Rosemary Loar
Close Enough for Love
Don’t Tell Mama, NYC, August 2, 2023
Reviewed by Bart Greenberg
The eclectic and surprising Rosemary Loar returned to Don’t Tell Mama for a program that explored romance in the middle ages—not the historical era but the period of a human’s life, particularly hers. A wide range of songs, including some of her own, charted a variety of bad dates with great humor and a bit of sentiment. The silly and upbeat opener, “What a Little Moonlight Can Do,” launched the show with major energy and some verbal scatting. It allowed us to savor the singer’s warmth and humor as well as her musical skill and the skill of her terrific team of music director/pianist Frank Ponzio and bassist Tom Hubbard. (The music arrangements were created by Loar and Ponzio.) Things wisely slowed down with “So Many Stars” (Alan & Marilyn Bergman/Sergio Mendes), which was given a full romantic treatment. Loar goes for such specificity in the way she delivers a song’s lyrics that the images really come to life.
Among the delights of the evening were a very Mae West-ish delivery of the sardonic “Bad for Business” (Heather Rigdon) and her own charming and pointed song “Harmless Little Lie.” “Show Me” from My Fair Lady was given a jazz treatment, and it expressed her frustration with dating in the time of Covid. It was wonderfully acted and offered flexible singing along with some scatting thrown in for good measure. Another of Loar’s originals was the very bluesy “I Don’t Want to Know for Sure.” Later in the show, she demonstrated how some things never change when she offered two songs written 40 years apart that pretty much say the same thing: “People Will Say We’re in Love” (Rodgers & Hammerstein) and “Something to Talk About” (Shirley Eikard), two tales of hesitant romance.
Loar was joined on stage by the excellent accordionist John DiPinto, who also provided some fine vocal back up. Together they shared a spirited “These Boots Are Made for Walkin’,” sung in a number of languages while the musicians sampled some other related tunes with very witty results. This was followed by a terrific “Table for Two,” the second song of the evening by Rigdon. The singer wrapped up her program with two very moving numbers, the title tune “Close Enough for Love” (Paul Williams/Johnny Mandel) and Paul McCartney’s “Coming Up,” both of which brought the evening to an upbeat, positive ending. Everything was guided by the very light hand of veteran director Barry Kleinbort. Kudos all around!
