Opening nights at the Café Carlyle are usually aglow not only with the expectation of a new show, but with the buzz of high profile celebrities. On this occasion of two-time Tony Award winner Christine Ebersole, there were many more than usual: Joan Rivers, Tommy Tune, Angela Lansbury, Tovah Feldshuh, Joan Hamburg, Elaine Stritch — all present to witness the enchanting Ms. Ebersole's newest cabaret endeavor.

An appropriate location for an Inauguration Day opening (the Carlyle has hosted all Presidents since Kennedy and is nicknamed "The New York White House"), it didn't take long for Ms. Ebersole to unleash her zany humor in Rodgers/Hart's "I've Got Five Dollars" — a perfect song for the new administration and her second term at the Carlyle! It reminded her about the family fish named Money and their Christmas memorial service gathered around the toilet as they watched Money go down!

Blessed with a remarkable vocal prowess that is fascinating and quirky, a slow and easy "I Can't Give You Anything But Love" and "Bill" (dedicated to hubby) had pure crystallized notes.

Little Edie Beale (Grey Gardens) comes to life in patter and song on "Cooking Breakfast for the One I Love" (Rose/Tobias) with her '30s-style twang thang that always endears Ms. Ebersole.

The song "Forty Second Street," for which she won a Tony as Dorothy Brock, conjures just the right image as the entertainment cesspool of yesteryear, as Ebersole drops one-liners about her youthful bikini audition as a dancer up a deep and narrow 8th Avenue club stairway. The slow, sexy arrangement is as good as it gets.

Who would believe that a song written 150 years ago by the Father of American Music, Stephen Foster, could be so current today? "Hard Times Come Again No More" is beautiful in its simplicity.

If it's trills and tra-la-las you crave, look no further as Ebersole lifts you to new heights of humor and high Cs with Herbert/Smith's "Art Is Calling for Me (I Want to Be a Prima Donna)."

Eartha Kitt, who usually fills this performance spot, is paid homage in a mixture of Ebersole and Kitt's sex kitten style with "Monotonous."

Reunited with director Scott Wittman and together with musical director John Oddo, this is a not-to-be missed performance before Ms. Ebersole heads to Broadway next month to star in the Noël Coward revival of Blithe Spirit with Angela Lansbury. Band members include Dave Mann on woodwinds, Kevin Winard on drums and David Finck on bass.

Sandi Durell
Cabaret Scenes
January 21, 2009
www.cabaretscenes.org