Review - Marty Geiger: Summer Baby

Marty Geiger is one of those colorful theatre junkies I often run into during intermissions or on chat boards. A robust gentleman of 60 and a lawyer by trade, he decided two years ago to venture into the world of cabaret performing. When I took my seat for his new show at Don't Tell Mama, Summer Baby, I wasn't really intending to review it; I was just supporting a nice guy who always has something interesting to say about the new musicals in town. But hey, it turns out Marty, with the help of director Lina Koutrakos and music director Paul Greenwood, puts on a heck of a fun show.

While his soft baritone is admittedly not the voice of a highly-trained singer, it's still very pleasant and Geiger embraces each selection with enjoyable gusto. Being a summer baby himself, the evening is a charming remembrance of the performer's days of summer camp, summer jobs and summer loves.

There are (very) old standards like George Evans and Ren Shields' 1902 classic "In The Good Old Summertime" and Harry Carroll and Harold Atteridge's 1914 gem "By The Beautiful Sea," which he sings with nostalgic sweetness, but he can still rock out to a hot tune like "Summer In The City" (John Sebastian/Steve Boone/Mark Sebastian) and even make a cocky Danny Zuko singing "Summer Nights" (Warren Casey/Jim Jacobs) with Greenwood serving as his Sandy.

Memories of a summer heat wave in Paris inspire an exhausted rendition of Cole Porter's "Too Darn Hot." And while later on he playfully zings the comedy of Noel Coward's "Why Do The Wrong People Travel?," he ends the evening with rousing choruses of "Those Were The Days" (Gene Raskin), inspired by nights abroad in a little cabaret in Greece.

My favorite selection though, was a quiet introspective arrangement of Lennon and McCartney's "She Loves You" (omitting the yeah, yeah, yeahs) sung as a lovesick teenager driving home on a lonely night with only the radio for company.

Wearing a tropical shirt and a big wide grin, Marty Geiger comes off as a fun, loveable guy who's just happy to be there. While enjoying the talent and charm of that summer baby, I was quite happy to be there, myself.

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