Jungr Than Springtime Is Barb...And Twice As Welcome!!

The name of effervescent chanteuse Barb Jungr was virtually unknown to this reporter until some years ago.  By chance, after a long and very heated discussion on a Jacques Brel chat board in which several members engaged in a lengthy harangue of who the premiere interpreter of Brel's lyrics happened to be, all fingers seemed to point to Ms. Jungr, regardless of how many others might also exist (Elly Stone, Marc Almond, Rod McKuen, etc). 

Conversely, and though she's hardly a household name upon American shores, the lady managed to completely sell out a run at the Carlyle last spring, before emerging upon the Metropolitan Room in May with her new show, River. And in the process, she couldn't possibly have been more captivating.

In this show, with its through-line of numbers relating to the river and other bodies of water, Jungr proves not merely a brilliant songstress and storyteller, but leaves an audience dazzled in her wake.  This may be by virtue of her absolute gift for cabaret performance, which is at once both intimate and far-reaching, or her simply spectacular voice, the vibrato of which at times runs the gamut from an introspective Joan Baez, shading to a full-out Betty Buckley shimmer that hits the heavens and doesn't stop traveling for a moment.  And somehow, miraculously, through it all, she always seems to be having even more fun than the crowd assembled, for whom the enjoyment never ceases.

Whether delivering David Byrne's "Once in A Lifetime," "Ferry Cross the Mersey" by Gerry and the Pacemakers, "Lost on the River," "Lazy Afternoon" or a rendering of "It's All Too Beautiful," where she grabs the opportunity to show her surprisingly marvelous abilities for dance movement, there simply aren't enough words to describe the beauty and splendor that are Jungr and this show. In addition, her rendition of Leonard Cohen's "Suzanne" is only further topped by the chestnut "Ol' Man River," in a coupling that would surely be blown to smithereens in the hands of a lesser artist.  And by the time she hits the finale, "Take Me To The River," in which she (are you ready for this?) accompanies herself on harmonica, the audience has been mobilized into a shrine of worshipers that Jungr wholeheartedly deserves among her worldwide parish.

Suffice it to say, lo these many seasons, certain singers have been cited as required education for those truly wishing to learn what cabaret really is and should be.  They include Barbara Cook, Karen Akers, Julie Wilson, Margaret Whiting, Ann Hampton Callaway, Annie Hughes and many, many others too numerous to list.  But to that list must, and really must, be added the name of Barb Jungr.  This isn't merely an entertainer whose talents scrape the heavens; rather, this is an entertainer who grabs the stars from the skies and scatters them across a room with her talent.  Which firmly explains why the audience seems to glide out after the show as though thoroughly enchanted. And indeed, they most probably were.