Winter Rhythms: Happy Birthday, Ol’ Blue Eyes
Winter Rhythms
Happy Birthday, Ol’ Blue Eyes:
The Frank Sinatra Centennial Celebration
Urban Stages, NYC, December 12, 2015
Reviewed by Marilyn Lester for Cabaret Scenes
Providentially taking place on December 12th, his actual 100th birthday, producer Stephen Hanks put together a swinging show and birthday party for Ol’ Blue Eyes, Frank Sinatra. Hanks also served as host for the evening, curating a representative selection of songs from the Sinatra repertoire. With text that was informative, without being overbearing, Hanks went through the Sinatra chronology from the early 1940s big band era to the singer’s 1970s comeback, painting a picture of the man that was surprisingly comprehensive.
Seven performers were led by the versatile pianist and musical director, Jon Weber, bookended by Kristoffer Lowe. Lowe’s opener, “All or Nothing At All,” was a little tense, but by “Something” and “You and Me (We Wanted It All)” at the end of the evening, his voice had relaxed into a satisfying mellowness. An eighth performer, an adrenalized Bill Zeffiro, accompanied himself on “This Love of Mine” and, later, a more controlled “The Lady Is a Tramp.” Alexis Cole, an exciting comer of a jazz singer, also acquitted herself at the piano, including the Jobim songs “Dindi” and “The Girl from Ipanema.” She has a sure ease about her performance and a rich voice capable of graceful range. She also performed two numbers with Marcus Goldhaber, “I Could Write a Book” and “If I Loved You.” Goldhaber, who is also a jazz artist, sang solo with vocally pleasant, but jejune renditions of “I Fall in Love Too Easily” and “Adelaide.”
High points of the show were provided by Marissa Mulder and Joshua Lance Dixon. Mulder has a distinctive light and girlish voice à la the famed Blossom Dearie. She also has a musicality that Sinatra himself would have tipped his pork pie hat to. Her rendition of “Time After Time” and a medley from the A Man Alone record album (1969) demonstrated exquisite phrasing. Her ability to get under the lyric and make sense of it was especially evident in “Polka Dots and Moonbeams.” Dixon, with his acting training, would also receive a Sinatra tip of the hat for voice quality and interpretive skills. His “Luck Be a Lady” was surpassed only by his power, presence and excellence in the demanding Carousel “Soliloquy.”
The evening’s finale was given to that “Sinatra-style” singer, Tony Babino. His earlier “Stardust” seemed strained, as did a mid-show “That’s Life,” but by his own composition at the end of the show, “I Wish I Could Sing Like Sinatra,” his voice proved more relaxed. After a chorus of “Happy Birthday,” Babino led the cast and audience in singing what has almost become an anthem: “(Theme from) New York, New York.” This tribute to Ol’ Blue Eyes must have surely pleased the spirit of the man of the hour – and century – Frank Sinatra.
Category: Cabaret Reviews, New York City, New York City Cabaret Reviews
