Never on Broadway, but the indefatigable, Marilyn Maye — the Magnificent One, Entertainer Extraordinaire with a capital E — is back in town, singing Her Own Kind of Broadway at the Metropolitan Room. Like Jerry Herman and Mame Dennis, Marilyn Maye is assiduous, with a resonant voice, undaunted swing, and personality to fill the room, no matter the size.

Opening night was packed and Maye was sparkling in silver.  Even her finger glittered when she slyly wiggled a dazzling ring before going into, “Step to the Rear,” (Elmer Bernstein /Carolyn Leigh), a tune that brought her some healthy royalties when her recording was picked up for a Lincoln Mercury commercial. The song was also used as a campaign anthem for Governor Robert D. Ray of Iowa. Oh, by the way, Maye recorded the song before the show, How Now, Dow Jones, even opened on Broadway, just as she did an other song before its Broadway debut, Kander and Ebb’s, “Cabaret.”  Add to that, "Sherry” (from Sherry by James Lipton and Laurence Rosenthal). She was also first to record Bacharach and David’s, "I'll Never Fall in Love Again" (Promises, Promises).

Maye mixes lots of anecdotes with theatre songs that influenced her, or ones she has performed around the country, though not on Broadway. She threw full force for her vigorous swinging, “On the Street Where You Live” by Lerner and Loewe (My Fair Lady) and Adams and Strouse’s “Put on a Happy Face (Bye, Bye, Birdie). With Maye, phrasing comes naturally, breath control is secure, stories are told with understanding, and a signature cool jazz strain runs through every song. Sondheim’s gripping “Losing My Mind” (Follies) is heartbreaking, while she had the audience shouting out, “Good old reliable, Nathan” on cue in Loesser’s “Oldest Established Permanent Floating Crap Game” (Guys and Dolls). “Why am I even doing this?” Maye quipped. “They all know it.”

Accompanied by dynamic Tedd Firth on piano, Tom Hubbard on bass and longtime drummer, Jim Elkof, Maye continues to deliver with theatrical enthusiasm and great humor. She loves every minute and why not?  She knows her audience is tucked right there in her pocket.

So you have to wonder – why isn’t Marilyn Maye on Broadway?

Marilyn continues at the Metropolitan Room through October 17.

Elizabeth Ahlfors
Cabaret Scenes
October 8, 2010
www.cabaretscenes.org