Wow! What a mouthful. This was a concert of music from the revue era, with lots of songs and lots of performers, so not everyone (or song) will get a shout out. Birth of the Blues (George White’s Scandals (1927)) was our opener, with a brassy quartet (Abby Rockwell Savage, Madison Stratton, Nicholas Wuehrmann, and (a last minute addition) Richard Coombs), plus our host for the evening, Steve Ross. The program continued with Shaking the Blues Away.
Steve Ross is a cabaret standout—my notes include “a true stylist.” Not the best voice out there, not the best pianist out there, but a true stylist, nevertheless. His driving force made the evening a complete success. His panache made us feel as though we were in a chic New York cabaret.
This was the Revue era—’20s and ’30s—via song. One of the highlights was
T. Oliver Reed’s rendition of Nobody, in the style of one of its writers (and star performer) Bert Williams. I’m not certain whether Mr. Reed’s performance was a replica of Mr. Williams’ (I’m not that old), but it certainly evoked Mr. Williams and his era.
The tunes were culled from the George White’s Scandals, the Ziegfeld Follies, Music Box Revue, Life Begins at 8:40, Seven Lively Arts, Garrick Gaieties, Flying Colors, and the Greenwich Village Follies. As Mr. Ross drolly commented, “I never had a folly in Greenwich Village, but I guess there were some.”
The composers/lyricists included Buddy DeSylva, Lew Brown, Ray Henderson, Irving Berlin, Bert Williams, Cole Porter, George Gershwin, Harold Arlen, Yip Harburg, Rodgers & Hart, and Dietz & Schwartz. Not shabby company!
Two Little Babes in the Woods gave us “… fountain of youth is gin and vermouth.” I’ll Build a Stairway to Paradise/Beautiful Ladies covered the stairway theme. Most of the songs were upbeat, with a couple of mood changers, including What’ll I Do? In introducing the song, Mr. Ross stole a line from somewhere re. Irving Berlin—“Russia’s greatest export … after vodka!”
Yielding the stage to Peter Mintun (after a bit of a faux pas) produced another well-seasoned performer for us, the audience. His set included American Tune (yay, us! but without the rah! rah!); You’re a Builder Upper (introduced in 1934 by Ray Bolger, dancing with Dixie Dunbar, of TV ad’s “tap-dancing-cigarette-box” fame—I’m not making this up, you know!),which yielded us the rather cool lyric, “I’m a giver-in-er”; and the classic, A Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody. (Was that last sentence too convoluted? Or just convoluted enough?!?)
The program closed out with a tribute to Ethel Merman in the guise of both Stephen Cole and Klea Blackhurst, accompanied by David Krane*. The songs included My Song, and Ladies and Gentlemen, That’s Love, both from George White’s Scandals (1931), and, from the same year, Life Is Just a Bowl of Cherries. Who knew that that was a “Merm” song? Not I. But now I, and you, do!
Mr. Ross and company provided a great stroll down memory lane with some fun, some laughs, and a great time, enjoyed by a very enthusiastic audience.
ConcertMeister
*David Krane was the music director of the Broadway revival of “Sweeney Todd” that I was blessed to be a performer in.
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