[Dixielandjazz] Excellent American Songbook

[Stephen G Barbone]

Not Dixieland, but surely OKOM. Martha and I saw this show last night.  
WELL WORTH the 2 and 1/2 hour drive each way. If you are in the Big  
Apple between now and October 2, see this show. (as well as Vince  
Giordano and the Nighthawks at Sophia's)  For me, this was like going  
back to the days when I would take my dates to various cabarets in NYC  
to see and hear what Michael Feinstein and Barbara Cook are doing at  
the Regency this month. Very musical duo putting on a GREAT musical  
show.

Yeah, it costs a few bucks, but in relative dollars, cheaper today  
than it was 50 years ago. <grin>

Cheers,
Steve Barbone


For This Musical Couple, It’s Simply a Matter of Chemistry

NY TIMES - By STEPHEN HOLDEN - Sept 9, 2010

“Heaven.”

When Barbara Cook sighs the word in the opening phrases of “Cheek to  
Cheek,” the title song of her duet show with Michael Feinstein, you  
really feel as if she had just found paradise. And so have you.

As a musical couple, Ms. Cook and Mr. Feinstein, whose 54th birthday  
was celebrated at Tuesday’s opening night performance at Feinstein’s  
at Loews Regency, suggest a modern-day Rogers and Astaire. Although  
they don’t dance, their artistic chemistry, in which Mr. Feinstein,  
gallantly squires Ms. Cook, 82, through the American songbook, has the  
same kind of courtly grace. Ms. Cook, like Rogers, is a no-nonsense  
gal: in her words, “a simple country girl.” Mr. Feinstein is a suave,  
adoring partner who gladly defers to the woman he described as “the  
world’s greatest interpreter of the American songbook.”

Their two-part harmonies were impeccable; their comedic give-and-take  
on “You Could Drive a Person Crazy” carried a sharp comic bite.  
Katharine Hepburn’s famous observation that Rogers gave Astaire sex  
and Astaire gave Rogers class might be revised to say, Ms. Cook gives  
Mr. Feinstein reality, and he gives her fantasy. After all, you can’t  
have one without a little bit of the other.

The simple country girl confessed to having long resisted the lyrics  
of Cole Porter and to feeling alienated from the blasé attitude  
implied by “flying too high with some guy in the sky.” Then she  
delivered a version of “I’ve Got You Under My Skin,” that turned it  
into a heart-rending description of love addiction comparable in depth  
to Sondheim’s “Losing My Mind,” a longtime Cook staple.

The show’s musical director, John Oddo, arranged the song in a  
Sondheim style underpinned with obsessive piano figures; the phrase  
“stop before I begin,” revolved around the “stop,” a ringingly  
dissonant musical alarm.

In a his-and-hers medley of “The Very Thought of You” and “Tea for  
Two,” the abstract dreaminess of the first song melted into the second  
song’s picture of intimate togetherness. Marcy Heisler and Zina  
Goldrich’s fairy tale ballad “Ever After” was answered by “Where Do  
You Start?” in which the dream has shattered, and all that’s left is  
to pick up the pieces.

Vocally, Mr. Feinstein has become a master of the slow build. “Without  
a Song” and “You’re Gonna Hear From Me” became tours de force of  
traditional pop belting executed with perfect intonation, enunciation  
and dynamic control. For the moment, at least, Mr. Feinstein has drawn  
back from the Sinatra-influenced swing that has dominated his recent  
performances. The band (Mr. Oddo on piano, Aaron Heick on reeds,  
George Rabbai on trumpet, Warren Odze on drums and David Finck on  
bass) created a sound that was crisply propulsive but intimate.

It remained for Ms. Cook to deliver the definitive rendition of  
“Here’s to Life,” the formal summing-up pop anthem for mature  
performers that has become a cabaret staple. Ms. Cook personalized the  
song with a tender interpretation that balanced resilience with  
wistfulness. Phrases resonated: “Memories you memorize to keep your  
winters warm”; “even though I’m satisfied I’m hungry still”; “for I  
have learned that all you give is all you get so give it all you’ve  
got.”

Just when you think Ms. Cook couldn’t go any deeper into song lyrics,  
she expresses new levels of empathy and understanding.

Barbara Cook and Michael Feinstein continue at Feinstein’s at Loews  
Regency through Oct. 2, 540 Park Avenue, at 61st Street, Manhattan;  
(212) 339-4095.