With the dissonant opening bars of “The Carousel Waltz” cleverly preluding another eponymous Richard Rodger’s melody, “Do I Hear a Waltz?” (Sondheim’s lyrics), Julie Reyburn launches a red hot rocket of a live performance, and if there is any fault with this, it is probably a surfeit of booster fuel. The gushing breathless enthusiasm, the slightly manic laughter is no doubt adrenalin over- dose. But while it disconcerts—exhausts—in the in-between times, it mostly works where it counts. When this energy is applied to her singing, it makes for satisfying excitement as a nice lead-in to a bouyant “I Love to Sing-a” (Arlen/Harburg) and a tightly em-braced version of Kander & Ebb’s “Sing Happy.”

There is a broad and powerful range here, tending to overzealousness but not without tempering ability—and nowhere in this program do you find a better display of Ms. Reyburn’s vocal control than the pairing of “Days of Wine and Roses” (Mancini/Mercer) with, from Evening Primrose, Stephen Sondheim’s wistfully simple ballad “I Remember.”

Musical director/arranger Mark Janas (who plays piano alongside Ritt Henn/bass and Walter Usiatynski/drums) offers clever finesse to the background comfortably featuring Julie fully front and center. “Sing for Your Supper” (Rodgers & Hart) enthusiastically sings us out after Louis Prima’s “Sing Sing Sing.” Doesn’t anybody dance anymore?

Noah Tree
Cabaret Scenes
May 2010
www.cabaretscenes.org