Matt Zarley makes quite a positive vocal impression. He was one of three performers in a show saluting American icons who made their marks at different times in different cities along The Mighty Mississippi — the theme of Upright Cabaret’s fourth of five monthly concerts at the La Mirada Performing Arts Center, held in the lobby of the theater which was converted into a cabaret space.

Singing in a soft, gentle style, Zarley showed off his abilities performing not only some of Elvis Presley’s hits in the show’s first act — caressing the lyrics of “Love Me Tender” (Ken Darby/Vera Matson) and “Always on My Mind” (Johnny Christopher/Mark James/Wayne Carson Thompson) — but also singing his own insightful compositions in the second act. With strong backing from Dave Bass on saxophone, he was superb in the haunting “Had I Known,” which he wrote with Chris Curtis (“Had I known it was the last time I’d hold you/ I would have held you a little bit longer”) and again in “Here I Am,” co-written with Tom Kitt (“Here I am/ I’ve nothing left to hide”).

Von Smith “squealed” his way — his own description — through a pair of Prince songs during the first half of the show, then settled into a softer mode and built steadily and powerfully on “Purple Rain” (Prince). Acknowledging that he doesn’t always “have to reach for the sky” in his singing, Smith was absolutely wonderful in a restrained and totally moving performance of “Once You’ve Been in Love,” a beautiful song by the Bergmans and Michel Legrand, then proved again he ought to let his pipes rest a bit as he did a soft, gentle “Nature Boy” (Eden Ahbez).

Yvette Cason was consistently impressive, with a strong, bluesy voice, in honoring Louis Armstrong — abetted by the effective trumpet of Ted Schumacher — though two of the four selections of songs from Armstrong’s vast canon seemed somewhat odd — “Hello, Dolly!” (Jerry Herman) a hit for Armstrong; “Ain’t Misbehavin’” (Fats Waller/Walter Brooks/Andy Razaf); and “They Can’t Take That Away from Me” (George and Ira Gershwin) — before she concluded with another Armstrong hit, “What a Wonderful World” (Bob Thiele/George David Weiss). In her second-act set Cason reached a high point on “God Bless the Child,” (Billie Holiday/Arthur Herzog Jr.) with terrific support from Bass on sax.

While the show was well done and good for what it was, it’s wasn’t quite what it appeared to be. If you’re going to do a show with a theme (in this case, The Mighty Mississippi), then you need to link the various artists being saluted to that theme to give the presentation some context. But by presenting the Prince songs first, followed by Presley’s and then Armstrong’s, it seemed clear there was no attempt to trace the development of the music chronologically or to indicate how one singer might have influenced the next or how their geographies — growing up along the Mississippi, in this case —contributed to their musicianship. And if you’re going to salute Louis Armstrong, why not have the trumpet player come forward and play some instrumentals or at least solo on half a song to give Satchmo his full due? Yet, there was no commentary or patter from the singers about the performers they were saluting, and the selection of songs seemed haphazard. Perhaps Upright Cabaret needs to re-think the concept of its monthly shows saluting American icons — to add context and brief commentary to connect the singers being saluted; or perhaps taking a more intensive look into the work of each artist that could be spread over the two acts or combined into one 70-minute show.

Serving as the show’s musical director was Gerald Sternbach, who provided strong piano support throughout; the show was produced by Chris Isaacson.

Elliot Zwiebach
Cabaret Scenes
June 6, 2010
www.cabaretscenes.org