Christine Ebersole & Billy Stritch: Our Favorite Things

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Christine Ebersole & Billy Stritch

Our Favorite Things

Birdland, NYC, November 24, 2015

Reviewed by Annamaria Alfieri for Cabaret Scenes

Photo: Kevin Alvey
Photo: Kevin Alvey

This duo sang their introduction—“It’s Us Again.” Their happy history performing together showed in everything that followed, especially in the beautiful harmonies of a sultry “Dindi.”

Ebersole’s energy and stagecraft gleamed at their very best in “Surrey with the Fringe on Top.” Giving her range free reign, she turned romantic with a lovely ”The Folks Who Live on the Hill.” A gently swinging duet—“Sunday in New York”—brought joy even to a Monday evening. But then medley of holiday numbers worked less well: not even Ebersole’s beautiful singing could make much out of the ballad “Snowfall,” and “River,” about the sad side of Christmas, seemed out of place just before Thanksgiving.  But then Stritch gave a nice finish to the winter interlude with “What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve?” with his own beautiful jazz piano accompaniment.

The finale turned the proceedings back to upbeat:  A great, jazzy “Hit that Jive, Jack” showed off Ebersole as a jazz singer as well as a musical stage star. The evening ended with a rousing duet of “There’s a Boat That’s Leaving Soon for New York.” And the encore, “They Can’t Take That Away from Me,” left the audience still wanting more.  Throughout, Stritch’s piano, along with Tom Hubbard on bass and Rick Montalbano on drums, gave the performance a jazz style worthy of the Birdland tradition.

Annamaria Alfieri

Annamaria Alfieri is the author of four acclaimed historical mysteries, including the current Strange Gods, which takes place in British East Africa in 1911 and is described as Out of Africa meets Agatha Christie. Writing as Patricia King, she also is the author of five nonfiction books, including Never Work for a Jerk, that landed her on the Oprah Winfrey Show. She is a past president of Mystery Writers of America, New York Chapter, and Vice President of the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival. She is a life-long fan of the American Popular song.