D'Arcy's pleasing show at Don't Tell Mama, I Believe in Love, owes a debt to her friends who responded forthrightly and with alacrity to her queries about their relationships and experiences. "I needed the real stuff," the attractive blond songstress told her audience, "the things you can't make up." The friends' responses, like the songs to which they provided smooth segues, varied from funny, to serious, to touching. "All the quotes and the words of wisdom," D'Arcy announced, "are theirs."

She's an engaging performer, who comfortably held her audience as she ran the gamut from love's first moments -- her friends- tales of their initial attraction nicely mirrored in the song "I Go for That." Between the opening "I Believe in Love" and its closing reprise, D'Arcy touched the bases, giggly with "Adam and Eve (Pajamas at Dinner Time)," torchy with "This Will Make You Laugh," bluesy with "The People That You Never Get to Love" and wounded with "I Don't Remember Christmas." The encore, an inveterate shopper's parody of "I Cain't Say No" (to anything at Bergdorf's, Saks or Bloomingdales) was a howl.

Music Director Rick Jensen provided some exquisite arrangements as well as her accompaniment, ably assisted by bassist Dan Martin. Lina Koutrakos directed.

D'Arcy is at Don't Tell Mama Wed., Oct. 3 at 7 pm.

Peter Leavy
Cabaret Scenes
September 23, 2007
www.cabaretscenes.org