Recently we have had a series of cabaret shows featuring not what we call The Great American Songbook, but showcasing worthy work written since 1950 that the cabaret artist feels deserves recognition as much as the older standards. Silver-voiced Washington, DC-based Jim Van Slyke’s new show explores the oeuvre of Neil Sedaka, known primarily for novelty pop hits of the 'sixties and 'seventies. Van Slyke early on includes the well-remembered novelties in a rocking medley, many featuring refrains such as "doo ra dum dee dee do": "Bad Blood," "Oh, Carol," "Calendar Girl," "Happy Birthday, Sweet 16," "Next Door to an Angel," and the Connie Francis movie hit "Where the Boys Are." But this well-paced act—directed and conceived by Tony-nominated singer-actor Brian Lane Green, with terrific musical arrangements and direction by MAC nominee/Bistro Award winner Tim DiPasqua—also demonstrates that Sedaka was and is more than a pop novelty writer.

Several tender ballads are performed by Van Slyke with sympathetic feeling for the lyrics. "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do," perhaps Nedaka’s most famous ballad, is sung simply, standing absolutely still without any physical movement. Van Slyke also shows us Sedaka’s classical training by singing with his full vocal range a lovely "Turning Back the Hands of Time" set to a Puccini aria from La Boheme.

Sedaka’s lesser-known sad song, "Pray for Rain" is paired with the more popular "Laughter in the Rain" (both with lyrics by Phil Cody). "Wish I Was a Carousel" led into "One More Ride on the Merry-Go-Round," once recorded by Jane Olivor. Van Slyke sang it with Piaf-like intensity. Perhaps the most heartbreaking song was "Should Have Never Let You Go" (also with a lyric by Cody), which is a classy torch song about seeing a lost rejected lover in the vein of "How Did He Look?" (It was originally sung by Sedaka with his daughter.)

This was a very polished act that managed to reveal some unfamiliar [to this reviewer] Sedaka beauties in a performance with musical and dramatic power by Van Slyke.

Joe Regan, Jr.
Cabaret Scenes
March 5, 2009
www.cabaretscenes.org