Review: TRIBUTE TO MALTBY & SHIRE Is a Triumph at The Cutting Room

Well-deserved Lifetime Achievement Awards were presented to Richard Maltby, Jr. and David Shire during a dazzling concert of songs they’ve written, beginning back in their college days at Yale in the 1950s. The memory-filled and music-filled evening on Monday, June 17 was held at The Cutting Room and it was a “cut” above other tributes that don’t have the good fortune of the participation of still-vital performers who’d put their stamps on the material back in the day. Beyond the sweet nostalgia that comes with such re-visits and reunions, the generous-length program also included performances by other cabaret and stage performers with an affinity for the writers’ work.  It was a benefit for the American Popular Song Society, formerly called The Sheet Music Society (established in 1980) that presents programs putting the spotlight on songwriters and celebrating quality material. 

Appropriately enough, the song choice for starting off the show was “Starting Here, Starting Now,” which provided a title for the 1976 revue that collected mostly older material from Maltby & Shire’s lower-profile scores. Marilyn Maye did the honors, with flair (and, as a kind of “bonus track,” saluted the duo with the Jerome Kern/ Oscar Hammerstein classic “The Song Is You”). The three original singers from Starting Here, Starting Now were all present, with each marvelously recreating a memorable solo for a character who’s broken up with someone:  Margery Cohen with the reflective ballad “Autumn”; George Lee Andrews simmering with denial, declaring “I Don’t Remember Christmas”; Loni Ackerman coming across with zing as the puzzled lady feeling down doing the “Crossword Puzzle” all alone. Numbers from the second M&S revue, Closer Than Ever, were on the bill, too: Christiane Noll, who was in the cast when it was mounted at the York Theatre, was feisty and on target once again with the humor in a survey of the habits of “The Bear, the Tiger, the Hamster, and the Mole.” Kaye Tuckerman, who’d been in an Australian production, poised and perched upon the piano, gave forth confidently with the private thoughts of the circumspect secretary named “Miss Byrd.” (Was it the microphone or the accent that made those sly words slip?)  And Mr. Maltby himself took the stage for two numbers: sharing “There” with Barbara Bleier, both showing perfectly precise comic timing, and as a solo, he presented the moving “If I Sing,” dedicated to and inspired by his and Mr. Shire’s relationships with their bandleader dads, which likely had extra resonance with audience members since Father’s Day was the day before. And it must have felt like a blissful belated gift marking that occasion when he was able to enjoy today and then remember “I Think I May Want to Remember Today” done with such exuberance by his own talented daughter, Charlotte Maltby, who spoke eloquently about the power of songs.

Each selection from the Broadway musical Big (1996) got a big hand and was an especially big treat. Original star Daniel Jenkins, sounding great, reprised “Crossing the Line,” Jill Paice captured the “parent’s paradox” of enjoying watching a child grow, but wanting to “Stop, Time” to relish the moments (and years) that go by too quickly.  Writer-performer Gretchen Cryer glowed more than a little with Big’s “Little Susan Lawrence.”  And, with “I Want to Go Home,” the remarkable singing actor Benjamin Pajak nailed his number, mixing the ingredients of the character’s pathos, plaintiveness and puzzlement. It makes one hope for a revival of the musical with him as the adolescent protagonist. With his talent and recent NYC stage track record (The Music Man, Oliver!, Golden Rainbow) everybody wants to give young Mr. Pajak a paycheck!       

Steven Brinberg impressed with “No More Songs for Me” and segueing into “Beautiful” in the voice of Barbra Streisand (this time without the aid of costume, makeup, wig, or nails).  The parade of stellar songs also let us watch “Watching the Big Parade Go By” performed with nuance and layers of emotion by vibrant-voiced Eric Michael Gillett. It was first heard in the 1961 off-Broadway production The Sap of Life; another number from that score was presented with pep by Patricia Bruder, but it wasn’t the first time she encountered “Time and Time Again”–she was in the original show! Another early score provided a “here comes the bride moment” when Jenny Lee Stern belted boldly about wedding wonders with “When He Marries Me” from the long-ago musical about computer dating, How Do You Do, I Love You. 

Samples of Mr. Shire’s career scoring films were on the menu, too, with such treats as guitarist Sean Harkness playing “Manhattan Skyline” from Saturday Night Fever and Steve Ross offering a particularly poignant “It Goes Like It Goes,” the Oscar winner from Norma Rae, with words by Norman Gimbel. Another Maltby-free number was “What About Today?”; it has Shire’s own lyric and was given an exciting treatment by Walter Willison, with fire and fury. 

The show was rich and full, even though eight singers originally announced in advance publicity did not end up being part of this extravaganza, and others were added, so the shuffling and switching might explain  why some singers depended on looking at their words and music and the surprise of having the game veteran Austin Pendleton take on the grand song written for the character of a young woman, pregnant for the first time and in awe of her condition, reflecting on being part of the chain of life (“Our Story Goes On” from the Broadway score of Baby) and anticipating giving birth. That show also gave birth to the song for the character’s partner, “I Chose Right,” cast more to type when sung by the sunny Mark William.  He’s also a member of the Board for the Society, and two of his Boardmates were on stage, too: Danny Bacher, on his saxophone, deftly played some music from Shire’s instrumental score for the film Return to Oz and Michael Lavine (joined variously by other musicians) was the program’s main pianist, music director, and affable, informed host, acing all tasks, playing with panache and affection.     

Special kudos to Deniz Cordell, longtime associate of the songwriters, who did special arrangements and was on stage at piano a bit, too.  Ending the satisfying night were speeches of appreciation from the writers and the Society’s dedicated and enthusiastic leader, Linda Amiel Burns, all cheered with grateful applause by the large crowd.  For Maltby & Shire, as their song says, the “story goes on”: another revue of their material is being done this summer in New Hampshire, directed by Mr. Maltby, and a new book about them and their oeuvre, Closer Than Ever, by Joshua Rosenblum, has just been published.  

---

Learn more about the American Popular song Society on their website at www.apssinc.org

Header photos: Maltby (left) and Shire. Photo credit: Walter McBride

To post a comment, you must register and login.