Joyce Breach: Moments Like This
Joyce Breach
Moments Like This
Don’t Tell Mama, NYC, October 6, 2014
Reviewed by Peter Haas for Cabaret Scenes
Joyce Breach, on stage in cabaret, offers a master class in performing a ballad. She doesn’t just sing a song; she tells its story with warmth and simplicity, as if its characters were in the room, their moments and feelings unfolding then and there. And she selects great songs. All were in evidence as she introduced her new show, Moments Like This, in the cozy Brick Room at Don’t Tell Mama.
In top, mellow form, and accompanied by two of cabaret’s finest instrumentalists—Mike Renzi on piano, with simple yet sparkling playing, and Jay Leonhart on bass—Breach offered hits ranging from the 1930s—“These Foolish Things (Remind Me of You),” a perky “Moonlight Savings Time,” and her show’s title song—and the 1940s—“A Journey to a Star,” “Waitin’ for the Train to Come In” (featuring a Leonhart sort-of-singing solo)—and “Dancing on a Dime.” Additional material brought special tributes to Peggy Lee (“Where Can I Go Without You?” and “I’m in Love Again,” both of which Lee co-wrote) and Blossom Dearie (with several songs that she, too, co-wrote). A sweet finale was Styne/Comden/Green’s “The Party’s Over,” in a tribute to the late Polly Bergen.
Joyce’s show can be revisited through her new CD, Moments Like This.
Category: Cabaret Reviews, New York City, New York City Cabaret Reviews
