Michelle Polinsky: This Is How I Talk

Post author:Bart Greenberg
Post published:September 4, 2024
Reading time:3 mins read

Michelle Polinsky

This Is How I Talk

Don’t Tell Mama, NYC, August 26, 2024

Reviewed by Bart Greenberg

The forthright and unpretentious performer Michelle Polinsky took the stage at Don’t Tell Mama to offer a very personal show that invited the audience into her emotional life with great honesty. Polinsky has had a lifelong struggle with a severe stutter that affects her speech but not her singing. Wisely, she made no apology for this but simply accepted it for what it was while not shying away from acknowledging the great impact it has had on her life, and the audience happily followed her lead. Guided by the experienced team of director Michael Kirk Lane and music director/pianist Yaz Fukuoka, the evening was filled with charm and personality—that is, once it really got started.

Following tradition, Polinsky began with two songs before she introduced herself. The numbers, “Get Happy” (Harold Arlen/Ted Koehler) and “I Got the Sun in the Morning” (Irving Berlin) are certainly classics and she sang them well, but they came across as somewhat impersonal and were performed without an attempt to replace earlier iconic performances. Once these were out of the way, she got to the business of the evening and offered an original untitled number that defined who she was, and from then on, she had the audience on her side. Many of her subsequent musical choices were lesser known, which made them more personal and reflective of who she is, such as “I Like Musicals” (Laura Benanti) and “I Love Play Rehearsals” (Joe Iconis).

Polinsky also brought new life to ywo standards: “Fever” (Otis Blackwell/Eddie Cooley & Peggy Lee), delivered with a mix of sultriness and humor, and a deeply emotional “Easy to Be Hard” (Galt MacDermot/James Rado & Gerome Ragni). The latter demonstrated her skill to take a song from another context and make it seem immensely personal. She did this also with the syrupy “Tomorrow” (Charles Strouse/Martin Charnin) and transformed it into a declaration of independence. Her final number, “Watch Me Soar” (Scott Alan), came across as both a challenge and a promise that hopefully will be fulfilled in future shows.

Tags: American Songbook, American Songbook Association, ASA, Bart Greenberg, Broadway, Broadway Musicals, Cabaret, Cabaret Reviews, Cabaret Scenes, CD, CD Reviews, Charles Strouse, Clubs, composer, Director, Don’t Tell Mama, Easy to Be Hard, Eddie Cooley, Fever, Galt MacDermot, Gerome Ragni, Get Happy, Great American Songbook, Harold Arlen, I Got the Sun in the Morning, I Like Musicals, I Love Play Rehearsals, Irving Berlin, James Rado, Joe Iconis, Laura Benanti, Lyricist, Martin Charnin, Michael Kirk Lane, Michelle Polinsky, Music Director, Musicals, Nightclubs, NYC, Otis Blackwell, Peggy Lee, Pianist, Scott Alan, Singer, songwriter, stutter, Ted Koehler, This Is How I Talk, Tomorrow, Vocalists, Watch Me Soar, YAZ FUKUOKA

Bart Greenberg

Bart Greenberg first discovered cabaret a few weeks after arriving in New York City by seeing Julie Wilson and William Roy performing Stephen Sondheim and Cole Porter outdoors at Rockefeller Center. It was instant love for both Ms. Wilson and the art form. Some years later, he was given the opportunity to create his own series of cabaret shows while working at Tower Records. "Any Wednesday" was born, a weekly half-hour performance by a singer promoting a new CD release. Ann Hampton Callaway launched the series. When Tower shut down, Bart was lucky to move the program across the street to Barnes & Noble, where it thrived under the generous support of the company. The series received both The MAC Board of Directors Award and The Bistro Award. Some of the performers who took part in "Any Wednesday" include Barbara Fasano and Eric Comstock, Tony Desare, Andrea Marcovicci, Carole Bufford, the Karens, Akers, Mason and Oberlin, and Julie Wilson. Privately, Greenberg is happily married to writer/photographer Mark Wallis, who as a performance artist in his native England gathered a major following as "I Am Cereal Killer."