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“This Thing Called Love”
Oak Room at the Algonquin – February 9 – March 6
For their latest show, Eric Comstock (piano, vocals) and Barbara Fasano (vocals, radiance) offer us an evening of songs about love. I know, I know: With the possible exception of list songs filled with geographical references or songs about household appliances, this could embrace just about every song ever written. I also know you might be thinking, “Terrific, another show about love.” Well, in fact, it is terrific, and though it may, indeed, be another show about love, it is anything but just another show about love.
The evening brims with intelligence, taste, imagination, and charm—and, oh yes, talent. Not exactly by having rethought, but, rather, by having carefully considered how to represent each selection, Comstock and Fasano make even very familiar material fresh and vital. What’s more, their being a couple offstage as well as on gives this 75-minute exploration of love a solid foundation as well as a heightened air of romance—their rendition of the Gershwins’ “Isn’t It a Pity?” resonates on more than one level.
Sondheim’s “Love Is in the Air” is a good illustration of some of the virtues that distinguish the show. Instead of the pleasant soft-shoe arrangement we’re familiar with, we get an infectiously rhythmic, angular treatment that perks up the song and makes the rhyming especially delicious. Comstock sings the classic “Tonight” (Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim)—not lushly and rapturously, but with quiet, understated bliss, and though more spare than most other renditions, his take is every bit as affecting. No, I’ve done it an injustice—it’s actually one of the most touching I’ve heard. His handling of “Small World” (Jule Styne, Stephen Sondheim) is sweet, gentle, and comforting. Yes, the song is supposed to have those qualities; it’s just that here they lie at the very heart of his interpretation.
The couple’s vision of Irving Berlin’s “Let’s Face the Music and Dance” is not as stark as I normally like; instead, they take a quasi-surrealistic approach. Since music and dance in the lyric are metaphors, this proves equally—and wonderfully—effective. The splendid arrangement of “Old Devil Moon” (Burton Lane, E.Y. Harburg) is variously jazzy, bluesy, lilting and languorous. With John Wallowitch’s “Come a Little Closer,” the vocal arrangement mirrors the progression of the courtship process; the result is beautiful and moving.
Though ostensibly about a mode of transportation, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s “The Surrey with the Fringe on Top” is, of course, one of the dearest and most tender of love songs; Fasano’s rendition is jaunty and enormously appealing while still capturing the underlying emotional dimension. She sings Frank Loesser’s “Joey, Joey, Joey” accompanied only by bass (the tasteful and masterful Sean Smith)—one of the evening’s many musical choices that yield dramatic benefits.
Cole Porter’s “In the Still of the Night” has been in Fasano’s repertoire for several years—permanently, I hope, for her interpretation (singing and acting) is insightful and hauntingly beautiful. The first time I heard her sing it was the first time I really understood the song, and her performance remains as stunning as ever. (Years ago, she provided for me a similar first-time illumination for Jerry Herman’s “Ribbons Down My Back.” That’s what artists of the first water are capable of doing.)
I’ve touched on only some of the evening’s merits. I haven’t even mentioned the less familiar, but equally worthy numbers, or the fact that throughout the proceedings, the interplay between Comstock’s piano and Smith’s bass is a source of multi-colored riches and delights. I just might have to see this show again.
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.
