Review: BEWITCHED, BOTHERED, AND RODGERS AND HART at Dizzy's Club Keeps SONGBOOK SUNDAYS On A High Note

The Songbook Sundays Series returned for a second season of musical excellence on February 5th, just in time for Valentine's Day, and although Rodgers and Hart are most often remembered for their witty, urbane, sophisticated (and sometimes naughty *gasp*) compositions, they are also well-documented romantics. Surely Deborah Grace Winer had that in mind when she sat down to curate the program for BEWITCHED, BOTHERED, AND RODGERS AND HART.

After seeing all four of the installments in this series (one of the great gifts bestowed upon the cabaret and concert industry in 2022), this writer cannot help but admit that this has probably been my favorite, to date, and it was during this program that I came to the realization that Rodgers and Hart are probably my favorites. It doesn't seem quite fair to the other composers of The Great American Songbook because they are all so special, all so unique, all so wonderful, but something happened during Bewitched, Bothered, And Rodgers And Hart that hasn't happened in the previous iterations of Songbook Sundays: I knew every single word sung. If that isn't a tell, I don't know what is.

Starting on May 22nd of last year, Songbook Sundays has been presenting two shows in one night, every couple of months. These shows (one at 5 pm, one at 7:30) have featured three singers chosen by Deborah Grace Winer, four musicians invited by the fine folks at Jazz At Lincoln Center, and one legendary composer of standards and classics. The entire cast is designed to be multi-generational, diverse of ethnic background, varied of experience, and fluid of focus. The headliner is usually a Broadway star (to date we have seen a Gershwin show starring Karen Ziemba and a Cole Porter show centered around Christine Andreas) but Winer created an Ellington show around jazz great La Tanya Hall, and a Berlin show led by recording artist Debby Boone, who has sung everything from pop to country to gospel to Broadway (a street she has played as an actress). Deb Winer then surrounds her leading ladies with one emerging artist from the jazz world (like Anaïs Reno) and well-established performers from the arts industry as we already know it, artists like Darius de Haas and Nicolas King, and she lines them up before four of the most exceptional musicians the jazz industry has to offer. And with her encyclopedic knowledge of show business history and these musical artists, Deb puts on two performances of one hour, of the most exquisite and enjoyable musical entertainment to be found on the live entertainment stages of New York City. Each and every one of these Songbook Sundays installments has been incredible and Bewitched, Bothered and Rodgers and Hart is proof positive that it's just going to get better.

For her Rodgers and Hart night, Deb Winer cast as her leading lady the great, the glorious, the glamorous Emily Skinner (interesting side note: Emily was supposed to do the Berlin night but when a conflict arose, Deb's friend, Debby Boone, stepped in - appropriate because Boone and Berlin are perfectly matched, and the world needs an Emily Skinner performance of "Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered" - a win from every angle). Working with the iconic Tony award nominated actress were fellow Broadway acolytes Kenita R. Miller and Jarvis B. Manning, and the threesome seemed ideally suited to share the stage together, indeed, during the group finale, they seemed to be having more fun than any previous cast of Songbook Sundays. If these three singing actors were not already close chums before this show, their chemistry on the stage would be a clear indicator that new friendships have been formed. Factually speaking, there was a discernible adoration between the actors and the musicians as well, featuring visible displays of courtesy (like Jarvis's insistence on kneeling during the band solos, so the audience could see them, which actually doesn't happen all the time in club acts), playfulness (like Kenita's musical flirtations with legendary tenor saxophone player Houston Person), and respect (like the way that Emily stands at the piano, studiously watching the breakneck speed with which Maestro Ted Rosenthal's fingers flew over the keys). In the same vein, my plus-one for the evening and I observed, with great interest, the intention with which sixteen-year-old prodigy Ruby Farmer kept her focus on Emily and Kenita, from behind her bass, making sure to match their intensity, and even to learn from them about the activity of actresses when telling tales in song. And when drummer Zach Adleman did his solo during the band's incredible treatment of "Falling In Love With Love," all eyes were on him, lovingly, appreciatively, and joyfully. This was a cast of artists that wasn't just glad for the work, they were happy for the jam session. And it showed.

As for the music itself, it was pure, unadulterated heaven - appropriate, so high in the New York sky, looking out over the night time view of Central Park South and Fifth Avenue.

For this special night that may or may not have been orchestrated as a Valentine's show, Deborah Grace Winer made sure that there were plenty of songs about love, with Jarvis splendidly taking the lead on "I Didn't Know What Time It Was," "I Wish I Were In Love Again" and "You Are Too Beautiful" and Kenita acing "This Can't Be Love" and a heartbreaking "My Romance" that appeared to have the Tony nominee close to tears. For her part, Emily's love song for the evening was "Where Or When" but, in order to capture the worldliness that always comes onto the stage with Ms. Skinner, Maestro Rosenthal gave the treatment a Latin rhythm that was working for everyone in the room. For her other two numbers, although the general feel of love was in the room, the stories were a little less doe-eyed, as Emily served sass with "You Took Advantage of Me" and sex with (the obligatory) "Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered" (which my date for the evening, theater savant Brady Schwind, later said was the best he had ever heard). It was a welcome factor in the programming (worthy of Lorenz Hart) to see the dapper Mr. Manning presenting all the hopeful love songs, while the ladies took to the more urban experiences, like Ms. Miller's pert "The Lady Is a Tramp" (with a preamble from Winer about the contextual meaning of the word tramp), and every sophisticated note sung and eyebrow raised from Emily Skinner, one of the true treasures of the industry. Every person present for the program would, surely, agree that it was a most audacious night of entertainment, excellent executed by a crackerjack team of proficients working at the top of their game, which is exactly what everyone has come to expect of Deborah Grace Winer because that is always what she produces, in all her efforts. Thank goodness this particular effort is an ongoing one, to be enjoyed three more times in this next year, as Songbook Sundays continues its supremely successful run as one of the must-see series in this and every season.

Songbook Sundays is a presentation of Jazz At Lincoln Center (website HERE) that is presented at Dizzy's Club (homepage HERE).

Photos by Stephen Mosher; Visit the Stephen Mosher website HERE.

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