Well, how could a person not be attentive to someone who chooses to offer up Hal Hackady & Larry Grossman’s ”Mama, a Rainbow” from their underappreciated Minnie’s Boys, even if done as part of a medley with “Romance of the Children “ (David Friedman/Zoelle Montgomery) which, though decent in itself, gets an extended version redux later on and here takes the place of “Mama...”’s little verse which is left out. In other words, it takes a whole ‘nother song to say what that tiny verse does arguably better but certainly quicker.

The singer/culprit in question, Shirley Ritenour, backed by the sometimes subtle, skillful and supportive pianist Christopher Marlowe (forte when called for), gives otherwise smart attention to her mostly Broadway roster of tunes. She attractively and honestly follows the score but for surprising moments of divadom, as in Rodgers & Hart’s luscious “My Romance” (it gets a verse, thank you) and Harold Arlen & E. Y. Harburg’s “Over the Rainbow,” where she shows herself capable of grand and gutsy sound. It is not so suddenly soprano to soar above the staff in ”Art Is Calling Me” (“I Want to Be a Prima Donna”) by Harry B. Smith & Victor Herbert; did we mention guest appearances of Georges Bizet et Giacomo Puccini? And remembering we all forgave Maria Callas’ shrill ever-widening wobble, why single out Ms. Ritenour for some similar same such silly censures?

While we’re talking about high notes, to use TV courtroom legalese, “she opened the door” with her liner note mention of her “wonderful partner Beth” and in “I Could Have Danced All Night” (Alan Jay Lerner & Frederick Loewe), how grand and gutsy of her to keep her lyrical genders honest—brava!—and wouldn’t it be loverly if more artists, performers, shucks, just plain folks, could do the same.

Noah Tree
Cabaret Scenes
November 2009
www.cabaretscenes.org