Miss World-USA, 1973, Lynda Carter, aka Wonder Woman! Tall, thin, strikingly beautiful, Ms. Carter in tight black pants, sweater and sparkle jacket sang her way onto the stage at Feinstein’s with “Deed I Do.” From the sound of the small cheering audience, the answer is a resounding “yes, you do indeed!” Bringing her recent new Atlantic City show to New York and accompanied by her five musicians from L.A., she exudes sexuality as if it were going out of style.

Carter has been singing since her early days in San Francisco where she began doing gigs at age 17 in a club over a Holiday Inn. After her title as Miss World-USA and successful Wonder Woman TV series, she spent all her time on the road for many years. She equated this to a life with no substance until she became pregnant with her first child and took time off for family life. Back performing big time, she has many concert dates scheduled, as well as recording a new CD in Nashville for release later this year.

The essence of her show is a little bit of country, blues, pop rock and lots of sensuality. From “Blues in the Night” to “Love Me Like a Man” (for the ladies in the audience of which there weren’t many!), Carter does gain audience attention and is a pretty good singer. “Where Did Our Love Go” as a slow, sexy swing number was creative except for the over abundance of “baby, baby, baby, ooh, ooh, ooh.” Attention to diction and pronunciation might be an enhancement so that lyrics could be better understood.

She paid homage to “You Send Me”/"At Last” enhanced with the terrific sax solo opening. Spitting out all those lyrics on “Cloudburst” was a feat and well delivered and “Fifty Ways To Leave Your Lover” is a highlight. There was also a good interpretive arrangement on “Fever.” Her strong suit seems to lie in country and blues and “Crazy” was strong. Encores, which she related can be rather boring, did produce a top rendition of “St. Louis Blues” as fast rock, with Ms. Carter sexily dancing her way through the audience, and featured solos on guitar and sax. Her band consists of arranger/musical director/pianist Sam Kriger, on bass Ken Wild, on drums Ed Smith, on guitar Josh Workman and on synthesizer/sax/flute Brian Scanlon. Lynda Carter will be performing at Feinstein’s thru October 25th.

Sandi Durell
Cabaret Scenes
October 22, 2008
www.cabaretscenes.org