Heads up producers! This accessible, entertaining show was made for a tour.
“Strange how potent cheap music is,” Billy Stritch quotes (Amanda – Noel Coward’s Private Lives). Songs that were once discarded as necessary craft became, he remarks, “priceless,” universally working their way into our memories, becoming part of our lives. Tonight’s three artists open with the buoyant title written by Richard Whiting and Johnny Mercer for 1937’s Hollywood Hotel, which paid ironic tribute to Tinseltown. Every lyric is performed with appreciation. Songs are offered with brief, connective patter and attribution- just enough.
Stritch, always a treat solo at a piano, sings “As Time Goes By” with wistful phrasing and understated accompaniment (Herman Hupfeld from 1941’s Casablanca). Beginning a group of love songs, he and Liam Forde then offer a jaunty “The Lady’s in Love with You.” Their voices sound well together” (Frank Loesser from 1955’s Guys and Dolls). “Lauren Bacall wasn’t entirely convinced,” quips Stritch introducing Carole J. Bufford’s creamy rendition of “How Little We Know” (Hoagy Carmichael/ Johnny Mercer from 1944’s To Have and Have Not).
Stritch and Bufford duet a medley of five songs introduced by Fred Astaire, beginning with Stritch’s plaintive, romantic “Change Partners” (Irving Berlin from 1938’s Carefree). In these performers’ hands, selections constitute a conversation. They address one another. During the tap-tempo “A Fine Romance,” the two seem to bicker (Jerome Kern/ Dorothy Fields from Swingtime). “But it’s a happy ending in the sixth reel,” Stritch says prefacing “Cheek to Cheek” which exits with a wink of swing music (Irving Berlin from 1935’s Top Hat).
Forde appears as the actor he is when not on a cabaret stage. “I Guess I’ll Have To Change My Plan” arrives perplexed and distressed not, as accustomed, insouciant (Arthur Schwartz/ Howard Dietz from 1953’s The Bandwagon). The performer gamely stumbles, mugs and clowns his way through “Make’m Laugh” ending with a purposefully awkward split. Our audiences loves it (Nacio Herb Brown/Arthur Freed from Singin’ in the Rain). A lilting “It’s a Lovely Day Today” (Irving Berlin for 1950’s Call Me Madam) and “Moonlight Becomes You” (Jimmy Van Heusen /Johnny Burke from 1942’s The Road to Morocco) are laser directed to an unseen love interest across the room. Iconoclastic choices.
As introduced by teenager Judy Garland singing to a photo of Clark Gable, “You Made Me Love You” emerges provocative and grown up interpreted by Bufford (James V. Monaco/Joseph McCarthy with additional lyrics by Roger Edens from Broadway Melody of 1938). In “The Trolley Song,” she’s captivated by “him” but again, not an ingénue (Hugh Martin/Ralph Blane from 1944’s Meet Me in St. Louis). Fewer gestures would make these more sympathetic.
“The Man That Got Away” (Harold Arlen/Ira Gershwin from 1954’s A Star is Born) and “Put the Blame On Mame” (Allan Roberts/Doris Fisher from 1946’s Gilda) are mother’s milk to Bufford. Vividly all woman, both showcase extraordinary vocal control and investment. The latter offers one of this artist’s favorite and most successful guises as a sexy, mischievous temptress. She slithers, dips, points, and swivels hips with the facial expressions of a silent film star (Nobody does it better).
“One for My Baby” is deftly rendered by Stritch as if cowed. Piano ambles. A deep inhale communicates emotion; the pronounced swallow before “it’s a long, long road,”adds more (Harold Arlen/Johnny Mercer from 1943’s The Sky’s the Limit). Adroitly woven together by the artist, an instrumental movie theme medley has the audience tapping memories. All three performers sing “The Way We Were.” (Marvin Hamlish/Alan Bergman & Marilyn Bergman from the 1973 film of the same name). The evening closes with a rambunctious eprise of ‘Hooray.
Photos by Conor Weiss
Hooray for Hollywood! The Songs That Made the Movies Sing
Devised by Barry Day
Produced to benefit The Mabel Mercer Foundation
“Ringmaster”/Piano Billy Stritch
Vocals Billy Stritch, Carole J. Bufford, Liam Forde
Birdland Theater 315 West 44th Street
Venue Calendar
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