More than cabaret, it felt sort of like a quaint salon evening or an after-dinner indulgence of your dear aunt who wanted to sing a few old favorites. Billed as Love and Other Nonsense: Songs of Silliness and Desire, the act lived up to its title. Gracious Janet Hariton sang with dignity or devilishness, sometimes sharing or giving the vocal spotlight to very able accompanist Bill Lewis. Their easy friendship came through as did an old-fashioned, just-among-friends ambience spreading to the audience. Some song presentations made you want to hum along, some were just ho-hum. Ballads by the likes of the Gershwins got a somber treatment that could have used more adrenalin or stronger point of view, but a smile and a bravo for quirky comic moments like the duet of “The Hippopotamus Song” (Flanders and Swann) as the two happily harmonized, praising the joys of “mud, mud, glorious mud.”
Rob Lester
Cabaret Scenes
January 13, 2008
www.cabaretscenes.org
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