It was big news just a couple of years ago when Joanne Beretta returned to the cabaret stage after a twenty-five year hiatus. Her singing career began in the mid-fifties in San Francisco, but soon transferred to New York.  The roster of clubs she played reads like a history of the heyday of clubby boites on two coasts: The hungry-I, the Purple Onion, Bon Soir, Reno Sweeney’s, Brothers and Sisters, Upstairs at the Duplex, Downstairs at the Upstairs, plus Town Hall and the Carnegie Recital Hall.  She even made a mark on the Off-Broadway circuit, playing in Tommy Tune’s Obie-winning production of The Club.

The cabaret landscape has changed since then, but in performance, Beretta still manages to impress with her clear voice and appealing interpretation.  There were some daunting problems the night we caught her show.  Sound from a nearby room infiltrated the Music Box and clearly distressed Beretta, but much less so her audience.  And as the show progressed, Beretta shrugged off the distraction and gained energy and enthusiasm. 

Most of the selections were standards, a genre Beretta handles with loving ease, offering songs by Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer, Harold Rome, and Rodgers and Hart. Also, “Tell Me,” by her one-time collaborator, John Wallowitch.  One of the evening’s most ingratiating renditions was Sammy Fain and Irving Kahal’s “I Can Dream, Can’t I?”  And the most amusing, Mary Liz McNamara’s giddy ode to a vegetarian’s dark side, “Bacon.”  Beretta ended the show on a high note, with a spirited presentation of “Hit the Road to Dreamland,” paired with “Bye-Bye Blackbird.”

Beretta probably has anecdotes galore, but the anecdotes in Travelin’ were far too random, and too extensive.  Greatly reducing the patter and concentrating on her song list would help enhance a lovely night of nostalgia.

Peter Leavy
Cabaret Scenes
February 7, 2008
www.cabaretscenes.org