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Richard Holbrook
July 7, 2011
“Richard Sings Burton: The Songs of Burton Lane”
Feinstein’s at Loews Regency – June 29
“Richard Sings Burton: The Songs of Burton Lane” has turned into one of those cabaret shows that just won’t quit. The amiable Richard Holbrook is one of the hardest working singers in this business, with a creamy tenor voice, crystal-clear diction, and an enthusiastic vibrancy that comes from within. Just listen and watch Holbrook’s rendition of “Hurry, It’s Lovely Up Here” (lyricist Alan Jay Lerner) near the top of the show. It is an urgent invitation to come in, sit down, and appreciate some of these great songs by this often underappreciated composer.
This show has been around awhile. It was born at Don’t Tell Mama in 2008 and it blossomed there over the next year. It was subsequently reprised at the Metropolitan Room, and now Holbrook has saluted Lane at Feinstein’s at Loews Regency. There is something about this good-looking singer/actor’s approach to Burton Lane’s music that sparks attention, much of which is due to that topping that delights any cabaret offering: a performer’s obvious love for good songs. It is evident that Holbrook has this feeling for Burton Lane’s fine melodies.
Holbrook had quite a songbook to choose from, and he selected a generous sampling to fill almost 90 minutes. Lane composed some of America’s most memorable melodies, and what a group of lyricists he teamed up with—Ira Gershwin, Frank Loesser, E.Y. Harburg, Alan Jay Lerner! It is safe to say that almost everyone knows at least some Burton Lane tunes. The composer was mentored by the Gershwin brothers and spent many years writing for films and theatre. From both areas, numerous songs stand out as classics, including two that earned Academy Award nominations. Holbrook delivered the hopeful joy of blooming romance in the first nominated song, “How About You?” (Ralph Freed) from Babes on Broadway. Years later, Lane earned a second nomination with “Too Late Now” (Lerner) from Royal Wedding. This cabaret favorite was performed by Holbrook with compelling, yet not overwrought emotion. Holbrook adopted a pugnacious stance, remindful of a more refined Jimmy Cagney, for the comic “How Could You Believe Me When I Said I Love You When You Know I’ve Been a Liar All My Life” from the same film.
In the theatre, Lane struck gold with E.Y. (“Yip”) Harburg for the score of Finian’s Rainbow, and again with Alan Jay Lerner for On A Clear Day You Can See Forever. Holbrook’s clear tone with long lines and a warm vibrato is made for songs like the soaring “On A Clear Day You Can See Forever” and what is probably Lane’s most popular song, “How Are Things in Glocca Morra?”
The show was deftly directed by Academy Award-winning documentary film producer Richard Barclay, who paced the flow with pertinent information about Lane shoehorned between songs that demonstrated the variety of melodies and rhythms. “Lane wrote melodies with a heartbreaking quality,” said Holbrook, whose vocal renditions also injected a lilting hope and a tender nostalgia. Outstanding was the somewhat unfamiliar and lovely “One More Walk Around the Garden” (Lerner) from Carmelina. With an atypical delivery for the usually optimistic singer, Holbrook unleashed persuasive anger and frustration in “What Did I Have That I Don’t Have,” also co-written with Lerner.
“Richard Sings Burton” featured the Tom Nelson Trio: musical director and pianist Tom Nelson, Peter Grant on drums, and Tom Kirchmer on bass, with Nelson’s enthusiastic and compelling arrangements in synch with Richard Holbrook’s polished style.
