Leslie Uggams: Classic Uggams

Steve Murray | November 7, 2014

Leslie Uggams

Classic Uggams

Venetian Room, San Francisco, CA, November 2, 2014

Reviewed by Steve Murray for Cabaret Scenes

Tony and Emmy Award winner Leslie Uggams might be best remembered for her wonderful voice and stunning looks, both unmistakably apparent during her sublime Bay Area Cabaret presentation. But Uggams was also a trailblazer who, with pluck, courage and perseverance, has set herself in rarefied company. So many firsts, empowering African-American performers for decades to come: From being on the first TV show featuring an African American (1950s Beulah with the great Ethel Waters) to an opening act at age 9 for Dinah Washington and Ella Fitzgerald to a featured singer on the Sing Along with Mitch TV series at 15 to her Tony-winning role as Georgina in 1967’s Hallelujah, Baby!

Classic Uggams is a collection of her faves, and naturally includes Great American Songbook material from her luminous assortment of peers. In her still strong brassy vibrato, she soars through “Some People,” “It Had to Be You” and Johnny Mercer and Harold Arlen’s vibrant “Any Place I Hang My hat Is Home.” A bold belter à la Shirley Bassey and Eydie Gorme, Uggams can also muscle a tender ballad like Mame’s “If He Walked into My Life” or “All At Once You Love Her” from Pipe Dream, one of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s rare flops.

An uptempo rendition of The King and I’s “Hello, Young Lovers” and a stunning a cappella “What I Did for Love” demonstrated a seasoned performer still in her prime. “Being Good” from Hallelujah, Baby! and a Lena Horne-ish cover of “Stormy Weather” had me feeling super privileged to experience Ms. Uggams up close and personal.

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