Admittedly, any cabaret performer will receive a warm and enthusiastic reception to her songs when the audience is primarily friends and family, and Katie Petterle was no exception. Many a cabaret neophyte thus has been misled into too strong a belief in his or her own performance. Happily, the enthusiastic responses of the mostly under-thirties crowd that attended Petterle’s Metropolitan Room debut were justified by Petterle’s several positive abilities.

An amiable and attractive vocalist with a variety of singing jobs behind her, she featured folk songs and numbers from the Beatles, Carole King and others, creating somewhat of a throwback performance to the coffee houses of the ‘sixties. Petterle opened with “House of the Rising Sun,” an Appalachian folk song that can be traced back to the 1920s and followed it with “A Case of You” (from Joni Mitchell’s’ “early folk period”). Both took advantage of Petterle’s clear, strong voice, and revealed an impressive range as well.

Instrumental accompanists included Musical Director and pianist Greg Schlotthauer, Mark Shue on bass, and drummer Alexander Rea, with guest vocalist Suzanne Fiore and stocking-capped and mufflered guest guitarist Justin Badger, another contributor to the coffee house ambiance. The group’s arrangements supported Petterle well, the musicians and vocalists comfortable and easy-going with one another.

Equally comfortable and easy-going in her chatter between songs, Petterle recounted growing up in a musical family with homey and frequently amusing anecdotes. Having presented that background during the program, Petterle brought her father and his guitar up to join in her encore, a duet of a Boston protest song parodying the problems caused by a transit association fare increase. “Charlie and the MTA” ended the evening on a high note.

What, then, does this attractive, nice-voiced, easy-going performer need to tune up her cabaret show to a more professional level? The number one improvement should be to make eye contact and connect to the audience when singing. Each song was sung to a single spot on the back wall well above the heads of her audience. Secondly, she’s got to dig deeper into the emotional implications of the songs’ lyrics. Raising one’s volume does not necessarily communicate the emotion. Finally, her anecdotes were not related to her choice of songs. Although her tales were quite pleasant, choosing songs to complement her patter, or tailoring the patter to connect to her chosen songs would create a more cohesive show.

With what we saw of Katie Petterle, it all seems quite doable. She’s on the brink. A good hard-nosed director should be her next order of business.

Peter Leavy
Cabaret Scenes
January 13, 2010
www.cabaretscenes.org