Richard Holbrook has boyish good looks and a lovely tenor voice, both perfect qualities to put across his program of Christmas songs at Don’t Tell Mama. He didn’t stray far from the usual holiday fare, but managed to be refreshing nonetheless because of his sincerity and skill. He might have carried this sincerity a bit too far during the overtly religious portion of the evening, but he was never mawkish or overbearing, although some toning down of gestures might be in order. (Let the beautiful voice do the acting!)

Christmas Time Is Here was a program of several medleys, the best of which were four songs by the beloved composer Burton Lane which included some rarities like “Who Says There Ain’t No Santa Claus?” (from Flahooley) and “Let’s Make It Christmas All Year Round” with lyrics by, respectively, Yip Harburg and Dorothy Fields. Also edgier than the rest were “World Weary” (Coward), “Confessions of a New Yorker” (Portia Nelson) and “Sing the Merry” (also from Flahooley). These songs were just sophisticated enough to raise the evening’s wit level and he sang them with panache.

Mr. Holbrook sang a generous program accompanied by the Tom Nelson Trio (Tom Nelson, piano; Michael Max Fleming, bass; Peter Grant, drums), with direction by Richard Barclay.  Each musician was able to show off and Mr. Holbrook’s admiration of their skills was obvious.

Richard Holbrook is the perfect cabaret package: looks, voice, confidence and warmth.

Joel Benjamin
Cabaret Scenes
December 12, 2010
www.cabaretscenes.org