Rita Wilson

Now and Forever: Duets

Café Carlyle, NYC, October 25, 2022

Reviewed by Ron Forman

The dynamic vocalist Rita Wilson used her appearance at the Café Carlyle to introduce her latest album, Now and Forever: Duets, which includes duets with Willie Nelson, Smokey Robinson, Josh Groban, and seven other musical stars, drawn from various genres of the current music world. How do you replace these 10 great performers in a live show? Wilson wisely chose a wonderful singer, Fraser Walters, a member of the group The Tenors. He has a powerful voice and range that worked perfectly with Wilson’s.

Wilson is a lively performer with a cheery disposition who made us feel that she was having fun. Her comments in between numbers were quite amusing, and she got a very big laugh when she remarked “Sometimes I’m lonely” while staring at her husband, Tom Hanks, who was sitting right beside me. She was backed by a six-piece musical ensemble—Lorenza Ponce (vocals and violin), Yair Evnine (cello and electric guitar), Clifford Carter (piano and keyboards), Rich Mercurio (drums), Richard Hammond (bass), and music director Andrew Doolittle (acoustic and electric guitar, guitar)—all of whom added much to the enjoyment of this show. Special mention must be made of Doolittle and Clark, whose solos brought applause from the audience.

Wilson opened with a very powerful “Come See About Me.” Fraser joined her on stage for “Let It Be Me.” There were a number of very funny comments preceding their duet on “Slip Sliding Away” (she had recorded it with Willie Nelson), which they began by humming and became a lively vocal performance. Both voices worked wonderfully for “Crazy,” which ended with Walters kissing Wilson. She described how the Bee Gees had written the song “Massachusetts” while they were in the New York City harbor, with none of them having ever been in that state; she and Fraser then covered it very nicely. They offered an especially beautiful performance of “If.” Wilson left the stage to allow Walters to show off his amazing voice with a very moving “Something,” which had him fading away after a big finish.

Wilson, a breast cancer survivor, spoke about writing “Throw Me a Party,” while she was undergoing treatment. She explainedthat is was about what she would want should she pass away and then gave a very moving performance of the song. Walters performed another very beautiful solo on “Bring Him Home,” from Les Misérables; it was followed by a duet on “Without You” that really rocked the room. The show closed with another rocker, “Fire,” a song Bruce Springsteen wrote for Elvis Presley. Three encore numbers ended this very entertaining 90-minute show that had the audience joining in by clapping and waving their arms to “Dancing Queen.”