It's hard not to like Craig Pomranz and his show at the Metropolitan Room. Casually attired in a vest with an open collared shirt and rolled-up sleeves, he's easy-going, good spirited and a winning tenor. If that weren't enough to win an audience's favor, he's reached into the Great American Songbook and pulled out a generous handful of treasures. Some were instantly familiar -- Johnny Mercer's English language version of "Autumn Leaves" -- some were rarely heard, such as Murray Grand's "I Always Say Hello to a Flower."

Either way, the songwriters were choice: Cole Porter, Rodgers and Hart, Jule Style and Sammy Cahn, Irving Berlin, Stephen Sondheim, Betty Comden and Adolph Green. Got the idea?

Opening with "You Stepped Out of a Dream," Pomranz followed it with an ebullient rendition of Cole Porter's "Throwing a Ball Tonight," edited to include some updated allusions. Equally upbeat was his rendition of Jule Stynes', Betty Comden's and Adolph Green's "Fireworks," the two numbers showing off Pomranz's energetic vocalizing to good advantage. Frank Loesser's "Rumble Rumble Rumble," the near-hysterical plaint of a lodger forced to hear her neighbor's all-night piano playing, was frantic and appropriately high decibel. On the other end of the scale were a quiet "My Ship" by Ira Gershwin and Kurt Weill, and a romantic, almost-reverent "Goodnight My Love."

Less successful were the times when Pomranz abruptly shot from a just-audible pianissimo to an extravagant fortissimo. True, Johnny Ray made it work, and there often was some basis in the song for a change in the sound level, but Pomranz would be better served by stepping up the near whispers and attenuating the vigorous belting when they are but a couple of notes apart.

All told, Pomranz created an enjoyable show with Steve Bocchino at the piano, a collection of great composers on the song list and an affable tenor at the microphone.

Peter Leavy
Cabaret Scenes
September 25, 2007
www.cabaretscenes.org