alabama native Jim Speake brought a pleasant baritone, a joyful persona, and a Southern Gentleman charm to a show that also told a biographical tale through mostly upbeat numbers. Sings Til the Cows Come Home earned Speake a MAC-Award nomination for "Musical Comedy," but one wonders how a fun guest appearance by veteran cabaret performer and Don't Tell Mama managerial maven Sidney Myer in a cow suit to sing "Ragtime Cowboy Joe" and "Don't Fence Me In" qualified this show in that particular category (ultimately won by Adam Shapiro for his show, Guide to The Perfect Breakup). Hey, I'm just a reviewer, what do I know?

Looking dapper in a black suit and tie, Speake began his "celebration of life" theme with Kander and Ebb's "Life Is" and Mary Chapin Carpenter and Don Schlitz's "I Feel Lucky." The songs were quite fitting and inspirational, as Speake has overcome some serious health issues in the past couple of years. The rest of this lighthearted show was a vocal mixed bag. A mash-up of the Cy Coleman songs, "I'm a Brass Band" with "Come Follow the Band" petered out about halfway through, Lieber and Stoller's "Little Egypt" was fun but formulaic, and later in the set Speake struggled a bit through Peter Allen's "Not the Boy Next Door." But he hit his stride about mid-show with a fine vocal on the mid-tempo ballad "Rules of the Road," before wowing the audience with a medley of famous Broadway 11 O'clock numbers, including snippets of "Rose's Turn," "Memory," "Don't Rain on My Parade," The Impossible Dream," and "I Am What I Am."

While the medley could have benefited from more on-stage movement, Speake gamely pulled it all off. He was also effective on Neil Sedaka and Phil Cody's "Solitare," a very rangy and challenging song for his upper register, but Musical Director Steven Ray Watkins provided an arrangement that worked. Speake closed what was for the most part a delightful performance like he began it, with an optimistic mash-up of the Dale Evans favorite "Happy Trails" with Brown and Henderson's "Life is Just a Bowl of Cheeries." As Roy Rogers once said, "It's the way you ride the trail that counts." YEEHA!

Joshua DesJardins & Joshua Warr, Joshing Around, The Duplex, February 10

This was a duo/musical comedy cabaret show that had "minor disaster" written all over it and apparently it was just that when it first launched in November 2011 at the Laurie Beechman. With an "I Love Lucy" plot--two young cabaret singers booked at the same venue, night and time--all the elements of the show had to fall into place or the result would be unfunny chaos. Joshua DesJardins (left in photo) and Joshua Warr realized their show was a mini-mess and they weren't going to josh around. So they re-cast their creative team, bringing in the highly-respected and experienced Miles Phillips as Director, and the polished pianist/performer Kenneth Gartman, as Musical Director. The result was a successful cabaret show reboot that garnered four 2012 BroadwayWorld.com Award nominations.

When the show conceit is established through the opening numbers, "Two Nobodies in New York" (from Title of Show) and "What Is This Feeling?" (from Wicked), the good-time potential seems a bit sketchy, but Joshing Around is ultimately a clever and frothy dose of fun. Desjardins is the nerd in a Rick Santorum argyle sweater and glasses, while Warr is the pretty boy in the sparkly black sequin jacket and yellow tie. As Joshua Squared, they make an engaging team, although Desjardins character comes across as the more likeable one and his musical numbers are more consistently solid throughout. And if there had been an award for "Best Supporting Performance in a Cabaret Show," Gartman would have won it hands down for his backup vocals, his two lead vocals (William Finn's "Heart and Music" and the countrified "Let It Shine" sung during a costume change), and his straight man set-ups, including being the culprit who told the boys they were booked on the same night because "he wouldn't be paid double."

Musical highlights were aplenty, especially from Desjardins, who was tear-jerkingly heartfelt on Craig Carnelia's "What You'd Call a Dream" and charmingly funny on his proud personal anthem, "Desjardins, I'm a Nerd" (to the tune of "Les Poisson" from The Little Mermaid), during which there were pop culture references up the wazoo. Warr's best solo in the show came toward the end on "What I Did For Love," from A Chorus Line. After expressing mutual loathing at the start, the boys were really playing nice by the end with engaging duets on "Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better" from Annie Get Your Gun (Warr: "I can be a better diva"; Dejardins: "I can be gayer") and "Together, Wherever We Go" from Gypsy. Something tells me these guys will be Joshing Around together in many cabaret shows down the road.

