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Jeanne MacDonald "She sings Peggy Lee if you please, she sings Peggy Lee if you don't please!"
The unbelievable bouncing bosom of Jessica Rabbit, the mud-soaked naked body of Madonna, the racially inspired neck moves of those evil comic Siamese cartoon cats, and the countless over-the-top Peggy Lee drag performances, all seem to have trapped the legacy of the late great Miss Peggy Lee into a colorful, animated, but ultimately two-dimensional cartoon life. This is ironic, for all it takes is a visit to YouTube.com to find that the brilliance of Miss Lee was actually found in her incredible sense of restraint.
Seldom even moving her hands while she sang, she mastered the art of the subtle sexual swoon. Oozing class and beauty, her career in show business as a big band singer, jazz musician, nightclub performer, pop star, and acclaimed lyricist spanned almost five decades, from the early ‘40s to the ‘80s. Who better than the brilliant Jeanne MacDonald to resurrect the spirit of Miss Peggy Lee as something greater than any of these past reincarnations? Ms MacDonald, with her razor-sharp vocal instincts, and perfect worship of Lee's lyrics, remembers Peggy Lee by rejecting any caricature and instead celebrates her as something truly special, as one amazing real woman.
With most musical arrangements better suited to MacDonald's aura, this is no impersonation show. Ms MacDonald is anchored, first and foremost, with a keen sense of now. She always seems aware that it is a late 2008 Saturday night in the swanky yet intimate Metropolitan Room. She feeds off the cool, jazzy, dark tones that envelop a room of New Yorkers ordering their third martinis. She begins by alternating between songstress and storyteller. She is unquestionably stronger in the former role. When MacDonald sings, all inquiries to state of cabaret's relevance become moot. The experience is simple and timeless: a wonderful way to spend a Gotham evening out. Her voice pairs so naturally with a well-mixed drink in hand and romantic interest in sight. This is surely what nightlife is all about.
The show slows down during the first four songs. MacDonald has a calming speaking voice, and good comic timing; however, she is distracted by the perceived challenge of verbally introducing Peggy Lee to the crowd. The History Channel Biography show approach is not the strongest format for late night cabaret. She even seemed aware of the history lesson tone, and apologized for it. All of this is avoided once she starts telling Lee's story IN the songs. During her rendition of “Everything’s Moving Too Fast,” she uses the musical interlude to tell us more about Miss Lee and accomplishes, for the first time in the show, a sense that the true intimacy of Peggy Lee is found in her brilliant lyrics. From this moment on, the show takes off. We begin to understand that besides a great voice and wonderful performer, Jeanne MacDonald is a superb vehicle to re-introduce us to the art of Lee's lyrics and, through them, to get us closer to Lee than we ever have been.
Funny anecdotes about Benny Goodman, the big band horn-playing celebrity who first discovered Lee, and of Peggy's first love, and decision to start a family, spice up the didacticism. Humor is MacDonald's secret weapon and she uses it with an empowering amount of self-control. Later in the evening, when she sings “Mañana” a perfect Latina accent, there isn't a frown in the room. The funnies work so well in this number that audience members began singing along whether or not they knew the song. The only shame was that the song was over too soon. “Mañana” was part of an eight-song Peggy Lee hit medley that was arranged like a Time Life music commercial. The moment you start feeling the song, a new one begins. While the medley reinforced MacDonald's versatility, and reminded us of some of Lee's top hits, it was ultimately more impressive than satisfying. At that point in the show, we are already impressed; there is no need for this type of gimmick.
Peggy Lee had a similar sense of restrained sharp wit. In the 1950s when Walt Disney asked her (with Sonny Burke) to write the songs for the animated movie Lady and the Tramp, her most memorable number was a novelty tune sung by two evil scheming Siamese cats. Lee's humor is demonstrated in the first line of the song: "We are Siamese if you please, we are Siamese if you don't please." Besides penning the number, Lee put on an Asian accent and lent her voice to the characters. The result, a surprising but dead-on joke that is funny more than 50 years later. Jeanne MacDonald masters Lee's humor, but regrettably does not sing “The Siamese Cat Song” in this show. Instead she chooses some of Lee's cornier numbers like “Goody, Goody” and “It’s a Good Day” which, unfortunately, go nowhere. Let's face it, while Peggy Lee was able to be both corny and cool, there is very little corny about Jeanne MacDonald. This is not a bad thing.
