BWW Reviews: Eileen Barnett Is a Breath of Spring at Sterling's

On Sunday June 23 consummate singer Eileen Barnett brought a new version of her night club show to Sterling's Upstairs at the Federal entitled You Must Believe in Spring with superb musical direction from John Boswell and crisp direction from Kirsten Benton Chandler.

Proving that class is indeed a rare commodity these days, this lady. who co-starred on Broadway with Sergio Franchi in Nine, presented a marvelously varied bill of fare which highlighted songs from Randy Newman, Stephen Sondheim, Kurt Weill, and by Jacques Brel - by no means your typical evening of predictable songs. Apart from having an exquisite soprano voice, Barnett is down-to-earth, warm and very funny. She used her infectious sense of humor to relay stories about her career - she always wanted to be a chirpy soprano like Shirley Jones or Julie Andrews, but learned how to play character instead from her many experiences essaying the esoteric music of Weill and Brel. She also touched upon dating before meeting her husband of over 20 years, actor Bruce French - "I kissed a lot of frogs!" - settling down in the San Fernando Valley instead of Bel Air - Billy Barnes wrote the very funny "The Valley" expressly for her, having 5 dogs that she rescued from the pound, "They rescued me!", seeing the world via her father's travels as a documentary film maker "The World Through Your Eyes" and teaching her music students about how to stay positive and keep one's hopes and dreams with Bill Evans' "You Must Believe in Spring" and her opening William Finn's "I Feel So Much Spring", where you can really feel her passion for the music and lyrics. "Don't get jaded!" she advised, and it is obvious that she never will.

Miss Barnett first essayed her show at the Colony Theatre in October of 2012 under the title A Celebration of Songs and for the evening, I awarded her Best Female Cabaret Performer - Female with an Eddon Award. For this updated appearance at Sterling's, she changed a few songs adding a dashing Sondheim medley from Passion, Irving Berlin's "How Deep Is the Ocean" and another delightful Billy Barnes song "A Little Lift" which amusingly parodies plastic surgery among Hollywood elite. In this new edition, Barnett kept the gorgeous ballads "The Nearness of You", "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" and her electric rendition of Brel's "Marieke" that just soars to the rafters.

Like I said before, Eileen Barnett is a class act and whether on a theatre or night club stage, she holds the audience entranced... in the palm of her hand...with two standing ovations!!

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