Review: Lorna Luft "Eliminates the Negative" at The Laurie Beechman Theater

“Who Will Buy?” from the musical Oliver! opened Lorna Luft’s cabaret at The Laurie Beechman Theatre on March 27. Her interpretation favored conviction and robust phrasing over innocence. She drove the number to a passionate peak, punching out the final “Who! Will! Buy!” with three emphatic, belted notes, the last held aloft with a bravura flourish worthy of “Rose’s Turn” from Gypsy. Who will buy? The answer from the audience cheers was unequivocal.

Backed by three first-rate musicians, one would never guess it was pianist Gary Adler’s debut performance with Luft; his playing was assured and finely attuned. On bass, the outstanding Jim Donica, and on drums, longtime collaborator Louis B. Crocco provided a supple rhythmic foundation.

At 73—despite her well documented health battles with breast cancer (2012 and 2015) and a brain tumor in 2018—Luft wore resilience as both armor and banner. It’s no surprise her second number, “Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive” by Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer, served as an ethos: eliminate the negative, amplify the joy. That philosophy guided the entire evening.

Dressed in a sparkly black jean jacket with matching pants and a swooping black top, she exuded tireless energy. She spoke of New York as home, recounting a recent whirlwind of performances—five shows in Las Vegas (where she got to take her four grandchildren to the Sphere to see their great grandmother in The Wizard of Oz), then off to London for another set of shows, and back to New York only days ago—a schedule that would test performers half her age. “Happy to be home,” she noted, adding that she prefers American audiences for their unabashed enthusiasm. She and her husband love taking walks in New York, where she discovered Cole Porter’s piano on display at the newly renovated Waldorf Astoria on Park Avenue. Her next song was composed on that very piano—“Let’s Do It,” delivering its playful “birds do it, bees do it…” with a wink of sensuality and impeccable comic timing.

Storytelling—clear, direct, and often deeply felt—continued as Luft’s throughline. Nowhere was this more evident than in her tribute to lyricist Lorenz Hart, whom she described as “ahead of his time…talented and tortured.” Her medley from Babes in Arms (music by Richard Rodgers) flowed into “My Funny Valentine,” “The Lady Is a Tramp,” and “Johnny One Note,” each rendered with emotional clarity. She urged the audience to see the recent film Blue Moon, praising Ethan Hawke’s performance as Hart. “Dare I say it? He should’ve won the Oscar for Best Actor.”

A recent loss brought a quieter turn: a tribute to Neil Sedaka. With his blessing, she recast the up-tempo rock-n-roll “Breaking Up Is Hard to Do” as a ballad, transforming its familiar bounce into something tender and elegiac, ending simply: “I love you, Neil.”

For her finale, she offered a clever, witty medley by Fred Ebb and Larry Grossman, stitching together songs famously overlooked by the Oscars—an affectionate, slightly subversive salute to worthy song writers who went unrecognized. It proved one of the evening’s highlights, lifted by both humor and a sense of advocacy.

Her encore, “I’ll Be Here Tomorrow” from The Grand Tour by Jerry Herman, distilled the evening to its essence: survival, persistence, and presence. She dedicated it to tomorrow’s “No Kings March,” pledging to attend and inviting the audience to join her.

At this stage of her life, Luft’s voice may show wear—the vibrato wider, the upper register less consistently secure—but the wisdom of her artistry has deepened. What remains undiminished is her conviction, her stamina, and her willingness to stand before an audience with unguarded vulnerability. In a cabaret landscape often driven by polish, Luft offers something rarer: lived experience, sung plainly and without apology. And in that honesty, she doesn’t just “accentuate the positive”—she embodies it.