A capacity crowd cheered Michael Ricca’s return to the cabaret stage after a nearly five-year absence, and deservedly so. While his twenty-two-song set started off somewhat tepidly, with some basic ballads and slightly stilted patter, he built up to a slow boil. Then, by the seventh song, was cooking on all burners, knocking the Newley/Bricusse anthem, “Feelin’ Good” out of the ballpark with a riveting delivery that showed off his theatrical background.

Ricca’s deep tenor is warm and rich in its low tones, and solid, though not showy in its middle and upper registers, and he did well to eschew the vocal histrionics of younger singers weaned on American Idol. Like Scheherazade, he used each song to tell a different story about the nature of beauty: present, absent, and elusive. Some of his very sophisticated choices included “Finishing the Hat,” “Hurry! It’s Lovely Up Here,” and an unexpected mid-phrase key change within “Kiss Her Now” (Dear World) that heightened the emotional impact.

While his early patter quoting poets and authors on the subject of beauty came across as rehearsed and wooden, Ricca blossomed when he abandoned the script and spoke from his own experience. He was at his best when behaving impishly mischievous such as his funny patter on flip flops (“People, they are not legitimate footwear. Somebody’s gonna get hurt.”), perfectly segueing into “Put on Your Sunday Clothes.” His deadpan mock sincerity on “Bruce” (John Wallowitch) was a comic highlight, as was his spot-on Kate Hepburn impersonation.

Musical Director Ron Roy’s arrangements were like an eiderdown cushion beneath Ricca’s voice, always lush and supportive, especially his driving uptempo for “The Most Beautiful Girl in the World,” or while shadowing Ricca’s patter with phrases of “I’m Always Chasing Rainbows,” or Rachmaninoff. A purer collaboration cannot be found.

John Amodeo
Cabaret Scenes
January 27, 2010
www.cabaretscenes.org