Carly Ozard, Shift Happens, Laurie Beechman Theatre, February 4

Carly Ozard is an accomplished performer from the Left Coast who recently heard the call of the East Coast Cabaret Wild and is now trying to make her mark in the New York scene. Hence, Shift Happens, yet another musical parable-- told mostly through an eclectic mix of pop songs and tunes from Broadway and Off-Broadway musicals--about the trials and tribulations of a big beautiful woman who is struggling to land gigs in musical theater because she doesn't look like Katherine McPhee.

Ozard clearly conveys a confident stage presence and mixes her solid mezzo-soprano with a delightful sense of humor. But her first New York-produced show (directed and co-written by Barry Kleinbort) never soared beyond passably entertaining because her patter was uneven, she strained a bit to be funny, and a few songs were challenges that she didn't always conquer. After opening with a mediocre mash-up of Carole King's "At This Time in My Life" with K.T. Tunstall's "Suddenly I See," Ozard redeemed herself on John Lennon's "Nobody Told Me (There'd Be Days Like These)," featuring nice backup vocals from her Musical Director Steven Ray Watkins. On "All I Need" from Flora The Red Menace, Ozard offered a cute "Rose's Turn" ending, but a medley of the ballads "Home" from Beauty and the Beast and "The Girl I Mean to Be" from The Secret Garden were delivered as if Ozard were auditioning for a role. Again she made a comeback with a lovely rendition of Franz Schubert's "An Die Musik," featured in the quirky and adorable recent film Moonrise Kingdom.

Before launching into the 2008 Alicia Keys hit "Superwoman," Ozard related how since arriving in New York she had met "so many amazing women who have inspired me." Now that epiphany would have made for a really compelling cabaret show.

Ted Stafford and Lorinda Lisitza, The Ted & Lo Show, Don't Tell Mama, January 31

Having already reviewed this dynamic duo quite favorably for Cabaret Scenes Magazine the year before at the Metropolitan Room, I attended the Ted Stafford/Lorinda Lisitza show again this past January as both fan and reviewer, and perhaps to discern any obvious changes in the set or their performances. But I felt the show deserved another write-up, not only because Stafford and Lisitza won this year's MAC Award for "Best Performance By Duo or Group" (over the equally-deserving Mary Liz McNamara and Ritt Henn), but because it was a cabaret show during which I witnessed my very first audience expulsion.

Five songs into what was already shaping up as another enjoyable Ted & Lo Show, the duo launched into their funky and fun take on the Mick Jagger/Keith Richards rocker "Beast of Burden." Sitting in the audience down front stage right were two fairly inebriated women, one with a small dog in tow, who had been whispering with each other and singing along through the first four songs. But on "Burden" they decided to act as Rolling Stones backup singers and Lisitza obviously had heard enough. A few bars into the number, Lorinda stopped singing and calmly but forcefully asked the women to leave. After protesting with a few choice profanities, the ladies made their way to the exit and weren't completely out of the room before an audience member (and I'm not saying who, but he reviews cabaret shows) channeled the Wicked Witch of the West and screeched " . . . and your little dog, too"). Henceforth and forever, being banished from a cabaret room during a show will be known as getting "LISITZAHED!"

As for the show itself, what's not to like? The duo's singing styles and temperaments complement each other exceedingly well--Stafford is reserved and deadpan, with a pop-folky sound, while Lisitza is an extrovert who can belt and is intelligently ditzy--and their chemistry gets stronger with every performance. They exhibit fine potential as songwriters based on Stafford's retro-'70s pop ballad "Drown in Me," and the duo's lovely co-written alt-country ballad "Something to Feel." And just listening to their intense, minimalist interpretation of Bouldeaux Bryant's country classic "Love Hurts" and their luscious harmonies on Lennon and McCartney's "Across the Universe," alone makes the Ted & Lo Show worth seeing and hearing. It will be fascinating to watch where these two take it from here.

Bob Diamond, This Funny World, Don't Tell Mama, January 27

After I saw Bob Diamond's MAC-Award nominated performance (for "Best Male Vocalist") in his show This Funny World, I gave him my review in a couple of sentences right on the receiving line. "Bob, you're my new idol," I told the 76-year-old singer, for whom I wanted to blast a celebratory trombone for every one of those years. "I want to be you when I grow up."

