Jeff Harnar: The 1959 Broadway Songbook

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Jeff Harnar

The 1959 Broadway Songbook

Metropolitan Room, NYC, Aug. 13, 2016

Reviewed by Elizabeth Ahlfors for Cabaret Scenes

Photo: Stacy Sullivan
Photo: Stacy Sullivan

Jeff Harnar’s The 1959 Broadway Songbook is a jewel of a show. That year stands out in the famed Golden Age of Broadway musicals, having featured a sparkling treasure of musical gems presented by Harnar, a warm baritone with the gift of musicality, tenderness, and wit. Musical Director/pianist Alex Rybeck spiced up some vocal harmonies and counter melodies and was at his best with sensitive and stylish piano arrangements. Under the direction of Sara Louise Lazarus, this was a night to remember. Adding to the theatricality was Jean-Pierre Perreaux’s lighting creativity.

The 1959 Broadway Songbook was originally presented 25 years ago to the day in 1991 at the Algonquin Hotel’s Oak Room. It was the same cast, but a new venue. This year, Stephen Hanks’ Cabaret Life Productions brought Harnar’s show, the 12th in its New York Cabaret’s Greatest Hits series, to the Metropolitan Room and cabaret/theater aficionados came out in the record-breaking heat to pack the room.  Additional tables and chairs were added to extend the space and Harnar, a pro at connecting with the audience, easily tucked the listeners in his pocket.
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1959 was the year Harnar was born and it was a year that provided him with landmark songs that would fortuitously form one of his greatest cabaret shows years later.  He braced the show with expertise in musical theater and the songs of the era. With backstage tales and well-crafted songs, he revisited 23 shows from that year, including Gypsy, My Fair Lady, The Music Man, The Sound of Music, Jamaica, and Fiorello!. Added was an “intermission” of 1959’s pop hits “Dream Lover”and a Harnar/Rybeck duet of “Theme from A Summer Place,” falsetto included. The show was formed as a typical night in the theater, with overture (with Harnar as conductor), curtain up, intermission, entr’acte, and a curtain call with the dreamy “‘Til Tomorrow” (Fiorello!).  Of course, the show is dedicated to Broadway, but in cabaret, as everyone knows,  you need an encore and Harnar was ready with a thoughtful and dramatic “Climb Ev’ry Mountain” (The Sound of Music) as the house lights dimmed.

Some songs were sung through, others were snippets.
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Stories were formed with meaningful medleys. What’s better than “Get Me to the Church on Time” (My Fair Lady) paired with Flower Drum Song‘s “Don’t Marry Me”? His rich vocals on “Love, Look Away” from the latter score were sumptuous. Bells Are Ringing followed the ups-and-downs of romance with its title song, the gorgeous “Long Before I Knew You,” and “The Party’s Over.” Fiorello! touched on political shenanigans with “Little Tin Box” and “Politics and Poker.” Li’l Abner was right on the mark for these days with “The Country’s in the Very Best of Hands.”

Many songs just stood alone with individual distinction, like the eloquent “I Wish It So,” a Marc Blitzstein song from Juno that is personal and sentimental in the most authentic way. The droll “Have Some Madeira, M’Dear” (Flanders and Swann’s At the Drop of a Hat) and the pensive “(Have I Stayed) Too Long at the Fair” (Billy Barnes Revue) are as notable as The Music Man’s “Till There  Was You.”

Jeff Harnar presented his evening with acute acting, singing and a sharp understanding and appreciation of great theater songs. It sparkles, it glitters, it touches the heart and, even more, The 1959 Broadway Songbook celebrates the gift of songs that America has given the world.

Elizabeth Ahlfors

Born and raised in New York, Elizabeth graduated from NYU with a degree in Journalism. She has lived in various cities and countries and now is back in NYC. She has written magazine articles and published three books: A Housewife’s Guide to Women’s Liberation, Twelve American Women, and Heroines of ’76 (for children). A great love was always music and theater—in the audience, not performing. A Philadelphia correspondent for Theatre.com and InTheatre Magazine, she has reviewed theater and cabaret for the Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia City News. She writes for Cabaret Scenes and other cabaret/theater sites. She is a judge for Nightlife Awards and a voting member of Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle.