Roslyn Kind is a vocal powerhouse.

She does not sing anything halfway. Each song is like a three-act play as she hits a high point early, then raises the energy level a bit more and finally ends with an all-out, full-throated cresendo that astonishes and satisfies at the same time.

She bores her way into a song and then lets it explode on the way out, as exemplified in her best number—the Legrand/Bergmans “How Do You Keep the Music Playing?”—starting her performance on an intimate level, bringing it up to a fever pitch and then letting loose with four magnificent notes as she sang the final words, “The music never ends.”

Kind made it abundantly clear her talent never ends, as she sang each song as if it were the 11 o’clock number in a Broadway show—whether it was “Someday,” a gem by Richard Carpenter and John Bettis, a sensual “The Look of Love” (Burt Bachrach/Hal David) paired with Ivan Lins’ “The Island,” or a haunting version of “Can You Read My Mind?” (John Williams/Leslie Bricusse).

She also excelled with a passionate “Meadowlark” (Stephen Schwartz) and pranced and strutted her stuff on “Show Me Where the Good Times Are” (Ken Jacobson and Rhoda Roberts), from the off-Broadway show of the same name, in which she appeared.

It wasn’t all big numbers, however, as Kind had fun with “At Times Like This (A Girl Could Use a Dog)” (Ahrens and Flaherty)—a tribute to her late Yorkshire terrier, Josh—and with Rodgers and Hart’s “To Keep My Love Alive.”

She addressed the “elephant” that’s always on stage with her by talking early on about a trip to London with “my big sister. You know her—Barbra Brolin,” followed by Walter Marks’ “I’ve Gotta Be Me,” with just a bit of Kander and Ebb’s “Let’s Hear It for Me,” a Streisand song, at the very end.

Kind, represented by Scott Stander and Associates, Sherman Oaks, Calif., and accompanied on piano by Sam Kriger, appeared to be totally comfortable and in her element on stage.  Though her jokes seemed to fall flat with most audience members, her energy never flagged and her voice never wavered.

Elliot Zwiebach
Cabaret Scenes
April 28, 2009
www.cabaretscenes.org