In one of the better directed shows of the year (by Gretchen Reinhagen, who was this year's MAC Award co-winner with Eric Michael Gillett for "Best Direction"), which also featured fine Musical Direction from David Jarvis, Bob Diamond told a charming biographical musical story of a world that is not only funny, but also poignant and wonderfully rich. From his opening medley of "It's Only a Paper Moon" and "How Little We Know" (the Lauren Bacall version from To Have and Have Not by Hoagy Carmichael and Johnny Mercer), Diamond displayed a surprisingly strong baritone and a terrific flair for storytelling.

Whether it was an adorable take on "Abe Dabba Honeymoon," a heartfelt rendition of the ballad "Mira" from Carnival, an emotional tribute to his mother on Stephen Sondheim's "Not a Day Goes By," mounting the piano (pretty spryly for a septuagenarian, I might add) for a swinging version of Sondheim's "Can That Boy Fox-Trot," and one of the better acting performances I've seen on Noel Coward's classic "Mrs. Worthington," Diamond brought a wisdom and sensitivity to bear on them all. Even when he wasn't always pitch perfect, like on the show's title song and Alan and Marilyn Bergman's "Fifty Percent," it didn't really matter because of his sincere execution of the numbers. When after "Fifty Percent" he segued into John Wallowich's epic "Mary's Bar," the song coupling created an introspective tale about being so in love you can accept less than complete devotion back. On his encore, Wallowich's "Tiny World," Diamond gleamed as he crooned, "Count your loves and count your losses . . . I'd never trade this tiny world of mine." We should all be so lucky.

Kathryn Langford, Jazz and Cocktails, Don't Tell Mama, January 27

With candles and roses perched on the end of the piano for her show Jazz and Cocktails, it wasn't surprising that the opening of Kathryn Langford's show would be Billy Strayhorn's "Lush Life." Lush and languid would be the operative words for the soft, smoky alto Langford employed for a set of songs that you might hear in a hotel piano bar during a romantic rendezvous. Musical Director Wells Handley's arrangements suited Langford well, but Director Gerry Geddes could have pushed Langford to exude more on-stage sensuality. And had the singer insisted on a couple more uptempo numbers, the show might have avoided a snooze-inducing sameness by the last third of the set.

There's nothing wrong with a ballad-heavy show if the singer conveys a mix of styles and emotions, but from the jazzy, languid arrangement of "Bye Bye Blackbird," followed by Duke Ellington, Strayhorn, and John Latouche's lush "Day Dream," to Stephen Schwartz's "Snapshots", to the film noir-ish ballad "An Empty Glass" (one of the few songs where she departed from the standing microphone and moved to a stool at the crook of the piano), Langford didn't offer enough of a distinctive interpretation to make any of the numbers really stand out.

Not that the mature, attractive blonde didn't have some lovely moments. Her delivery of Fran Landesman and Roy Kral's "Through the Windows of Cars" made it sound like a Jobim-ish bossa nova, and after reading a Dorothy Parker poem ("I shatter at the thought of men/I'm due to fall in love again"), Langford got completely lost--in a good way--in Parker's "How Am I To Know" (music by Jack King). In spite of these stories of love, sprinkled with tales of romantic woe, Langford ended on an upbeat and uptempo note with Billy Hills' "The Glory of Love." Indeed.

Ann Hampton Callaway, Bridges, Birdland Jazz Club, January 25

There are few things in life that can make you feel warmer on a wet and freezing Friday evening in late January than being enveloped in the warm embrace of Ann Hampton Callaway's sumptuous voice and down-to-earth stage persona. Four months after experiencing her BroadwayWorld and MAC "Show of the Year" Award-winning The Streisand Songbook at 54 Below, I gladly tromped through the muck and mire of a slushy 44th Street to catch Callaway's new show at Birdland, "Bridges," which was appropriately titled since I felt she had provided a connection to a musical sanctuary. Compared to the Big Broadway Musical feel of her Streisand show, this one was more like a quaint Off-Broadway production, but no less entertaining. In fact, given the time of year and the weather, it was an ideal and intimate diversion, providing yet another example of why Callaway has become one of the modern Queens of Cabaret.

