Donna Moore's "cougar" is her term for women of a certain age whose romantic (for romantic, read sexual) preferences are focused on much younger men. She presents it as a mirror image of the males who choose to chase much younger women. What does she term them? "Men."

A facile and versatile actress with a good singing voice plus a background in stand-up, Moore keeps the hour-plus show moving at a merry clip. Cougar Cabaret is actually a milepost on her way to completing Cougar, the Musical, a six-character play that will include the near-dozen songs presented here that Moore, as lyricist, has written with others. "A Mother's Love" is a pleasing lullaby. Most of the numbers, however, are story-songs, and while the tunes are serviceable, their importance to the show, as one might guess from "The Divorce Song" or "Let's Talk About Me," are their lyrics.

The Cougar Cabaret reveals the psyche of a twice-divorced mother of teenagers belatedly discovering her own identity. Her revelations may not shock her audiences, but Moore keeps them amusing as she punctuates her patter with "you can't make these things up." Adam Zelasko provides an attractive foil for some of the selections, and Stephen Borsuk is musical director.

Donna Moore presents The Cougar Cabaret again at Don't Tell Mama on May 9th, June 13th and 14th.

Peter Leavy
Cabaret Scenes
May 2, 2007
www.cabaretscenes.org