"Music uplifts us," says Sheera Ben-David, and she proves it with her third show in the Oak Room, Let Me Sing and I'm Happy. The first four songs of her show, "How High the Moon" (Lewis/Hamilton)," "Zing a Little Zong" (Warren and Robin), the Gershwins' "Nice Work If You Can Get It," and Irving Berlin's title song, are lilting reminders that spring and rejuvenation is just around the corner. Ben-David has a rich, resonant voice and she built a flowing program of music tastefully chosen and positioned with eloquence. Kudos right off the bat for Eric Michael Gillett's tight direction and Sheera's talented brother, pianist Adam Ben-David for crackerjack arrangements with his band—Mat Fieldes on bass and Damien Bassman on drums— individualizing each selection.

Ben-David does not over-play sultry or zany but she knows how to get an eclectic songbook across with focus and intelligence. She delivers each song with a trained actor's understanding of what the song means, although she does not infuse it with her own personal emotion as much as with an appreciation for what the writer felt. "Song For Old Lovers," for example, the story of a long-time love affair with highs and lows and all the middle grounds, dramatically salutes Jacques Brel's passion, but leaves room for the listener to feel the tangle of anguish and joy.

Selections come in intertwined packages. The romantically seductive “Moondance,” ("One more moondance with you in the moonlight") is a clever tête-à-tête with the get-real “Dig Dig Dig for Your Dinner” ("'Nothin's what you get for free"), a Depression-era tune by Warren and Gordon. Nostalgia, sadness and perseverance inspired a trio of "Brussels" (Brel/Blau), and Charlie Chaplin's "This is My Song" and "Smile," heartbreaking with its fortitude. Harold Arlen/Ted Koehler's fervent "Ill Wind" book-ends two other impassioned reflections of love, "Wild is the Wind (Tiomkin and Washington) and "Song For Old Lovers."

The show is a family affair. Ben-David invites her father, a former Metropolitan Opera singer, to join her in a duet of "Perhaps Love" by John Denver. A bright, affable personality, Ben-David reveals that she is expecting her first child this summer. Even with its melancholy segments, the show reflects a happy time in Sheera Ben-David's life, something uplifting for audiences to feel with her.

Sheera Ben-David continues at the Oak Room through March 7.

Elizabeth Ahlfors
Cabaret Scenes
February 24, 2009
www.cabaretscenes.org