The languid mood of the show was set immediately, as before Ann came to the stage her exquisite band--Ted Rosenthal on piano, Martin Wind on bass, and Tim Horner on drums--performed a jazzy medley of songs from West Side Story, including a toe-tapping improv on "The Jets Song." On her uptempo, swinging opening number "Are You Having Any Fun?" ("Yes! exclaimed the Birdland flock) there were more mini-riffs for each band member around Callaway's signature scatting. "2013 is going to be the year of building bridges," Ann announced without making it sound like a political statement, and then delivered an incredibly lush version of Milton Nascimento's "Bridges." She connected the audience to her bridges theme again later with a melancholy and wistful arrangement of Billy Strayhorn's "Chelsea Bridge," during which Callaway's voice seemed to provide the sounds of horn instrumentals. After a jazzy arrangement of Stephen Sondheim's "Everybody Says Don't" (she did get a bit political here, calling it the Republican's "No" song), Callaway was touching and emotional on Sondheim's "No One Is Alone," from Into the Woods.

"I've never sung this in public before, but now I sing it with all my heart," Callaway said, before a stirring version of "America the Beautiful," including her own lyrics that emphasized the different points of view coming from Blue and Red states. For the finale, what could be more appropriate for her show theme than Paul Simon's "Bridge Over Troubled Water," which featured Ann's bluesy vocal treatment, a great Elton John-esque piano arrangement from Rosenthal, and a surprise guest appearance by BroadwayWorld "Best Male Vocalist" Award-winner (and regular Birdland denizen) William Blake to supply the soaring Art Garfunkel falsetto.

When pain is all around, or friends just can't be found, just take any kind of bridge to an Ann Hampton Callaway show.

Jeff Harnar, Does This Song Make Me Look Fat?, Laurie Beechman Theatre, January 21

Early in his show, cabaret veteran and 2012 winner of the "Noel Coward Award" at the New York Cabaret Convention Jeff Harnar explains that the quirky title signifies that he's "Trying out new material because I have to let things out a little. After all, cabaret puts 20 pounds on you." Well, I have to agree with him there, because while watching this show, Harnar's stage demeanor and delivery of his set was so high caloric, I was starting to feel fat. If you're looking for the cabaret definition of the phrase "too clever by half," you might find a video of this show.

Harnar is clearly a charming, polished entertainer with a pleasant baritone and a strong following in the cabaret community. But if any newbie to cabaret under, say, 35, dropped into this show as their first exposure to the art form they might never come back. Unless, of course, they thought Harnar was doing Bill Murray's vintage and hilarious Saturday Night Life parody of the piano bar lounge lizard one better. Harnar's set was peppered with fairly lame parody lyrics (like those for Kander & Ebb's "New York, New York" and Cy Coleman and Dorothy Fields' "My Personal Property"), novelty songs that were clever but tedious (like Larry Kerchner's Cole Porter-like "What's Your Phobia?"), too cutesy renditions of wonderful songs such as Francesca Blumenthal's "Between Men" and Noel Coward's "Mrs. Worthington," and medleys that fell flat, like a '60s falsetto grouping where Harnar could barely reach the Frankie Valli stratosphere on snippets of songs like "Big Girls Don't Cry," The Lion Sleeps Tonight," and "She Loves You."

But the biggest turn-off came in the midst of the show's early New York-centric section, when Harnar added lyrics to Bob & Jim Walton's already insufferable "The Shape of New York," which compares the design of the city's boroughs on the subway map to the male genitals. "Brooklyn is a testicle," Harnar crooned, while using a pointer at the on-stage prop, "and the 1 train is the urethra--that's why it smells like pee." Did this song make him seem, oh I don't know, cocky?

The show did have its saving graces. Harnar was solid on Coward's "Sail Away" (hence, I guess, his award), Musical Director Lawrence Yurman produced a solid mashup arrangement of Kander & Ebb's "The World Goes Round" with "That's Life," Harnar was as strong and engaging on Cole Porter's "Can Can" as he was at last October's Cabaret Convention, and Rick Crom's fantasy song "Sunday In the Meadow With Curley," which speculates on what the musical Oklahoma might have sounded like if written by Stephen Sondheim, was the best number in the show. All that said, by the time Harnar produced a pedestrian version of Billy Joel's "You're My Home" as the show's penultimate number, I couldn't wait to go home.

Does this review make me sound harsh? --The End--

To post a comment, you must register and login.