Mary Bogue is hot.  Tom Culver is mellow.  Together they kept an audience’s rapt attention during a pre-Christmas concert as one raised the temperature while the other cooled things down — a truly winning combination.

Bogue is a big woman with a big talent — a kind of throwback to the “red-hot mamas” of another era who could belt with the best of them, then pull back and score on a solid heartbreaker of a song.  That’s what Bogue did — delivering a naughty “What Do Bad Girls Get?” (Joan Osborne), followed by a poignant version of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” (Hugh Martin) that tugged at all the right strings.

There was also a swinging “Christmas in New Orleans” (Dick Sherman, Joseph Van Winkle) and a down-and-dirty “Christmas Blues” (Sammy Cahn/David Jack Holt) — featuring a solid bass solo from James Leary — plus “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” (Kim Gannon/Walter Kent/Buck Ram) that was a bit disappointing as Bogue jazzed up the tempo to emphasize style over content.

Culver was outstanding on two of his own songs — a gentle, sublime “First Snow,” which he wrote with Effie Joy, and “I Love the Holidays,” which he wrote with Rick Hills and Holly Addy.  Though Culver generally sings most songs exactly as written, he broke his pattern when he teamed with drummer Jack LeCompte for a pleasant “Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!” (Sammy Cahn/Jule Styne) that featured a calypso beat.   He also scored on a powerful version of “What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve?” (Frank Loesser).

Despite their different styles, Bogue and Culver found enough common ground for a couple of strong duets:  “Happy Holiday” (Irving Berlin), which served as the evening’s opener and closer; and a clever mash-up of Berlin’s “White Christmas” by a sweet-sounding Culver with “Blue Christmas” (Billy Hayes/Jay W. Johnson) from a strong-voiced Bogue.  Culver also did a superb job with “Jingle Bells” — taking the Billy May/Dave Cavanaugh arrangement written for Peggy Lee that combined the traditional song with the refrain, “I like a sleigh ride,” sung by the powerful trio of Pierre Chambers, Lisa Herbert and Mitch Ellis.  The trio also harmonized to perfection on its own on a slow, deliberate “Christmas Time Is Here” (Vince Guaraldi) from A Charlie Brown Christmas.

Aiding and abetting all the singers was Musical Director Steve Rawlins.

Elliot Zwiebach
Cabaret Scenes
December 22, 2011
www.cabaretscenes.org