Is Karen Oberlin, cabaret’s blonde, wholesome beauty, moving to the dark side?  The inspirations for her new show, I’ll Be Hard to Handle, are a handful of legendary ballsy babes, red-hot mamas, and sharp-tongued dames, along with the hardworking women who struggle with too many babies and too little money. Oberlin is intelligent enough to appreciate the lyrical urbanity of Dorothy Fields as well as the straightforward truth of Loretta Lynn. I’ll Be Hard to Handle is a provocative concept of the strength, humor and intelligence of women and, if Oberlin is not quite on the dark side, she is observing and commenting on American women, how they have been viewed, and who they are.

She strutted into the room, dressed in black, from cap to sequined shorts and stilettos, opening with those patronizing words of wisdom, “Hey, little girl, comb your hair, fix your makeup/Soon he will open the door…” (“Wives and Lovers” by Burt Bacharach and Hal David).  She delivers this in a tough, “deeze, dem and doze” accent.

She kept the patter to a minimum, letting the songbook trace society’s look at females, like the plucky “I Don’t Care” (Harry O. Sutton/Jean Lenox), a turn-of-the-century vaudeville song that Eva Tanguay made her own. With talented Kay Swift, the first woman to compose a theater score, Oberlin moved into the 1930s with a lusty “Nobody Breaks My Heart" from Fine and Dandy.  She scored with the smart Lorenz Hart lyric to “A Lady Must Live” (music by Richard Rodgers). A salute to Blossom Dearie with “Blossom’s Blues” wrapped around one of Blossom’s favorites, “Peel Me a Grape,” by Dave Frishberg.

Outstanding was Lesley Gore’s pop hit from the 1960s, “You Don’t Own Me” (John Madera and David White). Oberlin sang it with the earnestness of a young girl just touching the edges of maturity and discovering what she deserves.  The encore, “Remind Me” (Dorothy Fields and Jerome Kern) was another reminder of Oberlin’s strength in her perceptive understanding with ballads.

Wanting to include everything in this American saga of women resulted in a dizzying “Mammoth Mama” blues medley, delivering short clips of over a dozen songs, like Bessie Smith’s “Safety Man” and “Dirty No-Gooders Blues.” For me, Oberlin would have been better off with one or two of these zingers delivered in their entirety.

Enhancing the moods and rhythms of this eclectic songbook were talented accompanists Jon Weber on piano and bassist Tom Hubbard.

Elizabeth Ahlfors
Cabaret Scenes
July 25, 2012
www.cabaretscenes.org