One doesn’t expect a cast recording to replicate the show itself, but by the end of One Night with Fanny Brice, I was ready to applaud. This absorbing one-woman show, written, directed and co-produced by Chip Deffaa, celebrates the success of one of entertainment’s legends. In a forty-five minute recording there are all or parts of more than twenty songs and pieces of monologues that trace Fanny Brice’s beginnings in show business to her early death from a heart attack. Along the way, Kimberly Faye Greenberg sings some of Brice’s best-known hits, including “Second Hand Rose,” “Rose of Washington Square,” and, of course, Brice’s most famous song, “My Man,” which was a top recording of Brice’s in two versions.

Greenberg has no reason to worry about dispelling the audience’s memories of Brice herself or Barbra Streisand in Funny Girl. She can belt out a song or deliver it with tenderness. Her dramatic abilities allow her personality to come through the recording and it is possible to imagine, if not see, facial expressions and body language. That kind of transition from a theater or cabaret stage presentation to a CD is itself a rare event.

Deffaa is not only lucky with his leading lady, but is also fortunate in the material he has at hand. Extremely effective is the counterpart that runs through most of the CD—between music often so jaunty you want to get up and try a few Charleston steps, and Brice’s pain that comes through her story and so many of her hit songs. Brice may have been trying to find that little bluebird in vain, but this CD captures the essence of her and a rewarding night in the theater.

Barbara Leavy
Cabaret Scenes
April 2011
www.cabaretscenes.org