The lovely Peisha McPhee sailed into New York recently for a short run of her new show, The Story Goes On, at the Metropolitan Room, playing to packed houses and eager fans. Renowned as a vocal coach on the West coast where she makes her home, McPhee trod the boards as Julie in several national tours of Showboat (among other shows) more than a decade ago before releasing a critically acclaimed disc of standards, Out of the Blue, on LML in September, 1998. More recently, she's been in the news as the mother and coach of Katherine McPhee who shot to fame last year as the runner-up of American Idol's fifth season.

Hearing McPhee sing at the Metropolitan Room in early June, it was easy to see where Katharine and her equally beautiful sister Adriana (who's also a singer and actress) get their vocal talent as well as their beauty. She has a warm, lyric soprano that mixes equal parts of a mezzo style Broadway belt with a more legit head-voice, navigating the break between the two with assurance and ease. Moving through a rigorous program that included several difficult songs by Sondheim (as if there are any easy ones!), a trio of ballads by Kurt Weill and a handful of other tunes by contemporary composers like Adam Guettel, Jason Robert Brown and John Bucchino, McPhee's voice was lustrous and confident, exuding the same kind of glamour exhibited by her dazzling (and bedazzled!) gowns.

The biggest problem with McPhee's show, other than questionable choices at the end of a few songs, was the accompaniment of her musical director Mel Dangcil. Her longtime collaborator in teaching cabaret workshops, it's easy to understand McPhee's comfort and devotion to Dangcil as a performing partner but his erratic, jazz-based style doesn't show off her voice to its fullest advantage. More akin to the tinkling stylings of Ferrante & Teicher slumming in an after-hours jazz club, Dangcil's playing frequently lacked a bass-line and often changed tonal centers in the middle of a chorus or verse. He broke the cardinal sin of routinely distracting the listener from the vocalist leaving one to wonder what McPhee's presentation would be like working with a pianist who truly understands the art of playing for a singer (e.g., Chris Marlowe, Chris Denny, Steven Ray Watkins, Tedd Firth, etc.). There's a big difference between being a good pianist and a good accompanist. With Dangcil playing for her, McPhee was constantly working harder than she had to, performing her material instead of inhabiting it.

David Hurst
Cabaret Scenes
June 6, 2007
www.cabaretscenes.org