David Alpher & Jennie Litt

Alpher & Litt in 3:
Our Love Affair with the Waltz

Don’t Tell Mama, NYC, March 16, 2018

Reviewed by Ron Forman for Cabaret Scenes

What a delightful way to spend an evening: listening to almost 90 minutes of lilting and romantic waltzes as performed by husband and wife David Alpher and Jennie Litt. Litt’s soprano voice is perfect for singing in waltz time—her sound is sweet and it soars when necessary. Alpher’s piano blends nicely with Litt’s vocals, and his solo turns always drew applause from the audience. The intelligently thought-out song list traces the history of the waltz from Franz Lehar’s ”The Merry Widow Waltz” to the songs of Burt Bacharach and Stephen Sondheim, and even includes two original songs in waltz time by Alpher & Litt.

The show opened with Alpher playing the “The Merry Widow Waltz.” Litt then joined him, singing the German lyric. The audience joined in joyful sing-alongs on “The Sidewalks of New York” and, later, “That’s Amore.” Litt treated “Reaching for the Moon” as the verse for an especially beautiful performance of “The Boy Next Door.” The waltz is associated with romantic love songs, but Litt performed a very dramatic “Could I Leave You?,” Sondheim’s  unconventional use of the waltz form. Their “A Hot Time Comin’” was another unconventional use of the waltz, that amusingly dealt with climate change, written by the duo. The Richard Rodgers nine-song medley (lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein; Lorenz Hart; Stephen Sondheim), had Alpher mixing “The Carousel Waltz” throughout its entirety and ending with the very appropriate “It’s a Grand Night for Singing.” That was followed by a dazzling “Days of the Waltz” (Jacques Brel/Will Holt) and the encore, Alpher & Litt’s “Now.”