There’s an old joke about a parent excitedly telling a young child just getting into rock and roll about The Beatles. After listening attentively, the child says, “The Beatles? Isn’t that the group Paul McCartney was in before Wings?”

There are likely many post-baby-boomers—especially if they aren’t musical theater buffs—unaware that Shirley Jones had a spectacular career on stage and on film before The Partridge Family (which was a television hit around the same time McCartney launched his new group). Now 77, it’s clear that Shirley Jones would rather rekindle the glory of those early Broadway and movie triumphs. Her recent show at Feinstein’s opened with a brief performing-history film montage that included a Partridge clip. (Why do veteran screen actors turned cabaret performers feel the need to show a filmed resumé as if their audience doesn’t have a clue?) Then, after purring Rodgers & Hart’s “Where or When,” Jones warbled a few bars of the Partridge hit “C’mon, Get Happy,” before adding, “That’s all you’re getting from The Partridge Family tonight.”

And just as well, because those of us who have always loved Shirley Jones simply wanted to bask in the memories of the melodies she helped turn into standards as Laurie in Oklahoma!,  Julie in Carousel, and Marian the Librarian in The Music Man. But the reality is that Shirley Jones isn’t 27 or 37, so that lovely and powerful soprano voice that made her one of Richard Rodgers’ go-to girls (in addition to Oklahoma! and Carousel, she also took a turn in South Pacific and probably would have been fabulous in The King and I) is understandably not what it used to be. Oh, Shirley can still sing a lot better than most vocalists pushing 80. She hits all the notes—if not for very long—and she’s practically flawless with her lyrics. But in her desire to please old fans wanting to relive the glory days, she’s pushing the vocal envelope when she doesn’t really have to—and shouldn’t be required to.

Taking the stage in a shimmering and sequined knee length black jacket over a black sweater and black slacks which contrasted beautifully with her shock of white hair, the elegant Shirley soon bemoaned that fact that her little brother in The Music Man, Ronnie Howard, was now a famous producer and director, but won’t give her a job. After an anecdote about how she was auditioned and championed by Richard Rodgers, she almost lost her breath by the end of her second number, “A Wonderful Guy” from South Pacific. At that point it was obvious this singer/actress who defined spunk in many of her films would be going for broke in this show. With a few exceptions (a lovely rendition of Sondheim’s “Send in the Clowns,” a couple of awkwardly linked medleys including “As Times Goes By” with “Can’t Help Loving Dat Man,” and a three-song Music Man medley that almost transported you to the footbridge), Shirley’s Evening of Story and Song was more like a Richard Rodgers songbook.

The emphasis on Rodgers standards probably owes to the fact that Jones last year released a tribute CD to her late mentor. Curiously, though, the ten cuts on the CD—where she also had the benefit of a recording studio—are more suited to Shirley’s now more throaty sound and limited range than the high soprano-esque ballads she delivered at Feinstein’s. Although Jones hit all the notes in classics like “If I Loved You,” “People Will Say We’re in Love,” and the clichéd finale “You’ll Never Walk Alone,” and managed to bring home Meredith Willson’s “Till There Was You” without dropping an octave, you couldn’t help feel she might not quite make it all the way. That she did was a tribute to her savvy and song craft, and her confidence in her long-time Musical Director/pianist Ron Abel (Mark Vanderpoel was also fine on bass).

But if the still witty, charming and beautiful Shirley Jones means to make cabaret another phase of her wonderfully successful career, she shouldn’t feel she has to give the fans all the hits. One substantial Rodgers and Willson show tune medley to appease her fans should do the trick (without including the more manly “Seventy-Six Trombones” and “Oklahoma!”). Around that Shirley should be constructing a thematic song set that fits her age and vocal range and that tells a more intimate, personal story of her life. She might even want to throw in a few ballads from the ’60s and ’70s—and some McCartney songs might actually work.

Shirley continues at Feinstein's through March 19.

Stephen Hanks
Cabaret Scenes
March 15, 2011
www.cabaretscenes.org