Shelly Goldstein is a lot of women in one body, as she demonstrates skillfully in her look back at female singers of the 1960s, including Carole King, Petula Clark, Lulu, Mama Cass, Laura Nyro and Carly Simon.

Goldstein is an outgoing entertainer in her own right, with a strong and captivating voice and a contagious enthusiasm, who thoroughly entrances an audience and makes them willing to follow anywhere she leads.

Rather than try to imitate any of the “groovy” girl singers of the past, she honors their spirit with respect and a sense of history, sharing a bit of biography about each one along the way before singing some of the songs they made famous.

Ironically, her most compelling moment came in a breif nod to the "groovy guys" of the '60s—a tender reading of Pete Townshend’s “Won’t Get Fooled Again,” which she described as more of a hymn than a rock anthem and which she sang beautifully as a powerful ballad. She also delivered strong versions of two Carole King/Gerry Goffin classics: “I’m Into Something Good,” sung as a ballad, and a sweet, soft rendition of “Up on the Roof.” Plus, there was an effective medley of Petula Clark hits by Tony Hatch and Jackie Trent.

To demonstrate how attitudes toward women and marriage have become more complex over the years, Goldstein did a medley that combined Laura Nyro’s “Wedding Bell Blues” with Carly Simon and Jacob Brackman’s “That’s the Way I’ve Always Heard It Should Be,” plus a word-perfect version of Stephen Sondheim’s “Getting Married Today.”

Woven into the show were several of Goldstein’s brilliant song parodies, including a salute to today’s botoxed women in her own version of Carole King’s “Natural Woman,” re-titled “Unnatural Woman” (“Before my plastic surgeon/Life was so unkind/Thank God that Dr. Cohen sucked the fat from my behind”); a new take on Chip Taylor’s “Angel of the Morning” that became the plea of many aspiring actors: “Just call my agent in the morning…” and a version of “Aquarius” (Gerome Ragni/James Rado/ Galt MacDermot) from Hair about the middle-aging of the baby boomer generation.

And of course, there was Goldstein’s YouTube hit, sung to the tune of the Sherman brothers’ “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious,” called “Stupid Callous Homophobic Hateful Legislation” about efforts to quash gay marriage.

Goldstein was ably abetted by accompanist Scott Harlan, who sang harmony on a couple of songs and stepped away from the piano after donning a blond wig, headband and peace button to join an Afro-wigged Goldstein in “Black Boys/White Boys” from Hair.

Goldstein closed the show saying she favors the optimism of the 1960s over the cynicism of today — and an audience certainly leaves her show feeling upbeat and positive, just like the groovy guys and girls of the 1960s.

Elliot Zwiebach
Cabaret Scenes
April 18, 2010
www.cabaretscenes.org