The show was entitled Hotter Than Hot! and that’s what Marion Ramsey was — sizzling, sassy and serious as the song or the interpretation called for, and always first-rate. With her powerful voice, full-throated delivery and top-notch acting chops, she was able to set a distinct mood for each song in her exciting appearance at Tom Rolla’s Gardenia.

The show’s dominant through-line was clearly Ramsey herself – reliving some of her standout moments on Broadway and honoring some of the female singers her late father admired.

Among the former were her brassy, declarative “This Must Be the Place,” the opening number from Grind”by Larry Grossman and Ellen Fitzhugh; “If You’ve Never Been Vamped by a Brownskin, You’ve Never Been Vamped at All,” her solo from Eubie, written by Mr. Blake himself and Noble Sissel, during which she incorporated a line or two sung in a deeper register to represent co-star Gregory Hines; and her encore number, John Fogerty's Proud Mary, the Tina Turner tune she originally sang in Rock & Roll: The First 5,000 Years.

Her tribute to what she called “Dad’s good taste” and “women who were consummate vocalists” included spot-on versions of two Dinah Washington hits (”Teach Me Tonight” by Sammy Cahn and Gene DuPaul, and, particularly, “What a Diff’rence a Day Made” by Stanley Adams and Maria Grever); Sarah Vaughan’s bluesy reading of Stephen Sondheim’s “Send In the Clowns;” and Jim Wetherly’s “Midnight Train to Georgia,” as sung by Gladys Knight — though she left it up to the audience to determine what singer each song represented until late in the show rather than naming the women as she sang their songs.

Ramsey’s quieter, more serious — and most affecting — moments included renditions of “Wind Beneath My Wings” by Larry Henley and Jeff Silbar, and “One Night Only” from Dreamgirls by Tom Eyen and Henry Krieger — the latter sung as a ballad and preceded by the story of how Dreamgirls author Eyen wrote that show with Nell Carter, Leata Galloway and Ramsey as his inspirations — and idealized cast — for Effie, Deena and Lorell, respectively.

One of the evening’s most rousing moments came when Irene Soderberg, one of San Francisco’s cabaret legends, joined Ramsey at the mike for a powerful duet on Fats Waller’s “Ain’t Misbehavin’.”

Ron Snyder provided hard-pounding keyboard support throughout. However, on several occasions when Ramsey paused to give him an instrumental break, they had trouble determining when she was ready to resume singing.

That small problem aside, Ramsey’s rich voice, ingratiating personality and easy affability with the audience make her a performer worth seeing.

Elliot Zwiebach
Cabaret Scenes
October 24, 2008
www.cabaretscenes.org