The title of Mary Cleere Haran’s latest show is the essence of who she is. A master technician of the lyric! She does meticulous research that comes from her days of writing documentaries for PBS’s “American Songbook” series. She’s extremely bright, witty and possesses a bountiful and charming humor. Growing up in San Francisco, she developed a taste for fine vocal artists early on. She became an aficionado and expert on 1930’s and 1940’s movies. She was extremely influenced by lyricists like Irving Berlin, Lorenz Hart, Dorothy Fields, Ira Gershwin and others.

This show was filled with standards, but presented with many surprises. Opening her set with Cole Porter’s “It’s DeLovely,” we get to hear every conceivable lyric and verse written. Mary has her very own style when she presents a song; she’s playful, funny, sinful and sexy. Says she “Both sides of my brain love lyrics and apparently I have quite a brain.” Well, she’s truthful! She engages her audience as a knowledgeable professor would and explores every nuance and syllable because she loves lyricists. It’s easy to get lost in wanting to learn more and more from this Queen of Patter, but then we remember this lady, who has both brains and beauty, also has a voice we’re eager to hear. Her sound has clarity and precision with a throaty sensation.

Irving Berlin’s “Pack Up Your Sins” (her tribute to Passover), elicited some more stories about Berlin being Lorenz Hart’s favorite lyricist and segued into tales about the Nuns at the Catholic School she attended and how they loved The King and I”because they secretly had a crush on Yul Brenner and the romance, and on and on.

Rodgers and Hart’s “The Girlfriend” and “Way Out West” (on West End Avenue) and Al Dubin and Harry Warren’s “42^nd Street” pay homage to a time period near and dear to Mary’s heart.  She was thrilled to discover Dorothy Fields because “men were prudes and Fields wrote sexy lyrics” like “A Fine Romance” and “I’m In The Mood For Love.” Her big Gershwin ending included “Sweet and Lowdown,” “Fidgety Feet,” and “Fascinating Rhythm.” Encore “It Had To Be You” was slow and sexy. On piano was Rob Schwimmer and on bass, Dick Sarpola.

Mary is an old-fashioned chanteuse and maybe not a household name, but should be.  For a gal who started out as a dancer and then took up the violin before realizing she could sing, she’s done a pretty fine job! Although she’s often compared to Peggy Lee, Ella Fitzgerald or Rosie Clooney it seems unfair. She’s distinctive in her own right; she’s Mary Cleere Haran!

Sandi Durell
Cabaret Scenes
April 17, 2008
www.cabaretscenes.org