Steve Ross and Karen Murphy
Best of the Versed
Don’t Tell Mama, NYC, October 8, 2024
Reviewed by Alix Cohen
“Tonight, we serve up what we consider ‘The Best of the Versed.’ Not as brockvurst, knockvurst, or Sondheim’s vurst pies in London. Our verses are the opening lyrics you may not know to songs you thought you did.” This is how David Alpern, creator and writer, introduced the evening that starred singer/pianist Steve Ross and singer Karen Murphy. Between each song, Alpern added a soupçon of illumination and wit.
The show began with two songs from Rodgers and Hart’s 1938 The Boys from Syracuse. “I weave with brightly colored strings/To keep my mind off other things” (“Falling in Love with Love”) sang Murphy as a wife who suspects her mate of infidelity. “Some poor playwright wrote their drama just for fun/It won’t run” (“This Can’t Be Love”) sang Ross. Alpern performed the songwriters’ “My Romance” heart in hand as he had once presented it to his wife, Sylvia.
“This day and age we’re living in/ Gives cause for apprehension/With speed and new invention” Ross’ rendition of “As Time Goes By” (Herman Hupfeld) was wistful and lovely. A duet on “How Long Has This Been Going On?” (George and Ira Gershwin) followed; the song was cut from 1927’s Funny Face and put into Rosalie a year later. Ross’ delivery was Astaire-ish; Murphy aspired to romance with oomph. Her rendition of “It Never Was You” (Kurt Weill/Maxwell Anderson) had particularly fine phrasing.
“Please don’t be offended if I preach to you awhile” prefaced “Look for the Silver Lining” (Jerome Kern/Buddy DeSylva). Ross was melodic, Murphy appeared to be a sarcastic housewife. “It’s Been a Long, Long Time” (Jule Styne/Sammy Cahn) had music that swayed and dipped with a pretty vocal overlap. “We used to spend the spring together before we learned to walk” sang Ross and Alpern to Murphy. It was the verse to Rodgers and Hart’s waltzy, whirling “The Most Beautiful Girl in the World.” For all three songs, the audience was invited to join the chorus, and we did.
“A Fine Romance” (Jerome Kern/Dorothy Fields) was distinctively different in the two vocalist’s disgruntled interpretations. It begins “I don’t need a moon, a nook, a tune for violins…The ties that bound us/Are still around us/There’s no escape that I can see” began Ross as balladeer. “A cigarette that bears a lipstick’s traces/An airline ticket to romantic places/And still my heart has wings/These foolish things (pause) remind me of you” was the beginning of “These Foolish Things (Remind Me of You)” (Holt Marvel/Jack Strachey). George Gershwin’s last song, “Love Is Here to Stay” (with Ira Gershwin) was used for the finale. “The more I read the papers/The less I comprehend/The world and all its capers/And how it all will end…It’s very clear/Our love is here/To stay.” We all sang.
Irving Berlin’s “Pack Up Your Sins and Go to the Devil” was not what it might have been, and the show could have reduced the number of songs and extended some inti full renditions. Otherwise, the show was great fun for any American Songbook fan.
