Ron Cohn’s show, A Talent to Amuse, is well titled. Amuse he does. Cohn, now age 75, is a grand interpreter clearly having a great time on stage. His pleasure is infectious. Like Julie Wilson, whom he represented for decades, he is no longer singerly. However, that mattered little in his performance, which ranks among the more engaging in Chicago this year. In two Jewish-oriented numbers both by Irving Berlin, “Cohen Owes Me Ninety-Seven Dollars” and “Sadie Salome (Go Home”), Bubbeh would agree that Ronele got the accent and bigtime schmaltz right. This is not to say that Cohn only shticks. He brings an unusual feistiness to the verse of Noel Coward’s “If Love Were All,” making the discovery by the independent soul that being needed by “somebody splendid” more dear. That Cohn is a thoughtful, knowledgeable song picker gives the show variety and heart. The double entendre in “Smut” (not Tom Lehrer’s but an earlier song by Murray Grand) and “How Could Little Red Riding Hood” is clever. The novelty tune “Princess Poo-Poo-Ly” (who gives away plenty papayas) was a smash encore. Bring back vaudeville. Bring back Borscht Belt. Bring back Ron Cohn.

Carla Gordon
Cabaret Scenes
May 11, 2009
www.cabaretscenes.org