Review: LINDA PURL: TUNES & TALES: ADVENTURES IN SURVIVAL at The Green Room 42

Musical theater, television, and cabaret star Linda Purl may be best known for her recurring characters on Happy Days and Matlock.  A fine singer and interpreter of standards, Purl has a lengthy list of performance credits.  At The Green Room 42 on November 10, she presented her newest show, Tunes & Tales: Adventures in Survival.

Purl was backed by three of the best in the business, with musical director Tedd Firth providing outstanding charts and accompaniment, with bassist David Finck and drummer Ray Marchica, a trio Purl has worked with for several years.

The room was fairly full, and notable cabaret and jazz stars were in attendance, including Nicolas King, Lee Roy Reams and Susie Mosher.

The intriguing premise for this show was finding tools for one’s “life toolbelt”: “With all the tools on the belt, the most important thing is the belt itself. Everything hangs on it. And my family, and my friends, and each of you, are my life toolbelt. It’s about our community, it’s about the village, it’s about our country,” referencing Purl’s and the country’s challenges and changes, particularly since the pandemic. Many of the arrangements in this show involved complex rhythmic changes, all of which Purl handled perfectly.

Purl opened strong with Peggy Lee’s “It’s a Good Day,” setting a positive tone for the set.  A poppy arrangement of “Destination Moon” included a rubato verse, and morphed into a jazz break that featured Marchica. Purl and Firth cleverly traded musical quotes referencing other “moon” songs.

The star sang part of Cole Porter’s “Anything Goes,” starting in a slow rubato, then morphed the song into “A Most Unusual Day” (Jimmy McHugh/Harold Adamson), arranged as a jazz waltz, with Finck and Marchica driving the song hard at the break.

Standing by the piano, in an intimate moment, she performed “Rain Sometimes” (Arthur Hamilton), a Nancy Wilson hit, complete with its rubato verse.  Her interpretation and delivery were beautiful.

On “Everything Must Change" (Benard Ighner), Finck’s off-kilter bass lines created a sense of chaos. Firth’s heady arrangement took the piece into a series of stressful moments of chaos, followed by straight rhythm that seemed to answer or agree with the sentiment. It switched into "I Feel a Song Coming On" (Jimmy McHugh/Dorothy Fields) without skipping a beat. Many of the arrangements in this show involved complex rhythmic changes, including here, all of which Purl handled perfectly.

A charming, intimate segment had Purl sitting at the piano bench next to Firth for “Spring Will Be a Little Late This Year” (Frank Loesser). Her singing here was warm and delicious, the arrangement filled with voicings that added to the emotional resonance of the piece. Her musical timing is also impeccable: Wherever Firth took it, Purl never strayed from the melodic changes or got lost in the weeds.

Another high point came with a gorgeous rendition of “I Like You, You’re Nice” (Blossom Dearie) accompanied only by Firth, with Purl sitting on a stool. This was one of several songs that celebrated her relationship with actor Patrick Duffy, which blossomed during Covid, and her life lesson to “expect the unexpected.”  With “Something Happens to Me,” the underpinnings of her real-life relationship with Duffy, her realization that what happens to her, happens to her fella, made the love palpable here. Firth’s arrangement here made excellent use of these rhythm masters. This segment finished with a jazzy “All I Do is Dream of You” (Nacio Herb Brown/Arthur Freed). 

Sting’s “If I Ever Lose My Faith in You” was an excellent, surprising choice that Purl set up by reminding the audience of all that’s going on in the world right now. A list song, it holds a series of “you could say I lost” statements that contrast the questioning of all the things we think of as important with the one thing that really matters, losing one’s faith in a loving partner, which would make everything else seem insignificant.  

After a finale of “Comes Once in a Lifetime” (Jule Style/Betty Comden/Adolph Green), Purl took to the stool for an encore and, in a stunning, intimate performance with only Firth’s piano, sang a tear-inducing “You Must Believe in Spring” (Michel Legrand/Alan and Marilyn Bergman).

Tunes & Tales: Adventures in Survival is a well-crafted show. Purl’s stories are warm and humorous, and her voice is rich and easy to listen to. She radiates love and wisdom throughout her performance, and made the listener feel privy to her inside world.

Learn more about Linda Purl at www.lindapurl.com.

For more great shows at The Green Room 42, visit thegreenroom42.venuetix.com.