When your heart's on fire, As the Jerome Kern/ Otto Harbach song told us, smoke gets in your eyes. And with her rich, smoky voice, Lynne Halliday can make a torch song sound remarkably poignant and powerful, or sassy and bittersweet. In Torched, her new show that recently ended its run at the Laurie Beechman, she examined and analyzed the musical nature of unrequited love with an intelligent and charming performance that celebrated the wide range of the genre.With a songlist ranging from Rodgers and Hammerstein (and Hart) to Hoagy Carmichael to Johnny Mercer to Sondheim, Halliday aptly demonstrated how funny, angry, or heartbreaking a torch song could be. "A Helluva Way to Run a Love Affair" blended smartly into "A Fine Romance," Krear & Tompkins' "Before He Cheats" was a roar of indignant rage, and "One for My Baby" was lovely and pure. Unfortunately, despite her lovely voice, Halliday chose to overperform several numbers, weakening them in the process. Sondheim's "Losing My Mind" doesn't need grand hand gestures to convey the feelings of confusion, and Myers & Grahame's "Mr. Henderson" doesn't need an affected English accent to explain the class differences between the lovers. Halliday is a strong enough performer to express emotions with her voice and demeanor alone; anything more, for these songs, is overkill. When Torched is remounted, and it should be, Halliday would do well to simply sing the songs rather than act them.

Jena Tesse Fox
Cabaret Scenes
November 14, 2007
www.cabaretscenes.org