Luba Mason brings much to the party; beautiful seamless voice, beautiful face and a dancer’s leggy grace. Despite that, her performance at Davenport’s didn’t always resonate. We can forgive that Luba didn’t quite know how to get on the club's little stage, but her irritation with pianist Jim Sellers was palpable. There seemed to be misunderstandings regarding tempo requirements. Generally such misunderstandings are smoothed out by rehearsing.

Mason did present fine moments. Randy Newman’s “Tickle Me” was sensuous fun and the evening’s standout. The a capella "Skylark" encore was simple and a lovely journey. “Motherland,” sung in both Slovenian and English, communicated nicely.

Original material didn’t fare as well. In Mason’s own “Gorgeous Fool,” the lines asking the “fool” not to step on shoes costing two weeks pay is charming, but the rest of the song could be better focused and rhymed. “Shamed Into Love” by Elvis Costello and Mason’s husband, Ruben Blades, is a tough song to track; it’s not quite clear what the “shame” is or where it is rooted.

When Mason, a success in musical theater, sang as the characters she played, her words were easily understood. However, when Mason sang as herself, the words were sometimes slurred.

Carla Gordon
Cabaret Scenes
September 21, 2008
www.cabaretscenes.org