Steve Ross (pictured) turned Lincoln Center’s Bruno Walter Auditorium into a living room, gathering many friends and colleagues to sing Memorable Songs from Forgotten Musicals. That they had an incredibly short time to prepare some thirty songs added to the delightfully easygoing camaraderie of this standing-room-only performance.

Drawn from lesser-known shows from the forties to the early eighties, some of the songs have achieved minor fame, such as “If I Ruled the World” (Cyril Ornadel & Leslie Bricusse from Pickwick), here sung by an avuncular Merwin Goldsmith, and “I Don’t Remember You,” the defiant love song from Kander & Ebb’s The Happy Time sung by Ron Spivak, a pleasant belter.

There were songs of unrequited love such as “I’ll Remember Her” (Noël Coward’s The Girl Who Came to Supper), which Joe Sirola sang with understated anguish, and “I’ll Only Miss Her When I Think of Her” from Skyscraper by Jimmy Van Heusen and Sammy Cahn, given the simple, moving treatment by Steve Ross himself.

Comedy was represented by the opening number, “Two Penniless Bums” from Sugar (Styne/Merrill), sung by Ross and an endearing Evan Stern; “Artificial Flowers,” the phony tearjerker from Tenderloin (Bock & Harnick) given its proper melodrama by Goldsmith; “New-Fangled Tango” (Harold Karr/Matt Dubey) from Happy Hunting performed by a funny, sexy Jane Summerhays;and the hammy show biz anthem “Call Me Back” from Lovely Ladies, Kind Gentlemen from which Ross and Jim Brochu wrung every bit of shtick. Brochu, who was the standout performer of the evening, also joined Ross in the kitschy “Go Visit Your Grandmother” from 70, Girls, 70 (Kander & Ebb).

Whatever the type of song—love song, comedy bit, expository, etc.—it was the fine cast of yeoman professionals that made this program truly sing. It was touching to see the still-beautiful Taina Elg perform “I Admire You Very Much, Mr. Schmidt” from Look to the Lilies (Styne/Cahn), which she first sang in 1970! At the other end of the age spectrum was Arlo Hill, who had all the necessary, youthful defiance to give life to “Back in Circulation” from Redhead (Hague/Fields) and rising cabaret singer T. Oliver Reid whose “Feelin’ Good” from The Roar of the Greasepaint, The Smell of the Crowd (Newley/Bricusse) was a rip-roaring success.

It’s impossible to give a detailed shout-out for each performer, but, for the record, in addition to those already mentioned, they were: Jean Brassard, who was touching in his duet from Maggie Flynn with Diane Findlay, Eric Michael Gillett, Patrick Monahan, Gregory Moore, Karen Murphy, Kristen Lee Sergeant and Carole Demas. And the inimitable Steve Ross, who held the show together with his charming comments, vignettes and, of course, virtuoso piano playing.

With the support and performances from such artists, these “forgotten” musicals won’t be forgotten for long.

Joel Benjamin
Cabaret Scenes
October 24, 2011
www.cabaretscenes.org