Watching Wendy Lane Bailey perform at Blues Alley confirmed my long-held affirmation that any material can be “cabaret” material—especially when presented with the honesty, personal conviction, and the vocal prowess Bailey offers. Her wide-ranging program opened with a party-starting of Mary Chapin Carpenter’s “I Feel Lucky” and caromed through a swath of a songbook that included Porter (“So in Love”), obscure 20th century cabaret (Marshall Barer and Dean Fuller’s “I Got Lucky in the Hall”) and pop (Melissa Manchester’s “Lucky Break”).

Bailey was at her best when reinterpreting classic country material for the cabaret stage.  Her version of “Ring of Fire” built a soulful tension into the material; she found an aggressive wistfulness in “Walkin’ After Midnight” and her version of “Independence Day” was nothing short of rousing.

Guest artist Laurel Massé contributed a terrific reading of “Let Yourself Go,” and joined Bailey for “It’s Never Perfect,” which could be a wedding anthem for second marriages everywhere. That song, along with another show highlight, “Sometimes More Is More,” were written by Bailey’s music director, Michele Brourman, who combined support for Bailey with plucky musical inventiveness that was instrumental in bringing the disparate material into a coherent cabaret whole.

Michael Miyazaki
Cabaret Scenes
March 1, 2010
www.cabaretscenes.org