Jamie deRoy, the silver-haired Impresario of Cabaret, celebrated the 2009 Academy Awards with a grab-bag of movie songs and mountains of film trivia.

Remember that Jerry Herman song, "Movies Were Movies," from Mack and Mabel?—"Movies were movies when you paid a dime to escape." Guest performer, Rex Reed, perched on a stool and with lovably acerbic verbosity, recalled the allure of once-upon-a-time and bemoaned the bland, tasteless Oscar shows of today. With his shameless charm, Reed dropped names like Celeste Holm and Claudette Colbert, and why not? Those were the days when actors were idols and actresses knew how to dress up, at least on camera. He recalled moments like Rock Hudson and Mae West singing, "Baby, It's Cold Outside" (Loesser), and offered a glimpse of the old-time glamour that once captured the imagination of Americans with a grip that today's superstars cannot approach.

DeRoy opened the show with an amusing patter tune, spoofing the overblown thank you speeches, acknowledging every living creature that ever crossed her path, even her horse, and ending with a salute to, "most of all, ME!" DeRoy is vocally at her best in these comedy numbers when her funny bone is fully flexed.

An eclectic lineup of performers included Piaf interpreter, Gay Marshall, who sang "La Vie En Rose" (Edith Piaf) which was not written for a film but was performed by last year's Best Actress winner Marion Cotillard in La Vie En Rose. Marshall brought a nuanced freshness to the lyrics of "You Light Up My Life" (Joseph Brooks) from the film of the same name.

Comic Steven Scott had a truckload of sound effects, and Sarah Jane McMahon's radiant soprano voice illuminated "When You Wish Upon a Star" (Harline/Washington) from Pinocchio. The downside was that McMahon was singing at the Metropolitan Room, not the Metropolitan Opera, quite a difference. Putting down the mike would have been more affecting.

Leena Rideout showed off impressive instrumental talents but she overacted her vocal rendition of Rodgers and Hammerstein's "It Might As Well Be Spring" (State Fair). She was more at ease with the pop sound of Carly Simon's "Let the River Run" (Working Girl). Rideout and deRoy's duet, "Windmills Of Your Mind" (LeGrand/Bergmans) from The Thomas Crown Affair, was not a compelling choice.

Daryl Glenn brought in his Nashville salute with a smooth and natural "I'm Easy." Three-time Oscar winner, Stephen Schwartz closed the show with warmly delivered anecdotes on the creation of two of his Academy Award songs: "Colors of the Wind" (Pocahontas) and "When You Believe" (The Prince of Egypt).

Directed by Barry Kleinbort with Lanny Meyers on piano, the Oscar celebration ran a bit long in the crowded Metropolitan Room, but that's kind of fitting, isn't it? Did you ever watch an Academy Award show that did not run long?

Elizabeth Ahlfors
Cabaret Scenes
February 16, 2009
www.cabaretscenes.org