2003 Chicago Cabaret Convention - Sunday Night

THIRD NIGHT AT THE CHICAGO CABARET CONVENTION
Sunday, February 16, 2003 - 8:00 pm
PARK WEST, Chicago, Illinois
by Todd Shuman

Please note: No "song lists" distributed at the convention, so some of the song titles in these reports may not be accurate and/or misspelled.

The second full day of the Chicago Cabaret Convention was a busy one. It began with a trip to Davenport's Piano Bar and Cabaret to see Lisa Asher's 3:00 pm show. It turns out that all the amazing things I have heard about her are true. She has an amazing voice, performs a variety of musical styles extremely well, and just has a knack of making songs sound fresh, exciting, and new.

After a quick dinner, it was off to the Park West for another night of music. Ms. Asher opened the evening with a fantastic arrangement of "Love for Sale" and "Dead Egyptian Blues." What a way to begin! Justin Daniel, who was a last minute addition, followed her. Mr. Daniel is new to the cabaret scene and showed some promise with "Little Boy Blues" and "Come On." Judy Barnett is an artist who has always failed to wow me, and I was not impressed with either of her songs tonight - "Can't We Be Friends?" and "The Dream's on Me."

Julie Reyburn was up next and performed a fine rendition of "Let Yourself Go" (marking the first repeated song of the Convention), though I was more impressed with her pairing of "The Days of Wine and Roses" and "I Remember." Chicago legend Audrey Morris performed "May I Please Come In" and "Look at Me Now," and was well received by the crowd. Boston cabaret artist Brian De Lorenzo, a big hit at last year's convention, sang fine renditions of Sondheim's "Giants in the Sky" (a song that unfortunately never seems to work for me outside of INTO THE WOODS) and David Friedman's "Trick of Fate." Closing the first half was surprise special guest star Andrea Marcovicci. She wowed the crowd with "Sing for your Supper," "You Make Me Feel So Young," and "Such a Night as This." While she went up on the lyric of her second number, she handled it in such a charming way that no one seemed to mind.

The second act was hosted by Ms. Marcovicci, and the first performer was Denise Perrier. I was not taken by her renditions of "Don't Explain" and "You Better Want Me." Anna Bergman, on the other hand, was wonderful, and her songs, a very funny medley of songs about meeting men and "So Many People," brought the house down. Chicago diva Nan Mason took a more serious turn that I am used to seeing from her and performed "More Than You Know" and "Unexpected Song" (which she lovingly dedicated to her husband). Spencer Day, another surprise, last-minute addition, performed next, and he showed a great deal of promise with his versions of "Please Be Kind" and "Rainy Night in Georgia."

Though she's now living in New York, I'll always consider Dina Joy Byrd a "Chicago Girl," and I am proud to say that I saw 4 of her 5 cabaret shows at Davenport's. She quickly won the audience over with a fantastic arrangement of "Great Day" and had them eating out of her hand when she sang "Dr. Longjohn." Another Chicago favorite, Jeanne Scherkenbach, performed next. Ms. Scherkenbach performs regularly with Chicago's Lyric Opera, and this evening she treated us to "Climb Ev'ry Mountain" and a very funny version of "I'm Tone Deaf." Closing another winning night of music was the fabulous Andrea Marcovicci (OKÄI'm a HUGE fan of Ms. Marcovicci!!). Her performance of "My Funny Valentine" was so fresh and exciting, I forgot that I've heard that song as many times as I have.

Stay tuned for the final installment of reports from the 2nd Chicago Cabaret Convention . . .

Todd Shuman

On to Chicago Cabaret Convention Night Four - Monday, February 17. 2003

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