Marya Zimmet
Zimmet Time (And the Livin’s Too Easy)
Don’t Tell Mama, NYC, November 11, 2024
Reviewed by Bart Greenberg
When Marya Zimmet last did a cabaret show, it was in conjunction with her retirement. Then Covid struck. Now she has returned to Don’t Tell Mama with a new show devoted to new passions and artistic ventures under the direction of Barry Kleinbort and with the musical support of the Tedd Firth Trio. Her program was filled with delightful surprises and reinterpretations of old standards. She went far outside her comfort zone to perform “If I Were a Rich Man” (Sheldon Harnick/Jerry Bock) as a jazz waltz and made it work really well.
Perhaps less audacious choices, but still quite original were the swinging “On the Street Where You Live” (Alan Jay Lerner/Frederick Loewe) and the country-western-flavored “Maybe I’m Amazed” (Paul McCartney), on which she accompanied herself on guitar. It was unfortunate that she never returned to that instrument, because it added another color to the show’s musical tapestry. The on-stage trio left nothing to be desired; the terrifically sultry bass solo on “Close Your Eyes” (Bernice Petkere), which matched the seductiveness of Zimmet’s delivery and gave it a lovely freshness.
Even more important was Zimmet’s personality, a mix of warmth, candor, and humor. She shared stories about her life and her ambitions and created a personal aura around all the material she performed. Her progress from the ultimate torch song “Born to Be Blue” (Mel Tormé/Robert Wells) to “No More Blues” (“Chega de Saudade”) (John Hendricks/Jessie Cavanaugh/Antonio Carlos Jobim) was a personal triumph, and her closer, “Some Other Time” (Betty Comden & Adolph Green/Leonard Bernstein), promised that her future shows will be even more personal.
