Marilyn Maye – whether she is saluting Johnny Carson, Ray Charles, Murray Grand, or anyone else, by the end of the evening, her performance is a salute to her own undimmed talent, verve and warmth. Maye takes the stage as if she owns it and she does, singing with much the same vocal finesse and as she did in the film-clips from the old Johnny Carson show. She can do it all, belt, swing, and evoke some audience tears when she reminisces with songs like "Too Late Now" from Royal Wedding, although this show-biz veteran remains dry-eyed and resilient. Marilyn Maye does not do maudlin.

Maye returned for the third time this year to the Metropolitan Room, now presenting Super Singer...A Tribute to Johnny Carson. A Kansas City native, she is a quintessential American singer, optimistic, up for a good time, reaching out to her audience, whether in New York, the mid-West, Vegas or Vero Beach with ebullient delivery and notes on target. She often mixes and matches the shows, here concentrating on some Carson favorites like "Here's That Rainy Day" (Burke/Van Heusen) paired with "Stormy Weather" (Arlen /Koehler), curving her lines and crisply holding on to the lyric. Phrasing is A+plus, shining in standards like "I'm Glad There Is You" and "There Will Never Be Another You." She sings a powerful "Come In From the Rain" (Sager and Manchester) and she swings, right on the beat, "Happiness Is Just a Thing Called Joe," a Carson favorite but here she directed it to Joe Franklin in the audience.

Usually accompanied by Billy Stritch, Maye had the unquenchable Tedd Firth on piano for this show, Tom Hubbard on bass, and long-time accompanist Jim Eklof on drums, delivering a show to remind audiences what real nightclubs were like back in the day.

Referring to The Tonight Show film clips, Maye quipped later, "I was pretty cute back then, wasn't I?"

She's still cute, and a helluva singer too. No wonder Johnny Carson had her on his show a record 76 performances.

Elizabeth Ahlfors
Cabaret Scenes
November 8, 2007
www.cabaretscenes.org