For those who are not afraid of being thought sentimental, for those who enjoy feeling nostalgic, and especially for those born before 1970, Bistro Award winner Kathy Kaefer’s show, Kiss Me Once: Stories from the Home Front at the Metropolitan Room, would be a great treat. Once she sang the opening pair of songs, “When I Grow Too Old to Dream”/"Moonlight Serenade,” the audience was hooked. She was able to create a World War II song style and mood that touched the memory through her pleasing voice and phrasing, as well as facial expressions that emanated the pleasure she took in singing these particular songs. Even her hairstyle was reminiscent of that past era.

Kaefer’s patter began by mentioning an 86-year-old friend, Joe Columbo (not the Mafia boss), who told her stories of his wartime experiences. These reminiscences became an important bond and helped her steep herself in the WW II era so essential to her act. Together with her family stories, this patter formed the warp and woof which, along with her choice and delivery of songs, enabled her to weave an act of whole cloth.

But it was Kaefer’s family stories, especially that of her 16-year-old grandmother Theresa, a war bride, that really helped her bring alive such songs as “Long Ago and Far Away,” though in a way that made its greatness timeless, as the style of WW II has a timelessness about it for many. Even for those who had no direct experience of the era, the atmosphere of the room took on a '40s feel. Kaefer’s voice beautifully delivered the depth of emotion, the longing and loneliness of separation in wartime. Who could not feel the desolation of a young newly- married couple when Kaefer sang ”I’ll Be Seeing You" ("in all the old familiar places…”)?

But the act’s director, Kelly Gillespie, knew better than to leave out fun and the need for relief from the seriousness of war. Kaefer’s musical director, Stephen Bocchino, not only accompanied her on the piano, but also added some fun when he sang with her such lively songs as “Shoo Shoo Baby” and “Milkman" ("keep those bottles quiet"). But the combination of patter, story and song that was especially successful was Kaefer’s tale of a ferry full of beautiful, well-dressed young women who sang, as they went out to welcome ships laden with homecoming servicemen, “Kiss Me Once" ("and kiss me twice, and kiss me once again") at which point she had the audience join in singing the refrain, “It’s been a long, long time.” That brought together a number of elements that made for a successful show: fine singing (despite a cold), the best songs of the era, a thematically unified act, and enthusiastic audience participation.

Gloria Taplin
Cabaret Scenes
January 15, 2009
www.cabaretscenes.org