Renee Katz
Renee Katz Sings Irving Berlin—Lost in His Arms
Don’t Tell Mama, NYC, September 21, 2024
Reviewed by Jacqueline Parker
Rarely do the cabaret stars align as beautifully as they did Saturday night at Don’t Tell Mama. Renee Katz is the ideal singer to capture the tenderness and sincerity of an Irving Berlin ballad. Her voice is sweet and loving, sounding at times like an echo right out of the years in which many of these songs were written. She brought us back to those simpler times on the wings of a sometimes modernized interpretation and entreated us to join her in a stroll down memory lane.
Her delicate voice put just enough emphasis on the phrasing of these songs to make one realize how timeless they are. She went for a deeper meaning, which was achieved by loosening them up, so to speak, and made each one her own. There were the usual Berlin classics, interspersed with a few tunes that have been largely neglected. “Yiddisha Eskimo” from the Music Box Revue in 1924 was one of them. It was written for Fanny Brice, who turned it down.
Certain selections benefitted from their juxtaposition in the show: “Remember” and “Always” complemented each other perfectly and allowed Katz to deliver two ballads with conflicting emotions effectively. In a medley created by the evening’s music director Christopher Marlowe and the late vocalist Nancy LaMott, Katz sang some of the numbers brought to life by Fred Astaire on film. Most notable was her rendition of “Puttin’ on the Ritz”; by her not racing through it, every lyric could be heard and appreciated. Katz chose to include the verse on many of these gems; their beauty was highlighted giventhat Berlin, the least educated of all the major composers, truly spoke from his heart.
Another successful mating was “God Bless America” and “We Have Much to Be Thankful For” (not to be confused with “I’ve Got Plenty to Be Thankful For”). What made this pair so special was that she sang the first in Yiddish as a tribute to her recently deceased father, a Holocaust survivor. These standards became all the more poignant with the understanding that both men were immigrants. Katz wrapped up this most satisfying stroll with “The Song Is Ended (But the Melody Lingers On).”
Speaking of cabaret stars, Christopher Marlowe as music director/pianist and Ritt Henn on bass contributed their talents to this brief peregrination, and director Jeff Harnar masterfully kept everything well-paced, on track, and thoroughly satisfying. Katz returns to Don’t Tell Mama on November 12 and 16 at 7 pm. Why not take your own pre-Thanksgiving stroll with her and discover why Irving Berlin is someone for whom we all can be thankful.
