Rosemary and Time is an inspired title for Liz McCartney’s tribute to the late Rosemary Clooney, an amalgam of Clooney’s songs and a biographical walk through a famous life.

Symbolically, the show starts by recreating the experience of listening to one’s favorite vocalists on the radio.  In the totally-darkened Laurie Beechman Theatre, McCartney opens with a moving arrangement of “Tenderly” as a single spot ever so slowly back lights and silhouettes her.  The biographical narrative begins soon after as the versatile Marcy McGuigan joins McCartney as sister Betty, to recreate the youthful Clooney Sisters. 

With her rich voice, McCartney follows Clooney’s career and her personal life within a tapestry of songs associated with the star. “Counting My Blessings,” “Hey, There,” “Slow Boat to China,” “Mambo Italiano,” and of course the “stupid” song Clooney came to despise that may have been her biggest hit, “Come On-a My House.”  As the show progresses, McCartney does a splendid job recreating the feeling of Clooney’s era, from its 1945 origins to her last concert in Hawaii in 2001. 

Guest star Marcy McGuignan is a charmer and an engaging fillip to McCartney’s performance, as she pops on and off stage numerous times in numerous guises, including as a bearded Mitch Miller.  Musical Director Fellman, appropriately costumed for ‘forties and ‘fifties, also engages in some dialogue and delightful duetting with McCartney.

It is a captivating program of songs and nostalgia, done handsomely.  Nevertheless, while she alludes to Clooney’s difficult marriages to Jose Ferrer, (yes, they were married and divorced twice), a failed romance, and her breakdown and subsequent hospitalization, in failing to give them more recognition in the program – “Blues in the Night” was one of Clooney’s biggest hits – McCartney misses capturing a poignancy that would further deepen the impact of Rosemary and Time. 

The effectively scripted show was impressively directed by Kelley McKinnon, with Frank Galgano the capable hand on lights and sound. Ray Fellman at the piano led Gregory Landes on percussion and Mark Shmied on bass.

Rosemary and Time plays again at the Laurie Beechman Theater on Sunday, August 24^th.

Peter Leavy
Cabaret Scenes
August 17, 2008
www.cabaretscenes.org