Review: Cabaret Convention Starts Splendidly at Jazz at Lincoln Center

Well, the annual Cabaret Convention is off to a fine start.  The three-night series presented by the Mabel Mercer Foundation is a virtual parade of singers with the Great American Songbook front and center on the stage of the Rose Theater at Jazz at Lincoln Center. It’s been going on for 35 years and some of this year’s participants and audience members have been part of the festivities since the beginning. How’s that for tradition?  The radiant repertoire on opening night (Tuesday, October 22) consisted of material with melodies composed by Charles Strouse, who was in attendance.  When the lights hit the area where he was seated, he was greeted with appreciative cheers.

The Broadway roots of (most of) the songs got extra emphasis when samples from the same musical were clustered together. Annie was prominent.  The night’s singing got underway in upbeat mode by digging into that sunny show, beginning with bow tie-wearing, banjo-strumming, beaming, bubbly, bright-eyed Bryce Edwards encouraging audience smiles as he dressed up “You’re Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile.” The night’s co-hosts, Jeff Harnar and Andrea Marcovicci, with their own smiling interaction, then entered, continuing with two more cheery things from that musical about the scrappy red-headed orphan, duetting on “NYC” and “I Don’t Need Anything But You.” We got a break from that score for a while, but it was rewardingly returned to when the vocal quartet called Those Girls reprised “NYC” and knocked “It’s the Hard-Knock Life” out of the park and Marta Sanders followed Those Girls with “Little Girls,” having a field day mining the comedy of the rant. A final representative of this Charles Strouse/Martin Charnin score came at the finale with a stunning arrangement of “Tomorrow” with the sublime harmonies of MOIPEI, the identical triplets. Then most of the performers joined them immediately to reprise it for a final dash and splash for a feel-good farewell.  But there was much before we got to that last segment…..even something from the sequel, Annie Warbucks, when Karen Akers delivered a major emotional highlight and classic cabaret connection with a brilliant “It Would Have Been Wonderful.”

Bye Bye Birdie was well represented, first by “Kids” with Tovah Felshuh hilariously in character as the hotel “queen of mean” Leona Helmsley.  The night was titled “Put On a Happy Face” after another song from that show, and this number was given to the irrepressible sunshine manufacturer, the mega-mirthful Marilyn Maye. She triumphed, as usual, getting a standing ovation for her one song. It would have been a showstopper in any case, but it was placed where the show had to stop – for intermission.  After the break, the program returned to Bye Bye Birdie, with the audience asked to sing the score’s “fan club song” of loyalty to Conrad Birdie, its fictitious title character. Three more Birdie treats followed: seven singing staff members of the cabaret/piano bar Don’t Tell Mama gave their all for an energetic rendition of “The Telephone Hour” (doing the opposite of “phoning it in”); Marissa Mulder was disarming and dynamic with a letter-perfect “One Boy”; and Marieann Meringolo brought on commanding carpe diem with “A Lot of Livin’ to Do.”

Much applause came with a segment dedicated to Applause, the 1970 musical, starting with its title song presented with sparkle by original cast member Lee Roy Reams, who also shared some memories. Another original cast member, Penny Fuller, was scheduled this night, but was unable to attend.  But one of her character’s numbers, “The Best Night of My Life,” was part of the program, assigned to (and richly sung by) Maude Maggart.  She explained how her father, Brandon Maggart, was in the cast and that’s how he met her mother, Diane McAfee (who was in the Cabaret Convention audience), who had the role of Eve, pre-Broadway, but was fired. (She returned to the role, however, in touring productions.)  Applause’s powerful but dark “Welcome to the Theater” was well served by the most welcome presence of Ann Anello.

Karen Mason and Jeff Harnar each chose a piece from Golden Boy for their respective golden solos: she shining with “Lorna’s Here” and he with “Night Song.” He also had fun channeling the screechy character vocals of Jean Stapleton as housewife Edith Bunker in the TV sit-com “All in the Family,” sharing the theme song of that program with co-host Miss Marcovicci.  She took on the reflective “Once Upon a Time,” but struggled through it, unfortunately going blank on the words a few times, stopping, asking the pianist to go back so she could find her place and get the lines.  But the drama of the song came through along with her determination. This tender ballad, like the songs from Bye Bye Birdie, Applause, Golden Boy, and more had lyrics by frequent collaborator Lee Adams, who turned 100 this month!  (Charles Stouse is only 96.)

Also on the bill and presenting strong work were Craig Rubano, Madalynn Matthews, Lumiri Tubo, Leanne Borghesi and Ari Axelrod. The last two each sang something from Rags. Mr. Axelrod was presented with the Foundation’s Julie Wilson Award. His number was accompanied on piano by the lyricist for Rags, Stephen Schwartz, who had kind words to say about the honoree, Mr. Strouse. 

Tonight’s show on October 23 honors Bobby Short, the singer/pianist who was synonymous with classy cabaret and was a colleague of Mabel Mercer.  The final night,  Thursday, is a non-themed one, hosted by the Foundation’s  Artistic Director, singer KT Sullivan full of more standards, standout numbers from stage and screen, and stand-alone songs. 

Tickets start at $25 for these very full evenings that are more than two and a half hours long. That’s a lot of bang for your buck. And, unlike at most cabaret cabaret venues, there are no beverages you have to buy, so you don’t have to add that and a tip to your cost, but here’s a tip: the Cabaret Convention program is worth toasting and drinking to.

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For the roster of performers, tickets and other info, visit the Mabel Mercer Foundation's website.

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