Stacy Sullivan

March 29, 2012

“A Tribute to Miss Peggy Lee”

Iridium – March 13

When Stacy Sullivan sings “I Love Being Here With You” (Bill Schluger, Peggy Lee) at the very top of her tribute to Peggy Lee, it is clear that she means it. I’ve long been a fan of Sullivan, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen her quite so free-spirited, so radiantly in love with performing; when the lyric reads “they wind it up and let it go,” she really winds it up and lets it go! This happy state prevails for the rest of the evening, and not only is she completely at home with the Lee songbook, but—here’s that word again—manifestly in love with it. To complete the picture, she possesses the musicianship and vocal chops to do both Lee and the material justice.

The evening works on two levels. One is musical. Sullivan’s aim is not to re-interpret the songbook, but, rather, to present an homage to Lee’s musical style and sensibilities. Accordingly, she delivers a quirkily rhythmic and playful arrangement of a pairing of Arlen and Mercer’s “That Old Black Magic” and Rodgers and Hart’s “Lover,” and she gives us Lee’s swinging interpretation of “Baubles, Bangles, and Beads” (Borodin, Robert Wright & George Forrest), down to the reverb at the end. Referring to Lee’s strategic decision to sing quietly, Sullivan delivers an exquisitely delicate reading of Meredith Willson’s “Till There Was You,” and her brooding, introspective rendition of “Johnny Guitar” (Victor Young, Peggy Lee) is superb.

In all things musical, Sullivan is abetted by a dream team: musical director Jon Weber on piano, Sean Harkness on guitar, and Steve Doyle on bass. These gentlemen shine, both individually and ensemble, but they have the good grace never to outshine.

The other level on which the evening works is theatrical, i.e., as a show. One aspect of this dimension is the evening’s high entertainment quotient. Without overplaying, Sullivan is delightful on “Hey There” (Richard Adler, Jerry Ross) as she recreates the device Lee used to hide her nervousness when performing on TV. Also delightful is her seductive interplay with the musicians on Irving Berlin’s “Cheek to Cheek,” and she gets the audience to enthusiastically join in on the Gershwins’ “Nice Work If You Can Get It.”

Another factor contributing to the success of the show is Sullivan’s smart use of patter, not primarily to impart biographical information—much about Peggy Lee’s life is fairly widely known—but mainly to establish context for the musical selections and to provide insight into Lee’s artistry. The most striking example of the artfulness with which dialogue is woven into the show occurs early in the proceedings: Following a persuasive a cappella vocal of “Down in the Valley,” Sullivan comments on Lee’s childhood in North Dakota while the musicians provide a percussive background by slapping on their instruments; the result is that her narration is given an integrated musical-theatrical presentation. What’s more, this sets up a medley of three standards that, although their lyrics typically carry different meanings, Sullivan uses to express the young Lee’s burgeoning talent—an accomplishment that took a high degree of imagination to conceive and interpretive skill to pull off.

The final element that makes the show so fine is its programming. The evening opens with an up-tempo welcome, proceeds through a bountiful array of moods, rhythms, tempos, and attitudes, and ends with three selections that give us a gratifying dose of emotion and sentiment. “Where Did They Go” (Harry Lloyd, Gloria Sklerov) is a looking-back song that combines reflective questioning with demands for answers, and ends in a frenzy of disillusionment; it could be a companion piece to the Lee classic “Is That All There Is?”—which, not coincidentally, is quoted in the accompaniment. Sullivan closes with two songs co-written by Lee: she sings Lee and Dave Barbour’s “It’s a Good Day” softly, with conviction, and she is very touching on Lee and Paul Horner’s “Angels on Your Pillow.”

Thinking back on the show as I’m writing this has made me yearn to see it again. What a wonderful thing to be able to say.

 

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About the Author

Roy Sander has been covering cabaret and theatre for over thirty years. He’s written cabaret and theatre reviews, features, and commentary for seven print publications, most notably Back Stage, and for CitySearch on the Internet. He covered cabaret monthly on “New York Theatre Review” on PBS TV, and cabaret and theatre weekly on WLIM-FM radio. He was twice a guest instructor at the London School of Musical Theatre. A critic for BistroAwards.com, he is also the site’s Reviews Editor; in addition, he is Chairman of the Advisory Board of MAC.