The spirit of Las Vegas has come to New York cabaret.  Clint Holmes rules the rest of October at the Café Carlyle with a heartfelt, well-designed salute to the Carlyle icon, Bobby Short.  It is a salute, however, performed in Holmes’s own style. Singing the songs that defined the urbane Short, Holmes adds big stage energy, belting with enthusiasm, passionately turning himself inside out for ballads, mopping his brow and throwing in a few dance steps for versatility. The sold-out audience on opening night loved it all.

The show’s high point is a splendid example of how to effectively pair songs, letting each reveal more depth and potency.  Combining Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart’s “It Never Entered My Mind” with Stephen Sondheim’s “Losing My Mind” works seamlessly.  Holmes, a good actor, inhabits the loss of love in both songs, the bewilderment of Hart followed by the despair of Sondheim.  After the words: “You said you loved me/Or were you just being kind?/Or am I losing my mind?,” he wraps it up, returning to quizzically note, “It never entered my mind.”

“I Happen to Like New York” (Cole Porter) is a showcase for his articulate interpretation and precise enunciation and he takes Porter’s “I’ve Got You Under My Skin” into sheer obsessiveness. “Tea for Two” (Vincent Youmans/Irving Caesar) shows a fresh introspective intimacy and Holmess’ up-tempo songs explode with enthusiasm. Often he injects a strong jazz phrasing, as in “Satin Doll” (Duke Ellington/Mitchell Parish/Irving Mills) and Short’s signature tune by Porter, “Just One of Those Things.”

Directed by Larry Moss, Clint Holmes’s brief patter serves to introduce the next song.  He is joined by Musical Director and pianist Jeffrey Neiman, Jay Leonhart on bass and Sherrie Maricle on drums.  The later addition of three fine brass instrumentalists (John Eckert on trumpet, Mike Christianson on trombone, Patience Higgins on reeds), employed by Short toward the end of his career, is a sentimental touch.

Bobby Short described himself as a perfectionist, and Clint Holmes displays that quality with sophisticated song selections and immaculate craftsmanship.  There is another outstanding quality the two singers share—the joy of performing.  “I look forward to the audience,” said Bobby Short, “That's what's fun.” Clint Holmes seems to agree.

Clint Holmes continues at the Carlyle through October 29.

Elizabeth Ahlfors
Cabaret Scenes
October 11, 2011
www.cabaretscenes.org