[Dixielandjazz] Molly Ringwald reviewed - Hollywood Reporter, January 16, 2013

[Robert Ringwald]

    Date: Wed Jan 16, 2013 7:21 pm ((PST))
Molly Ringwald's Cabaret Debut: Concert Review
by Frank Scheck
Hollywood Reporter, January 16, 2013
Molly Ringwald is juggling a lot of hats these days. Unlike many former teen stars,
she's moved gracefully into adult roles, currently starring in the ABC Family series
The Secret Life of the American Teenager. She's a published author of fiction, having
just released a novel, When It Happens to You. Her debut album, a collection of standards
entitled Except... Sometimes, drops in April. And Tuesday night she made her New
York City cabaret debut at the popular new club 54 Below.
Performing with an expert jazz trio led by pianist/musical director Peter Smith,
Ringwald, looking elegantly gorgeous, displayed enough vocal chops to demonstrate
that she's no dilettante. She actually made her recording debut at age 6, on an album
by her jazz pianist father Bob Ringwald, and her musical theater experience includes
starring roles in a national tour of Sweet Charity and the Broadway revival of Cabaret.
Singing in a sweet soprano voice, she delivered such classics as "I Get Along Without
You Very Well," "Exactly Like You" and "I'll Take Romance" with deep reservoirs of
feeling. Her voice was a bit wobbly at times, especially on such numbers as "Where
Is Love," from Oliver, which was delivered in a slow tempo that did her no favors.
But she managed to swing on a jazzy version of "On the Street Where You Live," and
she sang "Sooner or Later," from the film Dick Tracy, with a sultriness that well
compared to Madonna's original.
She also displayed her Francophile leanings with a soulful rendition of the French
song "J'Attendrai" ("I Will Wait"), after which she pointed out, "I feel like I should
have a martini in my hand while singing this song." The wish was quickly accommodated
by the club's management.
Although she kept her stage banter to a minimum, her comments were both moving and
personal, sometimes amusingly so. Referencing the fact that she had played Sally
Bowles in Cabaret at Studio 54, located right above the club, she admitted, "My daughter
may or may not have been conceived in my dressing room."
In a clever nod to the many fans of her teen film classics, she ended the evening
with Simple Minds' "Don't You (Forget About Me)" from The Breakfast Club soundtrack,
effectively rearranged as a jazz ballad. "It's not in the American Songbook yet,"
she said, before adding "But I'm thinking that it someday might be."
-30-


-Bob Ringwald
www.ringwald.com
Amateur (ham) Radio Operator K6YBV
Aboard the Holland America Maasdam, Caribbean
JazzSea Cruise

Right now, I'm having amnesia and deja-vu at the same time. 
I think I've forgotten this before.