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After a while, Coca-Cola and champagne lose their bubbles and fizz. Even molten lava cools eventually, and the bubbling stops doubling and the fizz no longer is.
Not so Barbara Brussell. Years after her she first burst onto the cabaret scene when her cup of good cheer runneth over and she haphazardly but endearingly wiped up the spills, she’s better than ever: focused without losing the fun.
Still pert, perky, plucky, and bursting with musical joy and chance-taking characterizations of the neurotic or erotic, ritzy or ditzy, she now seems more savvy and self-aware and in control. Vocally, she’s more on the money (and with a few more “money notes,” in fact). In the past, she had been somewhat of a loose cannon, but now she aims better without sacrificing the ability to create excitement for a fired-up explosion or three. Maybe living under the California sun and her belated marriage to the long-lost sweetheart of her youth agree with her.
Her new show shows new colors, more nuanced acting, and sophistication without losing her zest and giddiness when it’s the more selectively chosen quiver in her bow. But who knew the Bronx could be bubbly and fun, too? Yes, Barbara’s current show is all about the Bronx. That is to say, a few songs mention the Bronx in the lyrics and the others were written – at least in part—by someone who was Born In The Bronx…in the case of Adolph Green, it’s both as he and writing partner Betty Comden wrote the immortal lines for the Broadway show with Leonard Bernstein’s music, On The Town, “The Bronx is up and the Battery’s down/ The people ride in a hole in the ground/ New York, New York, it’s a hell of a town” (sanitized to “wonderful” for the movie version). She combined this with one of their lyrics about another exciting and storied place I’d always wanted to visit before I grew up: “Never Never Land.” Nice mix.
Because of her focus and handy book of Bronx trivia, Barbara succeeded in making the show about the songs and their history, rather than the cabaret mindset that some singers have, “It’s all about me, me, me, projecting myself into the songs chosen because they reveal me…or who I want you to think I am. The step back was well choreographed. Still, she infused things with her personality, the serious side (“Her Face” from Bob Merrill’s Carnival! becoming more directly addressed, given a lyric facelift to be “Your Face”) or the bright side: a piece once favored by Mabel Mercer, “Isn’t He Adorable?”(and isn’t she adorable?).
Adding to feel of classic cabaret in the best sense, the singer is in very good hands (literally) with the classy and attentive musical direction and accompaniment of pianist Tex Arnold and the talented J-P Perreaux on mood-perfect lights and sound. (A MAC winner in this category, he picked up another nomination this week….Barbara won her MAC Award last year; see the full list of MAC nominees elsewhere on this website.)
The act has a high entertainment quotient and an educational quotient, too. (She gaily sprinkles bits of info about the geographically-challenged borough and its history, seemingly fascinated with fertile factoids, making them sound proud and interesting enough that you think the Bronx Chamber of Commerce would be wise to hire her). It was hard to find fault with any of her song choices as songs, but I do wish she’d have sampled more writers; I am always happy to hear another Cy Coleman number, but to hear her rattle off a few other Bronxites whose songs she would NOT be singing felt frustrating. On the mention of Carly Simon, for example, my mind raced to a few of her dreamy songs I’d love to hear Barbara do, like “The Boys in the Trees.” Inspired and hired by Wave Hill to celebrate a Bronx one-hundredth anniversary, she delights with a special new, nostalgia-drenched song about The Grand Concourse, written by cabaret favorite Ray Jessel (“…strolling along that splendid strand/ Won’t it be dandy…”). Another worthy entry was from the pen of Bob Levy.
At the show I attended, Barbara was especially delighted with surprise that the Metropolitan Room’s staff had, by chance or design or request, seated two men born in the Bronx ringside, smack in front of her standing mic. Seeing their nods and reactions, she caught on and conferred and confirmed and kibitzed with them, comparing notes. She referred several times to having briefly been a Bronx babe herself, when she was a house guest of singer-pianist-cabaret madman Mark Nadler who was in the house that night (the club, I mean, not his actual house in the Bronx). She talked about how refreshingly quiet it is there and how, on her first night, there was no Manhattan traffic and apartment-neighbor noise to wake her up and so she slept and slept and slept until the afternoon. (“They call it Riverdale, but it’s just the Bronx.”) After an earlier performance in the actual Bronx, Barbara finishes her run at The Metropolitan Room on April 10 and 11 at 7:30 pm. Rush to this run before time runs out. She gets more hits in the Bronx than the Yankees, and they have the advantage of a new stadium.
