Apparently barber shops are an ideal training ground for good Italian singers.  Perry Como, Jerry Vale and Frankie Valli all worked for barbers, and Vale has never forgotten that his employer paid for his voice lessons.  But this was not the stairway to stardom taken by John Leone. Every Saturday night he was up at the Giuseppe Verdi Lodge of the Sons of Italy waiting tables or singing at weddings.

After twenty years as a performer, this was Leone’s debut at Feinstein’s, his act inspired by the music of the great Italian-American pop singers favored by his father.  He opened his show slowly moving among the tables, crooning his way to the stage.  He quickly launched into “Oh Marie,” first as a ballad, then as an up-tempo arrangement which the audience responded to enthusiastically.  Widely recorded by singers such as Dean Martin, Perry Como, Jerry Vale and even Sal Mineo, probably the most popular version of the tune was that of Louis Prima.

Leone performed in a relaxed, easy-going style, obviously comfortable on stage, his song choices comprised of well-known recordings by Vale (“Al di La”) and Valli (“Can’t Take My Eyes Off You”), in addition to Dean Martin, Jimmy Roselli (“Mala Femmena”), Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett (“Rags to Riches”).  Although many numbers were sung with finesse in Leone’s middle range, he performed others with a hip, knowing sensibility, as in the Sinatra set, in “I’ve Got You Under My Skin,” impressively handling the key change which ends with “don’t you know little fool you never can win!”

Of all the interesting anecdotes Leone related about his career, his voice teacher and his dad, one of the best tales described his first audition, the prize a trip to perform at Carnegie Hall and in Italy. He sang two songs associated with Mario Lanza, “La Donne e Mobile” and “Be My Love,” winning a slot, but short of the $2,500 to cover the cost of the airfare and hotels.  Luckily for Leone, his longtime voice teacher, Al Cavallo persuaded the Sons of Italy Lodge to sponsor him, arguing that the name of the lodge, Guiseppe Verdi, precluded rejecting Leone’s application.

With Cavallo’s encouragement and his parents’ blessing, Leone carved out a career in musical theater after graduating from Hofstra University and the Neighborhood Playhouse.  He gained acting experience in plays by Harold Rome, William Shakespeare and Sam Shepard, among others, eventually arriving on Broadway in Les Misérables and Jersey Boys.  Once, after telling him that the most important things in life are “music, laughter and family,” Cavallo added, “Sing from the heart and you can’t go wrong.”

There was nothing but heart on display during the warmest moment of the entire evening.  The cabaret singer, radio personality and writer, Lynn DiMenna, who is John Leone’s aunt, came on stage and performed an expressive song written by her own aunt Jean Alexander, “Cara Cara Bella Bella,” with obvious affection and tenderness, joined by her nephew for a beautiful, harmonic ending.  Leone received strong guidance from director Bob Spiotto and Musical Director David Brunetti and superb support from Frank Wagner on bass and John Redsecker on drums.

Jerry Osterberg
Cabaret Scenes
March 21, 2011
www.cabaretscenes.org