There’s no mistaking the unique nose and upswept hair of Broadway legend Tammy Grimes, who has returned to cabaret doing what she does best: telling stories through lyrically-driven songs. A wee bit nervous, but always in charge, Ms. Grimes is truly unsinkable! Creation and direction of this show are in the able hands of long-time collaborator Joel Vig, with accompaniment by Christopher Denny. At age 76, Ms. Grimes has lived a life of passion, great loves and is truly a leading lady.

She is a Tony Award winner (The Unsinkable Molly Brown, Private Lives), has been married three times—first to Christopher Plummer, the union that begat actress Amanda Plummer, second to Jeremy Slate and lastly to Richard Bell. She is quirky, lovable and affable, her vocals deep, smoky and, well, interesting! It’s not a lovely singing voice that grabs, but the power and spirit of how she engages her audience through stories about her life, both happy and sad.

The reflection on a past love in Tom Waits’s “Martha” was a poignant look back as was Berlin’s “How Deep Is the Ocean.” Her dry wit and theatricality are at the forefront as she regales her loving audience with the story of Oscar Brown, Jr.’s “The Snake” and Cole Porter’s “Tale of the Oyster.”

Noël Coward gave Miss Grimes the part of Elvira in High Spirits in which she sang “Home Sweet Heaven.” She reprises songs from Broadway for which she will forever be identified: Coward’s “Someday I’ll Find You” (Private Lives), Meredith Willson’s “My Own Brass Bed,” “I’ll Never Say No to You” and “I Ain’t Down Yet” (all from The Unsinkable Molly Brown). She closes with a sweet and tender medley of two Coward numbers, “I’ll See You Again”/ “If Love Were All.”

Ah, to have been a fly on the wall throughout her young, exciting, romantic days of wine and roses! However, she does relate many tantalizing moments of her long career in this theatrical experience.

Miss Tammy Grimes appears at the Metropolitan Room June 25-30 at 7 pm.

Sandi Durell
Cabaret Scenes
June 22, 2010
www.cabaretscenes.org