Jeff Harnar
Confessions of a New Yorker
Birdland, NYC, February 3, 2025
Reviewed by Alix Cohen
In the expert hands of Jeff Harnar and music director/pianist/arranger Alex Rybeck, what might have been yet another chestnut-filled paean to Manhattan was personal and fresh. Mixed together with entertaining stories of the Harnar’s unique history, Confession of a New Yorker was memorably entertaining. It’s hard to imagine, but Harnar, who treats every performance as a high-stakes event, just keeps getting better.
Harnar’s Aunt Fran introduced him to Manhattan. At nine, he recognized it as home. Ten years later, he enthusiastically arrived for school and to pursue his craft. At one point he was a room service waiter at a luxury hotel; he quit that job to become Phyllis McGuire’s houseboy, which subsequently led to his opening for The McGuire Sisters. Harnar shared all this with warmth, gratitude, bemusement, and a soupçon of surprise.
Distinctively treated, familiar selections were mixed with eclectic finds. Eight bars of John Kander and Fred Ebb’s “Theme from New York, New York” had a with new lyric by Dale Gonyea and morphed into the Portia Nelson song from which this show was titled. “I’m in hate/love with New York,” the performer sang with a candid shrug, which was how many of us feel. Despite his sophistication, Harnar retained a bit of the boy next door; his phrasing was appealingly conversational.
A marvelous arrangement of the other “New York, New York” (Betty Comden & Adolph Green/Leonard Bernstein) began with Rybeck’s solo piano sole, which conjured the harbor at dawn as sailors were leaving their ship rather than having the usual bounce. It then transformed into “Lonely Town” (Comden & Green/Bernstein) with pathos in every verse. “The New York, New York” of its day—“Manhattan” (Richard Rodgers/Lorenz Hart)—veritably danced. The arrangement was by James Followell and featured Ritt Henn on nifty ukulele.
Performed with bittersweet ardor, “East Side of Heaven” (James V. Monaco/Johnny Burke) recalled a former relationship that went predictably south. It was a perfect lead into wry quips about dating in New York and Francesca Blumenthal’s terrific “The Lies of Handsome Men.” Rybeck cloaked his collaborator in mesmerized romance and palpably filled the club with it. A waltzy, gravity-defying “Falling in Love with Love” (Rodgers & Hart) released the tension. The sequencing was artful.
Side by side at the piano, Harnar and Rybeck performed three songs by Comden and Adoph Green/ connected by “Strange Duet.” Melodic acumen came together like a mosaic. It was quirky, lighthearted fun.’ The two made a challenging sequence look easy.
Rybeck’s “What a Funny Boy He Is” (with Michael Stewart) was tenderly stroked: “Nothing of splendor/No work of art/And yet so tender/He breaks my heart.” It was just lovely. “I Love You” (Harlan Thompson/Harry Archer;—a McGuire Sisters arrangement by Murray Kane) was hap-, hap-, happy as Rybeck jauntily duetted with Harnar.
“No cabaret show would be complete without a Sondheim song,” Harnar noted. After a previous show of Sondheim’s work by Harnar with KT Sullivan, the men became pen pals. In tribute, he sang Rick Crom’s brilliant “Sondheim’s Oklahoma,” a medley that depicted how the master might’ve written the earlier classic. It was brilliant and difficult. Harnar turned on a dime between mood and music.
“Fourteen years ago, New York became a lifeboat to me,” Harnar declared. The show closed with excerpts from Kander and Ebb’s “But the World Goes ‘Round” followed by “That’s Life.” (Dean Kay/Kelly Gordon). Harnar made a meal of it; he was rhapsodic and he is among the few who can sing with a rapt grin.
“The Shape of New York” (Bob Walton) was, in my opinion, a questionable choice. Otherwise, nothing less than splendid ensued. The band, which also included Dan Gross on drums, was excellent. Rybeck continues to elevate every musical partnership with warmth, skill, imagination, and understanding of each vocalist’s intentions. He and Harnar have been doing this together for 40- plus years. Bravo.
