Susan Winter: Loves Rolls On…
Susan Winter
Loves Rolls On…
Metropolitan Room, NYC, October 7, 2016
Reviewed by Alix Cohen for Cabaret Scenes
For its 14th presentation, the successful New York Cabaret’s Greatest Hits series (producer Stephen Hanks, associate producer Dr, Jeffrey Hamblin) revives Susan Winter’s 2008 show.
Love Rolls On…: One assumes the performance must’ve been better then, if only for younger pipes, but it’s difficult to imagine in what way this might be true. D’you know how, when admiring a woman’s form, one might say she has a body, not that everyone doesn’t, but hers is notable? Well, Susan Winter has a voice.
There isn’t a false or less confident note, a phrase sung for breath rather than intention, jazz inflection that doesn’t emerge subtle, musical swell that arrives with stress; lyrics rule and, oh, those effective retards! The artist knows her range and pace. She openly communicates with an audience. Connecting patter is gracious, warm and personal; it may be rehearsed, but it’s not canned. This is an unhomogenized lady — never low, even when flirty.
Love Rolls On… was inspired by the discovery of a box of her parents’ red-ribbon-bound correspondence from World War II. Winter’s otherwise quiet father had been secretly loquacious and sentimental. Touching renditions of “All My Tomorrows” (Jimmy Van Heusen/Sammy Cahn) and “After Hours” (Avery Parrish/Robert Bruce & Buddy Feyne) are followed by her reading an excerpt from one of the lovely letters. In the last ten years, Winter has finally gotten to know her dad. “Isn’t It a Pity?” (George & Ira Gershwin) she sings, “…we never met before”
The evening also includes acknowledgment of her own marriage—a savory and sincere interpretation of Susan Werner/Jane Paul’s “I Can’t Be New,” which has staying power—her sons, and the cabaret family she’s created. Accompanied by “Minnesota Twins,” Rick Jensen (M.D./piano) and Tom Hubbard (bass), the vocalist occupies a stage like home.
Van Morrison’s swaying “Moondance” exemplifies Winter’s seamless segues from open throat to muted with nary a ripple. During “You’ll See” (Carroll Coates), long notes with vibrato tails circle the room like well-trained pets. A third “aspect,” arrives with Jensen’s infectious arrangement of “Any Place I Hang My Hat Is Home” (Johnny Mercer/Harold Arlen). Kind of a percussive samba, the number eschews its usual overblown packaging for intimacy. Winter makes it hers.
Good relationships, she says, are based on compromise and luck. Carolyn Leigh/Cy Coleman’s “It Amazes Me” floats in, hovers, then deflates like a sigh. “After 35 years of marriage, I look over and think: Could he have ever strayed? I can say I never have, but then, my memory isn’t what it used to be.” On the lighter side, there’s Lee Wing’s mischievous “An Older Man Is Like an Elegant Wine”: “And when I meet him/I’ll enchant him/ Hug him, kiss him/Then I’ll decant him…,” which Winter performed for The Guzunters—“a group of men over 60 who are able to meet for lunch every so often”: Cole Porter’s buoyant “I’ve Still Got My Health” (replete with fluent rhymes “goil” and Castor Oil”); and an infectiously happy medley featuring “I Hear Music” (Frank Loesser/Burton Lane), with Winter and Jensen delivering harmonious do-do-dos.
The vocalist’s low-key “Old Friend” (Gretchen Cryer/Nancy Ford) and Jensen’s moving “In Passing Years” are conjoined with unforced emphasis exuding affection.
Guest Geoff Stoner accompanied Winter on a charming version of “I Love the Way You’re Breaking My Heart” (Milton Drake/Louis Alter) but, alas, his ukulele could not be heard above the piano.
Susan Winters is a thoroughbred.
Category: Cabaret Reviews, New York City, New York City Cabaret Reviews, Regional
