Sandy Bainum: It Might Be Fun
Sandy Bainum
It Might Be Fun
(Kritzerland)
February 4, 2015
Reviewed by John Hoglund for Cabaret Scenes
It Might Be Fun really is—thanks to Sandy Bainum’s playful vocals and a rich collection of gems culled from songwriter and Grammy-nominated album producer Bruce Kimmel. The Broadway beat goes on. The 35-piece orchestra and Bainum’s solid delivery make this a disk worthy of serious attention—especially from show folk. Bainum brings her spirited soprano to this charmed tapestry of mostly bouncy tunes by the versatile Kimmel from shows he has written through the years. Bainum, an actress/singer who appears in cabaret rooms of New York and Washington D.C., emotes these stylish tunes with an effortless joy that is infectious.
The big risk on an album like this is that too often the writer’s songs suffer from a sameness that can lessen their out-of-context effect when bunched together. Not so here. Kimmel is obviously a multi-talented songwriter and this album only complements his output. Hopefully, the CD will bring him the wider recognition he is worthy of with a general public beyond the theater community of which has been a part for so long. The large orchestra doesn’t hold back under Lanny Meyers’s artful musical direction. The intelligent arrangements alone are award-worthy, along with such flawless musicians.
Most songs are contagious in their unrestrained glee and lively in the manner of an uplifting musical production. Kimmel and Meyers worked closely together on the Kritzerland label. Songs like the catchy title cut, a tuneful ditty from a 1976 film, set the tone for what is to come. Throughout the album there are assorted references to love’s foibles, risk-taking and reflections. “I See Rainbows” is an example of Kimmel’s early roots, written when he was only 15. Other selections are lifted from each of the following decades and tie pieces of time together in ribbons as seen through his eyes. On “What Do I Do Now?” the right note of introspection is struck—without resorting to tortured histrionics. The more languid pace on a particular standout, “I’m Here,” slinks along on Meyers’s exceptional orchestration that evokes a smoke-filled nightclub of yesterday right down to a haunting solo trumpet burning in the background. But it’s Bainum’s carefully-paced, gentle vocals that make the song memorable, especially when she wraps them around this great lyric with its triple rhyme landing in mystical places. One the real pleasures of the album is saved for last. “Two Roads,” a new work by Kimmel and the legendary Disney songwriter Richard Sherman, wraps it all up with great style and becomes an emotional compass. The song promises. The album delivers.
Category: DC/Maryland/Virginia, Music, Music Reviews, Regional
