There’s no warm-up at a Natalie Douglas show. The extraordinary performer is introduced, takes the mic, and soars. Meticulously modulated vocal heft exhibits not a hint of hesitation. Warmth and vitality are infectious. She’s got us with the first number, a sassy, upbeat rendition of the too rarely sung “I Just Found Out About Love” (Jimmy McHugh/Harold Adamson).

The Birthday Show (it’s her birth week) offers a wide range of material which defies the odds by flowing seamlessly when bridged with some of the smartest, often acerbically funny intros and anecdotal patter in the business. (This could be edited just a little.) Whether talking about her life, sharing the historical context of selections or touching on politics—she’s an admitted “yellow dog Democrat” who would vote for a yellow dog before a Republican—Douglas is a winning actress and comedienne.

“I Walk a Little Faster” (Cy Coleman/Carolyn Leigh) conjures up the kind of besotted adolescent slow dancing wherein we just held each other and swayed. Impeccable phrasing personifies the lyric. “The Water Is Wide” (Traditional) begins with delicately finessed guitar. Music seems to course through musician Sean Harkness. His chin moves forward and back, eyebrows rise, as do his shoulders, just a bit in sympathy with vocals. Mark Hartman, otherwise deft on the piano, comes in on plaintive accordion, followed by bass and brushes. As the number swells like a coursing river, Douglas sings with controlled vibrato.

“I Must Have That Man” (Jimmy McHugh/Dorothy Fields), with a sashaying, burlesque beat, is sheer torch sending shivers up my spine. Written for Florence Mills in Blackbirds of 1928, it eventually found its way to Billie Holiday. Douglas is motionless, though never stiff, channeling her considerable power into intimate expression.

That the same program can support the country-flavored Eagles’ “Lyin’ Eyes” (Don Henley/Glenn Frey) with game vocal back-up by the band (“Just pretend it’s the ‘70s, I’m Linda Ronstadt, high and sleeping with Governor Brown”), “The Masquerade Is Over” (Allie Wrubel/Herb Magidson) like a rueful, cinematic exit with the singer dragging a fur coat behind her, and Abbey Lincoln’s exhilarating “Wholly Earth,” a galvanic anthem that musically swirls, dives and loop-de-loops, is quite an accomplishment. Douglas is equally adept at all. She can be brassy, silvery, sizzling, enthralling.

“It’s fascinating how Martin Luther King Day has morphed in my lifetime. No one knew what to do with it or about it. I knew it would eventually become what it is: a sale at Raymour and Flanigan! That’s assimilation.” Two songs in tribute to the history of black artists follow: an understated “Mr. Bojangles” (Jerry Jeff Walker), with surprising high notes that tear at the heart, and “Why,” a cry in the night written for Dr. King the night of his assassination. “I’ve learned to grab at joy wherever you find it and I think music can help you do that.”

Natalie Douglas’s excellent band: Joe Choroszewski (drums); Saadi Zain (bass); Harkness (guitar); and Hartman (piano/musical director), serve the performer well. Arrangements are artful and richly textured.

A knockout show.

Alix Cohen
Cabaret Scenes
January 16, 2012
www.cabaretscenes.org