Michael Shapiro

It’s Time to Sing!

Tom Rolla’s Gardenia, West Hollywood, CA,  May 31, 2018

Reviewed by Elliot Zwiebach for Cabaret Scenes

If you want to hear standards sung the way they were written, listen to Michael Shapiro.

He has a big, resonant voice that he uses to perfection — letting it soar on ballads and consistently sustaining notes — and a clear appreciation for lyrics, along with an expressive face and good eye contact with the audience.
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  And he sings definitive versions of songs too often taken for granted by other singers.

Typical of his terrific approach was a soft, tender version of “He Loves and She Loves” (George and Ira Gershwin), in which he managed to convey every nuance of the delicate lyric; a sweet, sincere take on “When You Wish Upon a Star” (Leigh Harline/Ned Washington), including a beautiful high note at the end; and a smooth, gentle “Where Is Love?” (Lionel Bart).

He removed any hint of 1970s-era pop from Barry Manilow/Marty Panzer’s “I Was a Fool (to Let You Go),” making it sound like it could have been written in the 1930s. And his voice soared on a mash-up of two 1979 Oscar nominees — “Theme from Ice Castles” (“Through the Eyes of Love”) (Marvin Hamlisch/Carole Bayer Sager) and “The Promise” (“I’ll Never Say Goodbye”) (Alan & Marilyn Bergman/David Shire) — sung with beauty, lushness and honesty.

He also offered up a thrilling, resonant “Any Dream Will Do” (Andrew Lloyd Webber/Tim Rice) and a sweet, glorious “I’ll Be Seeing You” (Irving Kahal/Sammy Fain), along with a solid “Something’s Coming” (Leonard Bernstein/Stephen Sondheim) combined with a dreamy, romantic “Beautiful Maria of My Soul” (Robert Kraft/Arnie Glimcher, used in The Mambo Kings).

A particular crowd-pleaser was a delightful performance of Cole Porter’s “I’m a Gigolo,” a song with a brilliant lyric that could serve other cabaret performers well.

Guest singer Claude Hall was elegant and sensuous on “Love for Sale” (Porter), toying with some audience members as she teased them with what she was “selling” in her distinctive breathy way.
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Providing stellar piano accompaniment throughout the evening was Stuart Elster.
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