Steve Ross: Steve Ross on Broadway
Steve Ross
Steve Ross on Broadway
Birdland, NYC, July 27, 2015
Reviewed by Ron Forman for Cabaret Scenes
Photo: Stacy Sullivan
Steve Ross is the last of a breed: a gentleman, a man about town, dressed elegantly, singing one song after another in great voice, while accompanying himself with his marvelous work on the piano. Ross jokingly remarked, “I am being paid by the word,” and seldom have more words been sung with greater diction and elocution, than he sang in the more than 30 songs, taken (mostly) from Broadway shows, that he performed gracefully at Birdland.
A snappy number, “Call Me Back,” opened the show, which led into his Gershwinesque piano on “Sweet and Low Down” leading into a medley of three more Gershwin melodies. “Life of the Party” described exactly who Steve Ross is. Many of his most beautifully performed numbers, were those rarely heard, including “One Life to Live” from Lady in the Dark, “Always, Always You” from Carnival and “Adrift on a Star” from The Happiest Girl in the World.” Ross’s fingers moved magically on the keys with “Begin the Beguine.”
Guest Lillian Montevecchi joined Ross for “I Remember It Well,” which left me feeling warm all over. She then performed two more numbers eloquently. Ross romantically entwined “All the Things You Are” and “My Heart Is So Full of You.” Closing with “I Guess I’ll Have to Change My Plan,” Ross was called back for two encores: “Some Other Time” and a wistful “Till Tomorrow.”
Category: Cabaret Reviews, New York City, New York City Cabaret Reviews
