Review: ADELAIDE CABARET FESTIVAL 2017: MICHAEL FEINSTEIN – SINATRA AND FRIENDS at Her Majesty's Theatre

Reviewed by Barry Lenny, Friday 23rd June 2017.

Sinatra and Friends was another peek into the Great American Songbook with Micheal Feinstein, the head librarian, keeper of the keys, and most profound exponent of that wonderful music. This is the timeless music of the greatest of American entertainers, of which Feinstein is one, carrying on that tradition and bringing live performances of those songs to the world. We are fortunate to have him back at our Cabaret Festival with one more of his polished performances, backed by a seventeen piece orchestra that includes some of Adelaide's finest musicians.

The important thing about Feinstein is that he does not try to impersonate the people who made the songs famous, nor even try to recreate their performances, apart from one. He interprets each number in his own superb style, showing his understanding of the lyrics and filling them with meaning. He gives us his own very personal versions of the songs in renditions that make them new again.

Feinstein had the great good fortune to meet and become friends with so many of the performers whose works he presents, and so there are his fascinating recollections and anecdotes linking the songs that make this a cabaret act, and not simply a concert. I am sure that the rest of the audience would have happily sat there all night listening to his stories and hearing him sing. I, for one, would be happy if his appearances were an annual event.

Feinstein hit the ground running, opening with a driving Sinatra medley of Luck, be a Lady Tonight, from Guys and Dolls, and All I Need is the Girl, with a short instrumental break to show off the musicians, whom he then immediately acknowledged. We were then soon laughing at his tale of how he first met Sinatra and they became friends.

Feinstein also sings the introductions to many of the songs, including the beautiful ballad, Time After Time, the second song of the evening. It is such a pleasure to hear those introductions again, as they are so seldom sung by anybody today.

Day In, Day Out was written in 1939 but, in his hands, it sounds as fresh as the day it was written. He then announced that his favourite singer was Fred Astaire, who introduced a great many songs that were picked up by Sinatra and added to his repertoire. The Way You Look Tonight was one of those songs.

The evergreen songs kept coming, with the names of famous composers and lyricists attached to every one, and the audience loved it with huge applause at the end of every number. Swinging numbers, ballads, and blues, all sat side by side as Feinstein gave us everything that we had come for. His love and respect for the music was evident in every note.

The one that he sang while impersonating the singer was Hello Dolly, taking on the gravel voice of Louis Armstrong for the first verse, before dropping back to his own voice and interpretation of the song, with revised lyrics by Jerry Herman.

Even after several encores, there were still calls for more, but we will all just have to wait until his next visit which, hopefully, will be very soon.

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