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Deb Berman
November 1, 2010
“All in Good Time”
Metropolitan Room: October 17, 25, November 2; Don’t Tell Mama: December 6, 20
Some people make impressive debuts and then fizzle. But not Deb Berman, whose bow in 2008 earned her a Bistro Award for Outstanding Debut, and who has come back to the Metropolitan Room with her first offering since then showing conspicuous growth in artistry and assurance—all the more remarkable in light of the fact that both attributes were pretty strong two years ago. From beginning to end, she displays vocal skill, an interpretive palette, and musicianship of the very highest order, and Sean Harkness on guitar (the evening’s sole instrumental accompaniment) delivers all one could possibly wish for from a guitar—or an orchestra. In fact, my admiration for Berman’s talent and for the entire enterprise is so great that the problem I face is trying to discuss it without sounding like her press agent or her mother. But I’ve got to call it as I see it, don’t I?
I would categorize her as a jazz singer because she exhibits a jazz musician’s freedom of expression—though not all of her renditions stand out as being in the jazz idiom. Nonetheless, all of them do stand out, for Berman approaches each in whichever style or manner best expresses what she wishes to communicate, and this imparts vibrancy to each number and makes it distinctive. For example, with Rodgers & Hammerstein’s “It Might As Well Be Spring” she stylizes the melody as well as the lyric phrasing, and the effect is riveting. She gives John Lennon & Paul McCartney’s “A Hard Day’s Night” a jazz treatment, while at the same time she illuminates the lyric, and she savors and plays with the words to the jazz standard “Take Five” (Dave and Iola Brubeck, Paul Desmond). In contrast, her rendition of Stephen Sondheim’s “I Remember” is direct, gorgeous, and moving, and her treatment of the exquisite “If I Love Again” (Jack Murray, Ben Oakland) is simple and touching. She delivers a pensive reading of Rube Bloom and Johnny Mercer’s “Fools Rush In,” then follows it with a much hipper turn on the vocalese that Meredith d’Ambrosio penned for the song.
As is evident from the selections I’ve cited above, the programming draws from a variety of songbooks. There are also obscurities, such as Simon Wallace and Fran Landesman’s “In a New York Minute,” a cool song with a hard—or perhaps simply unromanticized—edge. The greatest rarity is the show’s title song, “All in Good Time,” which Barry Levitt and Peter Napolitano wrote expressly for the show; it’s an appealing list song of desires and ambitions that deserves to live on independently. Harkness lends his voice to good effect to a duet of Laura Nyro’s “Time and Love,” and he turns in a guitar solo of “Some Other Time” (Leonard Bernstein, Betty Comden & Adolf Green) that is the very soul of sweet tristesse.
In addition to the splendid musical numbers, there are several sections of very funny patter. In the past, when commenting on humorous songs, I’ve said that it isn’t enough to sing a funny song, you have to be funny. Well, the same holds true for comic dialogue, and while the writing here is, indeed, funny, what makes it so successful is that Berman is funny. What’s more, all of the dialogue seems pure Berman. Dialogue and song are blended smartly and charmingly in a segment that skillfully weaves hilarious anecdotes about speed dating with two very different songs, “How About You?” (Ralph Freed, Burton Lane) and John Mayer’s “My Stupid Mouth.”
By characterizing all elements (musical style, arrangement, dialogue) as quintessentially Berman, I do not mean to suggest that the director (Susan Winter) and musical director (Sean Harkness) did not make significant contributions during the creative process; rather, it is a tribute to all three that the end product is an integrated whole that so seamlessly and convincingly communicates the singer’s artistic vision and life perspective. Then there’s Berman’s vocal technique—fluid and seemingly effortless, and the quality of her voice that is at once soothing and expressive.
This is masterful work by a singer who belongs on the world stage, not only in New York.
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.
