It wasn't just a performance: it was a love-fest, as Ashford & Simpson opened a three-week engagement at Feinstein's at Loews Regency. The '60s, '70s and '80s song hits they wrote have been performed by such stars as Aretha Franklin, Diana Ross, Ray Charles, Whitney Houston and Nina Simone -- yet no one sings them with the authority and authenticity of this husband-and-wife team, Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson. Further, it's a safe bet that no one else performing their music receives the continuing waves of enthusiasm and affection they enjoyed throughout their set -- "waves" literally, as young and old raised their arms high in the air and bounced and swayed to the rhythms.

Rumor has it that the two are a little older than when they met and started writing and performing together, and some in the audience may have spotted a touch of mellowness surfacing in their music-making. Yet they are entertainers who continue to give their all, and are still five-star, five-alarm entertainers: Simpson with her boundless energy and sense of fun as both singer and pianist, and Ashford providing ballast and harmonies as well as his own moving solos. Too, some on opening night muttered that a space as small as Feinstein's is all wrong for the pair and their five-piece back-up band, and that they should have booked Madison Square Garden. Others, however, felt that the intimacy of the room gave the audience a rare close-up of two giants in action. Go and make your own decision. But do go!

Ashford & Simpson continue at Feinstein's through September 29.

Peter Haas
Cabaret Scenes
September 11, 2007
www.cabaretscenes.org