Baby Jane Dexter "All About Love"

Very slim and looking lovelier than I have ever seen her, Baby Jane Dexter closed her successful run at The Metropolitan Room on the night I caught the show. Various complications prevented me from getting there before the last night, and boy am I glad I finally made it. I had heard the word about how good it was from several sources, and knew it was something not to miss.

With the super pianist/arranger Ross Patterson backing her, Baby Jane delighted her enthusiastic audience with a varied program of songs she loves to sing. Did I say "varied program?" No one could say, as so often happens in cabaret, that all the material sounded the same. This singer is so versatile. She mixed it up in one seamless evening, with songs by Bob Dylan, Lennon/McCartney,  Duke Ellington ("I've Got It Bad"),  "The Gentleman in a Dope," from Rodgers and Hammerstein and other fun stuff, and turned around and took us to heartbreak and nostalgia with Boudleaux Bryant's "Love Hurts," strikingly paired with Sondheim's "Not a Day Goes By." If a musical performance can be called food for the soul, this was a delicious well-planned meal.

Baby Jane Dexter, lucky for us, is a regular at The Metropolitan Room. I don't know when upcoming dates are planned for her, but watch the listings and treat yourself to her next performances.