SEE WWW.METROPLITANROOM.COM or call 212-206-0440. The club is on West 22 Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. Also see the singer’s website, www.BarbaraBrussell.com. ROB LESTER’S COLUMN, RETURNING TO OUR WEBSITE AFTER A HIATUS, IS MADE POSSIBLE THROUGH A GENEROUS GIFT BY JAMIE DEROY AND FRIENDS.
Because of her focus and handy book of Bronx trivia, Barbara succeeded in making the show about the songs and their history, rather than the cabaret mindset that some singers have, “It’s all about me, me, me, projecting myself into the songs chosen because they reveal me…or who I want you to think I am. The step back was well choreographed. Still, she infused things with her personality, the serious side (“Her Face” from Bob Merrill’s Carnival! becoming more directly addressed, given a lyric facelift to be “Your Face”) or the bright side: a piece once favored by Mabel Mercer, “Isn’t He Adorable?”(and isn’t she adorable?).
Adding to feel of classic cabaret in the best sense, the singer is in very good hands (literally) with the classy and attentive musical direction and accompaniment of pianist Tex Arnold and the talented J-P Perreaux on mood-perfect lights and sound. (A MAC winner in this category, he picked up another nomination this week….Barbara won her MAC Award last year; see the full list of MAC nominees elsewhere on this website.)
The act has a high entertainment quotient and an educational quotient, too. (She gaily sprinkles bits of info about the geographically-challenged borough and its history, seemingly fascinated with fertile factoids, making them sound proud and interesting enough that you think the Bronx Chamber of Commerce would be wise to hire her). It was hard to find fault with any of her song choices as songs, but I do wish she’d have sampled more writers; I am always happy to hear another Cy Coleman number, but to hear her rattle off a few other Bronxites whose songs she would NOT be singing felt frustrating. On the mention of Carly Simon, for example, my mind raced to a few of her dreamy songs I’d love to hear Barbara do, like “The Boys in the Trees.” Inspired and hired by Wave Hill to celebrate a Bronx one-hundredth anniversary, she delights with a special new, nostalgia-drenched song about The Grand Concourse, written by cabaret favorite Ray Jessel (“…strolling along that splendid strand/ Won’t it be dandy…”). Another worthy entry was from the pen of Bob Levy.
At the show I attended, Barbara was especially delighted with surprise that the Metropolitan Room’s staff had, by chance or design or request, seated two men born in the Bronx ringside, smack in front of her standing mic. Seeing their nods and reactions, she caught on and conferred and confirmed and kibitzed with them, comparing notes. She referred several times to having briefly been a Bronx babe herself, when she was a house guest of singer-pianist-cabaret madman Mark Nadler who was in the house that night (the club, I mean, not his actual house in the Bronx). She talked about how refreshingly quiet it is there and how, on her first night, there was no Manhattan traffic and apartment-neighbor noise to wake her up and so she slept and slept and slept until the afternoon. (“They call it Riverdale, but it’s just the Bronx.”) After an earlier performance in the actual Bronx, Barbara finishes her run at The Metropolitan Room on April 10 and 11 at 7:30 pm. Rush to this run before time runs out. She gets more hits in the Bronx than the Yankees, and they have the advantage of a new stadium.
SEE WWW.METROPLITANROOM.COM or call 212-206-0440. The club is on West 22 Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. Also see the singer’s website, www.BarbaraBrussell.com. ROB LESTER’S COLUMN, RETURNING TO OUR WEBSITE AFTER A HIATUS, IS MADE POSSIBLE THROUGH A GENEROUS GIFT BY JAMIE DEROY AND FRIENDS.
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