It’s that 80-year young, sparkle-plenty blonde, again, who reaches out for us and, oh yes, we are there! This is Marilyn Maye’s fifth Metropolitan Room engagement and audiences are panting with anticipation and delight for her latest "lady at the bar" saga of sex, romance and passion as we enthusiastically ride the roller coaster of love finding and losing romance. Maye would surely know about it three husbands later!  She has the ability to wind her admirers around her well-manicured fingers presenting in her, nothing less than, exhilarating, style. Vocally, she sounds like a young swingin’ tootsie that can charm the last dime out of your pocket. Cole Porter never knew how the power of his lyrics could shine with such direct honesty on tunes like “Looking at You,” or kick on “I Get a Kick Out of You.” I’m sure he’d say, “It's Alright With Me!’ If I hadn’t asked the question "who does your arranging?," I wouldn’t have known that Ms. Maye is also her own arranger! 

Impeccable phrasing, better than or surely as good as Sinatra, is why Marilyn Maye has reached the pinnacle of icon status. After finishing “All of You,” the crowd roared...again and again and again and we thrilled to the great saloon song “Just For A Thrill.”

In comparison to her last show in April, which was a birthday celebration, she admittedly warns her audience that this show is a “real downer,” stating that “people are the happiest when they’re sitting, drinking and crying.”  This was the perfect segue into “Guess Who I Saw Today,” which left a knot in my heart that is still unwinding.  She slips and slides with vocal aplomb through “Lover Man” and knocks us out with the stories of “Lush Life” and “Something Cool.” 

Short on patter, we hardly notice because all we want is to hear Maye keep singing so we can delight to this native Kansas City bluesy jazz singer, who moves us from laughter to tears in the blink of an eye. She’s got it right with James Taylor’s “Secret O' Life” lyric “since we’re only here for a while we might as well show some style.”

Accompanied by 31 year old jazz musician Tedd Firth on piano (Maye calls him an "old soul") and Tom Hubbard on bass, as well as her long-time drummer (46 years) Jim Eklof,  you really want to see and hear this show.

Additional performances Saturday thru Tuesday September 7^th thru 9^th and Sunday thru Tuesday Sept. 14^th thru 16^th, 7:00 p.m.

Sandi Durell
Cabaret Scenes
September 6, 2008
www.cabaretscenes.org