Review: A TOAST TO STEVE & EYDIE at Zankel Hall Is a Triumph of a Toast

The show was called A Toast to Steve & Eydie – and I’ll drink to that! “We’ll take a cup of kindness yet for auld lang syne.” My cup runneth over with joy and memories, drinking in the fond and fabulous show recreating the performance pizzazz of singers Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gormé with highlights of their in-person and recorded repertoire, razzle-dazzle orchestral arrangements, stage costumes, and their son, David Lawrence. Channeling Eydie as his partner in this top-drawer tribute is the ideally cast delightful and dynamic Debbie Gravitte. Their March 18 concert that filled Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall with fans and affection found them in front of a 30-piece orchestra (including a harp!) was not the first time they’d taken on the history and personae.  I remember being tickled by their appearance playing the roles in an appearance in the movie Isn’t She Great? starring Bette Midler as author Jacqueline Susann.  And they’ve performed earlier versions of this tribute act and co-starred in a concert version of the 1968 Broadway musical Steve and Eydie were in, Golden Rainbow.  Well, this all-stops-out, unstoppable entertainment is something that shines like gold, too.  It began with a smashing overture which included a couple of selections from that score as well as other material associated with one or both of the vocalists – appetizer samples of the musical banquet to come.  

To rapturous cheers, David Lawrence and Debbie Gravitte entered — he in a classic tuxedo, she in an ultra-glam white gown that sparkled and was festooned with furry/feathery adornments so that she looked like she had wings. And they were flying high.

While they aren’t eerie vocal copies of their models, they replicated the essence of Steve and Eydie without being clones. Gracious David Lawrence has the imprint of his dad’s approach, with a solid sound expanding in strength and smoothness as the night went on.  And the bubbly Debbie Gravitte has brass and bravura stylings, with a twinkle in her eye; she can break into heartbreak “torch” mode when needed.  Their chemistry is evident in their banter and as they, profile to profile, address lines to each other in duets without shutting out the audience that kept erupting in applause.  

And as the generous two-act program proceeds, we get a bevy of the legacy material  – recalling Eydie’s swinging “I’ll Take Romance” and her Grammy-winning soaring treatment of “If He Walked Into My Life,” Steve’s idyllic “Portrait of My Love” and his Golden Rainbow standout “I Gotta Be Me,” the duets capitalizing on their perspective of being a real-life married couple, from the sincere to the sarcastic “Darn It, Baby, That’s Love” and “The Honeymoon Is Over.”  Other numbers were fashioned into a medley, some winked at and others done more in earnest, from the novelty Gormé hit “Blame It on the Bossa Nova” to the early Lawrence trademark “Go Away, Little Girl.” The pièce de résistance was the mega-medley of Gershwin material in the second half.  (Debbie Gravitte had a different fancy outfit with shine matching her vocals and personality.) 

And, oh, those orchestrations!!--- with punchy brass, smashing cymbals, and a lush string section.  Tedd Firth, music director and pianist of so many cabaret shows and jazz gigs, did double duty – yeoman’s work – as pianist and conductor, bringing the arrangements of masters like Don Costa and Nelson Riddle to rich, radiant life.  Bravo, Maestro!     

I, as someone who’s known and loved Steve and Eydie's material for many years, was in musical heaven.  I admired the attention to detail in recreating the phrasing, flourishes, and fireworks.  (Some of you may have been reminded of their performances and belatedly introduced to some numbers via the PBS retrospective that debuted on the air late last year and has been repeated.) 

Whereas some tribute shows with a dogged copycat approach can feel robotic and overly studied, this Toast is bubbly and feels fresh and frisky.  I suspect that venues around the country will want to book this sure-fire audience-pleaser, so Debbie Gravitte had best keep that black voluminous Eydie wig fluffed and ready.  While we often get lost in imagining we’ve been somehow transported to the past, as if in the presence of the legends, we’re reminded just often enough that this ain’t that (nor a bunch of YouTube TV appearance clips magically taking stage form) when the “stand-ins” stand center stage as themselves, stepping out of the looming shadows, reflecting on the Steve and Eydie career highlights and preparing the show itself.

For comic relief, D&D  included some of the vintage shtick S&E used to do – wisecracks and marriage-based jokes.  We’re told that voluminous amounts of material had all been kept on file, highly organized, over the decades.  Another humorous touch came at the top of the second half, in the darkness, as we heard an audio recording of a precocious David Lawrence at age 9 singing, with a mix of boo-boos and chutzpah, his dad’s version of “On a Clear Day You Can See Forever.”  Then he entered and sang it live, with panache.  In a bittersweet moment, adjusting their usual concert-ending song, the Gershwins’ “(Our) Love Is Here to Stay,” the performers asked the audience to sing along in dedication to our joint warm feelings for Steve Lawrence, who passed away at age 88 just days before the concert.  The legacy and fanship earned by him and the late Eydie Gormé are giant and ongoing.  Now, I want to emphasize an opinion not to be a “last but not least” observation: Although this spectacular salute specifically bringing back the stylings of this ultimate married couple may be most fully appreciated by their longtime fans remembering the bliss, the talent and material are strong enough on their to satisfy and charm new audiences who aren’t riding on a wave of nostalgia.  The show is simply that entertaining!

Follow David Lawrence on Instagram here.

Follow Debbie Gravitte on Instagram here.

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