Beckie Menzie and Tom Mchael’s newest show, Postcards, offers what cabaret is supposed to be. Menzie and Michael pack the right stuff into their valises: musical excellence, an open-hearted connection with their audience, and grand fun.

The show opener, combining Willie Nelson’s “On the Road Again” and “Together Wherever We Go" (by Stephen Sondheim and Jules Styne) integrated new lyrics written by Bob Moreen. They personalize the connection between audience and performers in a most effective way.

Menzie’s wistful medley pairing the better known “April In Paris" (by Yip Harburg and Vernon Duke) and the rarely performed gem, “Under Paris Skies” (by Jean Drejac and Hubert Girard with the English lyric by Kim Gannon) explores the delicate balance between the risk and the joy of love in the City of Lights. Menzie gives us an emotionally lush journey as the song’s pendulum swings between doubt and unabashed pleasure.

Tom Michael lands “Entering Marion” (by John Forster) just right. The humor is word play (Marion being a town in Massachusetts). Michael doesn’t milk the cleverness of the words; he simply tells the story, which makes it all the more funny. His solo presentation of John Denver’s “Leaving On a Jet Plane” is simultaneously heart tugging and beautifully sung. Tom’s metamorphosis from a good tenor to a thoughtful cabaret interpreter has been a delight to observe.

Menzie and Michael’s duet of “Traffic Jam" (by James Taylor) and "Route 66" (by Bobby Troup) is outright fun complete with car horns and Beckie’s “drum” solo on the roof of a toy car. We don’t necessarily need the medley: We relate best to the frustration “Traffic Jam,” thinking about our dinners getting cold while we are in highway gridlock. Menzie and Michael find both the humor and the edge to this tune which adds richer color to Postcards.

A suggestion, though: I could have lived without the vomit discussion, especially so early in the show. (Perhaps I am too delicate. Or, maybe it was the Thai food in which I had indulged minutes before.) Vomiting may be a truthful story, but it’s just not how I prefer to picture folks entertaining me in the moment. We get the point about seasickness, but I enjoyed more learning Tom’s sentimental story about boating with his Dad.

What continuously raises Menzie and Michael above the cabaret fray is meticulous attention to detail. For example, duos face the challenge of starting a line of a lyric precisely together. (Think musical pair skating.) Menzie and Michael choose unusual jazz rhythms to make these entrances more graceful. They josh but don’t bash.

I’d like to see this show again: I am partial to first class travel.

Carla Gordon
Cabaret Scenes
April 5, 2008
www.cabaretscenes.org