When Joan Curto struts onstage singing “Let Me Sing and I’m Happy” (without pandering to the Jolson version), we believe she is. If you were delivering this beautiful cabaret show, you would be, too. While she claims the show to be “themeless,” that is not so. Early on, out comes a bulging file of beloved music charts yet to have made it into prior shows simply because they didn’t fit into their themes. Vocally, Curto is luscious. More comfortable than ever in her oaky, conversational lower register, she also knows just when to dazzle us with an impressive soprano home run. The show is, for the most part, big and brassy. Curto sails seamlessly into the land of goofball with “I Regret Everything” (Bill Burnett and Peggy Sarlin). It is, however, in more serious moments that she becomes compelling. “(Have I Stayed) Too Long at the Fair?” is wistful (in fact, it could be even quieter, especially at its start). Beckie Menzie provided excellent musical direction and Mike Torti who, at first, played a tad loud for the space, found his groove and, trading bars with Curto, created beautiful jazz dialogue. In a successful departure from her usual Great American Songbook repertoire, she offered Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah,” finding every nuance in his multi-layered lyric while giving the song the clarity of diction and vocal underpinnings it demands. Curto credited her husband for suggesting she perform Cohen’s song and, for that, she owes him a big kiss.
Carla Gordon
Cabaret Scenes
November 12, 2011
www.cabaretscenes.org
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