Let's See What Happens with Kate Baldwin this year. 2009 was a breakout year for Baldwin, but she's no arriviste. Venturing into cabaret, Baldwin proved she is just as at home on a small stage as she was in the recent Encores! and Broadway productions of Finian's Rainbow (Burton Lane and E.Y. Harburg), playing the spirited Sharon McLonergan. Whether in Missitucky's Rainbow Valley or New York City's Birdland, this tall, radiant redhead scores with a full rich soprano voice, warm interpretations and a nice 'n' easy communication with the audience.

She also proved that, as exquisitely as she finds the nostalgia in "How Are Things in Glocca Morra?," there are other rhythms and melodies in her repertoire. She picked up the speed for an ultra-perky "I Like the Likes of You" (Vernon Duke/E.Y. Harburg). Tenderly, she demonstrated all the vulnerability in “Will He Like Me?”(Sheldon Harnick and Jerry Bock) and delved into the sensitivity in "Too Late Now" (Alan Jay Lerner and Burton Lane), with Brian Koonin on guitar. Pairing "Let's See What Happens" (Jule Styne/ E.Y. Harburg) with Lerner and Lane's "Open Your Eyes" was Baldwin's gentle reminder to be adventurous and try something new, swept along with Musical Director /pianist Rob Berman's injection of Strauss's "Emperor's Waltz."

Lightly humorous anecdotes led into her songs.  Her comic timing in music and in patter is sharp. After a lead-in about missing her actor husband, Graham Rowat, who is on tour, she swung into Lerner and Lane's "Come Back to Me." Crackling with impatience, her phrasing and diction on the mark, Baldwin does not miss a syllable in lyrics like "In a crate, in a trunk/ On a horse, on a drunk/ In a Rolls or a van/ Wrapped in mink or Saran…." The show reached a peak when she called to the stage Finian's Rainbow co-stars Devin Richards, James Stovall and Bernard Dotson to join her in a dazzling countermelody play-off of "Rhythm of Life."

The one bothersome point about this show was Baldwin's dependency on written notes set on the piano. That aside, Let's See What Happens. One thing we know. Kate Baldwin is committed to good music and she has the charm, taste and talent to deliver it. I'm waiting to see more.

Elizabeth Ahlfors
Cabaret Scenes
March 8, 2010
www.cabaretscenes.org