Johnnie Torres is what an evening of cabaret is all about — a good singer interpreting good songs and thoroughly entertaining an audience.  He is warm, effervescent and funny, with a permanent twinkle in his eyes, an energy that never wanes and a relaxed, confident stage presence.

Backed by a superb musical trio, Torres delivered again and again on a variety of songs — offering several up-tempos with finesse and brio, with less emphasis on the ballads that usually make up most of a set list.

He opened with a perfect opening song — “An Opening Song” (Emil Coleman/Al Pellegrini), a hilarious rundown of what cabaret singers should not do to open their shows (“It shouldn’t be a ballad/And it shouldn’t be too long”).  It was a terrific choice, done extremely well, and set the tone for the rest of the show.

He demonstrated his wide vocal range in a solid version of “Happy Heart” (the Andy Williams hit by Jackie Rae and James Last), and kept the energy level high with an exuberant, perfectly pitched “The Mood I’m In” (Pete King/Paul Francis Webster) and a strong “Gimme That Wine” (Jon Hendricks), which included self-generated audience participation.  Torres also scored with an amusing “Born to Entertain” (Joel Paley/Marvin Laird, from the musical Ruthless).

He turned serious with a couple of ballads: the first a Spanish-language song called “La Barca” (Roberto Cantoral) in which he managed to convey the song’s deep emotions despite the language barrier; the second, the haunting “Sylvia” (Paul Francis Webster/David Raksin), sung exquisitely.

“Sylvia” served to introduce Torres’s guest, Sylvia de la Sancha, who showed off her smoky voice on “Tristeza,” a Brazilian song with a samba beat (music by Haroldo Lobo, Portuguese words by Niltinho, English words by Norman Gimbel), followed by a crowd-pleasing medley that combined “It’s a Great Day” (Vincent Youmans/Billy Rose and Edward Eliscu) with “Shaking the Blues Away” (Irving Berlin).

Torres and de la Sancha combined their voices on “Frenesi” (music and Spanish lyrics by Alberto Dominguez/English lyrics by Charles Carpenter and Sydney Keith Russell) and “Besame Mucho” (Consuelo Valazquez) and, though their harmonies were beautiful, there was a lack of on-stage chemistry.

The show had strong, consistent backing from Musical Director Andy Howe on piano, Leslie Baker on bass and Roland Galatje Garcia on percussion.  The trio warmed the crowd up with a 10-minute version of “Watch What Happens” (Michel Legrand/ Norman Gimbel) before Torres’s entrance.

Elliot Zwiebach
Cabaret Scenes
August 26, 2011
www.cabaretscenes.org