Who else but irrepressible Eileen Fulton, would tuck Kurt Weill's "Pirate Jenny" in the midst of a Holiday Show? The selection might have stunned a few in her sold-out audience at the Metropolitan Room, but consider this. It would not really be Christmas in New York without a performance by Fulton, and as a legendary soap opera diva (As the World Turns), she is always ready to tackle another tasty dramatic musical moment. She does not have to delve much further than Kurt Weill and his saga of the nefarious Jenny.

Having worked in theatre (The Fantastics), films (Signs of the Cross), and television (2003 Lifetime Achievement Emmy Award winner), Fulton's forte is acting, and she fearlessly delves into the darkest moods and the giddiest comedy. She paints photographs in words and songs from her life and imagination, creating moods: A lonely ambiance ("Moonlight And Mistletoe") dovetails gently into today's turbulent world, just as her plea for peace does, as echoed in "Do You Hear What I Hear?" She envelopes her own tune, "Santa Man," in a sassy, if somewhat acerbic remembrance of one of her husbands, and she embellishes "The Little Drummer Boy" as a lavish theatrical Christmas legend, flavored by Jack Bashkow's exotic, middle-Eastern reed flavoring. "The 59th Street Bridge - Feelin' Groovy" is paired with Maury Yeston's "December Snow," resulting in a nostalgic narrative about Fulton's years in one New York apartment and her recent move to another.

Charming and down-to-earth, Eileen Fulton is accompanied in her Holiday Show by musical director/pianist Bob Goldstone, Rom Hubbard on bass, Jack Bashkow on reeds and Steve Bartosik on drums, all generous with holiday spirit and perceptive musical support for one of the hardest working performers around.

Elizabeth Ahlfors
Cabaret Scenes
December 15, 2007
www.cabaretscenes.org