Long recognized for bringing charm and wit, sophistication and her trademark scholarship to cabarets across the country, Mary Cleere Haran came to Feinstein’s two weekends this autumn to celebrate the centennial of Johnny Mercer. The evening was part performance, part patron musical quiz and part sing-along—all of which her audience seemed to enjoy.

Mary Cleere’s voice has become huskier over time, yet her interpretation of a lyric remains strong and moving, bringing life to such favorites as “Out of This World,” “That Old Black Magic,” “How Little We Know” and such faster-paced standards as “Jeepers Creepers.” She was flip and funny recalling and echoing the film performances of Judy Garland, Margaret O’Brien and Cyd Charisse, singing “The Atchinson, Topeka and the Sante Fe,” while her “Blues In the Night” duet with bassist Chip Jackson was an imaginative, riveting moment of jazz.

Disconcerting habits crept into her performance, as she sang many songs with her eyes closed and continually adjusted her light sweater, even at a song’s emotional height. Most moving was her near-finale rendition of “Moon River,” performed, at her on-the-spot request, a pitch lower than charted, and exhibiting a warmer richness to her voice that she might want to develop. Musical Director/pianist and arranger was the ever-masterful Don Rebic (who alternated playing weeks with Ted Rosenthal).

Peter Haas
Cabaret Scenes
November 5, 2009
www.cabaretscenes.org