Baby Jane Dexter
It’s Personal
Café Noctambulo at Pangea, NYC, May 21, 2016
Reviewed by Joel Benjamin for Cabaret Scenes
Celebrating her new CD, It’s Personal, the great Baby Jane Dexter took over the intimate cabaret room Café Noctambulo at Pangea in the East Village. She worked hard—perhaps a bit too hard—to work her magic on songs close to her heart, dedicating the evening to her close friend and cabaret legend, the late, much-missed Julie Wilson.
Dexter looked great. She absolutely glowed as she lit into “I’m in Love Again” (Cy Coleman/Peggy Lee/Dave Cavanaugh)—one of the more upbeat songs on the program—followed by Abbey Lincoln’s ironic self-examination, “Painted Lady.” Then, getting even darker, she gave us Billy Roy’s “Bargain Day” in which the singer’s “useless” heart is for sale.
She and her brilliant Musical Director/accompanist Ross Patterson managed to make some of the most clichéd numbers live anew: “The Birth of the Blues” (B.G. DeSylva/Lew Brown/Ray Henderson) was boisterous; “House of the Rising Sun” (Traditional) was extremely slow and dramatic; “Got to Get You Into My Life” (Paul McCartney) was thoughtful; and her comical “Experiment” (Cole Porter) had a winking, gentle lewdness. Similarly, “Blue Moon” (Rodgers & Hart) was particularly rueful and “How Can I Be Sure” (Felix Cavaliere/Eddie Brigati) was a study in self-persuasion. The novelty number, “Everyone Is Gay” (Ian Axel/Chad Varrarino) was sung as a forthright statement of acceptance on the eve of Pride Month.
She was positively boisterous in “Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart” (J.F. Hanley) but her encore, “For All We Know” (J. Fred Coots/Sam M. Lewis) and R.E.M.’s “Everybody Hurts” (Bill Berry/Michael Stipe/Mike Mills/Peter Buck) ended in a wail.
Although her voice was in better shape than the last time I caught her act, for some reason, she chose to push too hard, with some songs unsubtly blasted. Ironically, the times when her intonation was less secure, she sang with heartbreaking emotion. So it was strange that at this very intimate venue she was uncharacteristically vocally bombastic.
