Many fans of Nancy Anderson know her only through her appearances at Scott Siegel's Broadway By the Year series. There she sings one song at a time, usually in character as that song's show origin dictates. This May, she proved that she is a delightful entertainer in her own right, well able to hold an audience for an hour-plus show. The occasion was the release of her new CD, Ten Cents a Dance, celebrated at Birdland and featuring standards and lost treasures of the 1920s and '30s. To her petite beauty and sweet, trilling soprano that captures a bygone era, she added a pert and personable MC style that kept the audience in smiles. Many of her fifteen songs, such as "My Romance," "I Didn't Know What Time It Was," "It Never Entered My Mind" and her moving rendition of "Ten Cents a Dance", were well-known pieces, yet still fresh through Nancy's interpretations. Ditto "Ain't She Sweet," which she sang to her own ukelele accompaniment, while one song, "Not Without You," showcased her seldom-heard, appealing lower register. Other songs were rare treasures, culled from old records - as were many of the arrangements developed by music director/pianist Ross Patterson, fronting a fine eight-piece band. Quite apart from the excellence of the CD itself, Nancy's stage edition is a winner.

Peter Haas
Cabaret Scenes
May 5, 2007
www.cabaretscenes.org