Holly Penfield: Rhythm of Life

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Holly Penfield

Rhythm of Life

Feinstein’s at the Nikko, San Francisco, CA, July 15, 2016

Reviewed by Steve Murray for Cabaret Scenes

Holly-Penfield-Cabaret-Scenes-Magazine_212Holly Penfield definitely walks to her own beat. The Bay Area native turned London cabaret star is more than just a savvy chanteuse. She’s a blithe spirit of her own unique creation, wrapped in quirky self-made costuming, coyly roaming the audience and brandishing her trademark riding crop.

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Idiosyncrasies aside, when she opens her mouth and gets down to business, Penfield is a force to be reckoned with. Her Rhythm of Life pulsates with energy, bravado and old fashioned pizzazz.

Her opening suite set the tone of the evening: a sexy “Some Like It Hot” (Matty Malneck and I.A.L. Diamond) from the film of the same name, the rambunctious “A Lot of Livin’ to Do” (Lee Adams/Charles Strouse) from Bye Bye Birdie into a sizzling “I Want to Be Evil” (Lester Judson/Raymond Taylor). Backed by Larry Dunlap on piano, Pat Klobas on bass and David Rokeach on drums, Penfield included two delightful comic tunes; Ray Davies’ Kinks hit “Demon Alcohol,” a cautionary tale of booze and floozies, and a Samba beat cover of Bill Crompton and Norman Murrell’s “House of Bamboo,” a novelty hit for Andy Williams in 1959.

Penfield brought her own interpretations to Garland standards “The Man That Got Away” (Harold Arlen/Ira Gershwin) and “Swanee” (George Gershwin/Irving Caesar) with the original opening verse.

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A talented songwriter, Penfield took to the piano to sing “It’s Always Been You” (Gene Barkin/Penfield), a beautiful love song from her CD Parts of My Privacy. It was certainly a set highlight, as was her raucous closing mashup of her original “Chance to Dance (Barkin/Penfield), and “Rhythm of Life” (Cy Coleman/Dorothy Fields) from Sweet Charity.

Penfield quoted Garland who said, “Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of somebody else.” Penfield is most assuredly a unique creation and strives to be the best she can be.

Steve Murray

Always interested in the arts, Steve was encouraged to begin producing and, in 1998, staged four, one-man vehicles starring San Francisco's most gifted performers. In 1999, he began the Viva Variety series, a live stage show with a threefold mission to highlight, support, and encourage gay and gay-friendly art in all the performance forms, to entertain and document the shows, and to contribute to the community by donating proceeds to local non-profits. The shows utilized the old variety show style popularized by his childhood idol Ed Sullivan. He’s produced over 150 successful shows, including parodies of Bette Davis’s gothic melodramedy Hush, Hush Sweet Charlotte and Joan Crawford’s very awful Trog. He joined Cabaret Scenes 2007 and enjoys the writing and relationships he’s built with very talented performers.