As part of Sterling's Upstairs at Vitello's one year anniversary celebration, Sylvia Brooks returned for her second appearance there this year. Backed by the superb Tom Garvin Quintet, Sylvia touched on her musical upbringing with a jazz pianist father and her own musical theatre career to construct a well-paced show. After opening with a medley of "Almost Like Being in Love" and "This Can't Be Love", she demonstrated that she could swing with a playful version of "I Guess I Love You." With self-deprecating humor, she introduced her musical theatre song segment with a couple of admittedly inappropriate audition songs that she used at the beginning of her career. A poignant story about an encounter with an elderly gentlemen in an elevator at the Neiman Marcus store in Beverly Hills served as a perfect lead-in to a touching version of "How Long Has This Been Going On?."

Les Traub
Cabaret Scenes
June 30, 2007
www.cabaretscenes.org