Another distinct quality of Miss Lee was her proficiency in the art of seduction. It is no coincidence that in the film Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, Jessica Rabbit, the ultimate temptress, gives homage to Peggy Lee by purring the classic “Why Don’t You Do Right?” Peggy Lee evoked this kind of sexual energy with a simple nod of her head. While Ms MacDonald may not have the same powers of suggestion, she does make skillful use of quite a poignant theatrical tool: eye contact. At any given moment, she stares directly at you and you are completely disarmed. She isn't afraid to look deep into the eyes of any willing audience member. When this happens, her voice, lyric, and intention have free reign over your body, which is the essence of sexiness.
Even MacDonald's voice was contained and controlled in tribute to Miss Lee. Her voice emerges into a lovely country vibrato if left unchecked. Hers is a voice akin to the great Alison Krauss in terms of beauty and quality. It hits the note so directly and then reverberates in flowery fragrance. Unlike with Peggy Lee's voice, no one will mistake Ms MacDonald for a black person. Not to worry, MacDonald controls some of this sweetness, to arrive at a sound with enough edge to sell jazz, but with enough warmth to tug at your insides. This is exemplified brilliantly with “Black Coffee” and the wonderful “Johnny Guitar.”
A very clever device was to strip “Fever” to an almost a capella arrangement. It is just Jeanne's voice and hand-played percussion. A familiar tune to most, MacDonald made it her own with this novel arrangement. This was quite a relief being that Madonna butchered the same song with an over-produced version along with an accompanying music video of the Material Girl naked, covered in black mud. MacDonald kept her clean, kept her clothes, kept her class and managed keep just as sexy with this number.
While the stripped-down arrangement of “Fever” worked, I was distracted by Mayra Casales on percussion. She seemed to be on a different wave length than the singer, and I think reaching for an alternate mood. Some of the sounds that Ms Casales was making were downright out of place and off-putting, as I hear things. It never seemed like she really got on board or was in sync with MacDonald’s vision. On the other hand, Rick Jensen, the musical director/arranger and pianist was pitch perfect. He let the focus be on MacDonald vocalizing the lyric, and kept the show moving melodically. Jensen even doubled as an oldies announcer voice, where he was funny and completely on. Jennifer Vincent on bass added a nice depth to edge out the fullness of the sound, but was otherwise unmemorable.
Peggy Lee always looked memorable. Her outfits were glamorous, beautiful, and larger than life. Even in her later years, she performed in frocks that captured the exciting specialness that she emanated. This being said, Jeanne MacDonald wore a boring black outfit that looked like something every other female lounge singer owns. I understand her hesitation to paint Lee as an over-the-top caricature, but that does not mean you don't have to look fabulous! Lee used the fabulousness of her performance wardrobe as a backdrop against her expressive subtlety. MacDonald's blanket rejection of anything deemed ”too much” distorts the memory and legacy of Miss Lee, just as much as the drag queens who embrace it ferociously. Yes, Lee in the ‘70s and ‘80s with her big round glasses and eyebrow-raising gowns were ridiculous and astonishing. It is this marvelous majesty that makes some of Lee's later numbers even more touching. In “Ready to Begin Again,” Lee sang about the difficulties of being fabulous if your dentures are on the night table and your hair is in a wig box. The miracle is that, even so, Lee could still put it together and look fabulous in a performance. Although MacDonald's rendition of the same song was an emotional highlight of the night, staring at Jeanne MacDonald’s clothes, I tended to believe, in comparison, that Miss Lee would look better than Miss MacDonald even without Lee's teeth or her hair on. However, this show is not about looks, it’s about sound, melody and lyric. In these three areas, MacDonald more than makes up for a poor outfit choice.
Recalling the barely-there red sequined gown in Jessica Rabbit's performance of “Why Don’t You Do Right?” I thought it appropriate to begin my evening of Peggy Lee with a dry Knob Manhattan. Soon enough, I realized I had ordered the wrong drink to accompany MacDonald's excellent cabaret. While the animated caricature of Peggy Lee might demand the deep heated strength of bourbon and the luscious cherry tartness of sweet vermouth, the real Lee is something much more subversive. MacDonald inspired me to find my muse in the Metropolitan Room's White Chocolate Martini. Engulfed in the ease of a white creamy liqueur lies the vodka; ever present, ever ready, and ever edgy. Jeanne MacDonald’s vocals provide the smoothest and milkiest manifestation of Lee's old standards. She then imbibes them with a double shot of raw humanity. Much like the vodka in my drink, it was the humanity that I was left feeling hours after the performance. The show was as classy and entertaining as a New York City night could be. I suggest making reservations with the Metropolitan Room right now early because, if the rest of the audience were anything like me, they all already recommended this cabaret to many friends. Enjoy!
For more on Jeanne and links to buy her albums, see www.JeanneMacDonald.com
