Christine Ebersole & Billy Stritch: Our Favorite Things

Annamaria Alfieri | December 3, 2015

Christine Ebersole & Billy Stritch

Our Favorite Things

Birdland, NYC, November 24, 2015

Reviewed by Annamaria Alfieri for Cabaret Scenes

Photo: Kevin Alvey

This duo sang their introduction—“It’s Us Again.” Their happy history performing together showed in everything that followed, especially in the beautiful harmonies of a sultry “Dindi.”

Ebersole’s energy and stagecraft gleamed at their very best in “Surrey with the Fringe on Top.” Giving her range free reign, she turned romantic with a lovely ”The Folks Who Live on the Hill.” A gently swinging duet—“Sunday in New York”—brought joy even to a Monday evening. But then medley of holiday numbers worked less well: not even Ebersole’s beautiful singing could make much out of the ballad “Snowfall,” and “River,” about the sad side of Christmas, seemed out of place just before Thanksgiving. But then Stritch gave a nice finish to the winter interlude with “What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve?” with his own beautiful jazz piano accompaniment.

The finale turned the proceedings back to upbeat: A great, jazzy “Hit that Jive, Jack” showed off Ebersole as a jazz singer as well as a musical stage star. The evening ended with a rousing duet of “There’s a Boat That’s Leaving Soon for New York.” And the encore, “They Can’t Take That Away from Me,” left the audience still wanting more. Throughout, Stritch’s piano, along with Tom Hubbard on bass and Rick Montalbano on drums, gave the performance a jazz style worthy of the Birdland tradition.

Tags: American Songbook, Annamaria Alfieri, Billy Stritch, Birdland, Broadway Musicals, Cabaret, Cabaret Reviews, Cabaret Scenes, Christine Ebersole, Clubs, Composers, Dindi, Great American Songbook, Hit that Jive Jack, It’s Us Again, Jazz, Jazz Singers, Kevin Alvey, lyricists, Musicals, Musicians, Nightclubs, NYC, Our Favorite Things, Popular Song, Revues, Rick Montalbano, River, Show Tunes, Singers, Snowfall, Songbook, Standards, Sunday in New York, Supper Clubs, Surrey with the Fringe on Top, The Folks Who Live on the Hill, There’s a Boat That’s Leaving Soon for New York, They Can’t Take That Away from Me, Tom Hubbard, Venues, Vocalists, What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?