Linda Mironti
Perfectly Imperfect
Don’t Tell Mama, NYC, May 8, 2025
Reviewed by Betsyann Faiella
Perfectly Imperfect was the apt title for Linda Mironti’s wonderful show at Don’t Tell Mama on May 8th. It was an eclectic program that was perfect, and it was infused with heart and soul and humor—and high-level talent. Mironti is a superb singer who leans towards jazz with real abandon, and she sings with much warmth.
Mironti’s joie de vivre, or maybe I should say her embrace of la dolce vita, was evident in her singing and her warm, funny, and natural patter. Her repertoire made the show feel contemporary even when the material was not, and her interaction with the multi-talented Tracy Stark, her pianist/accompanist and co-performer, was thrilling. They harmonized and interacted soulfully, like the sisters they portrayed in “Miss Celie’s Blues” (Quincy Jones/Rod Temperton/Lionel Richie).
She opened with “Don’t Rain on My Parade” (Bob Merrill/Jule Styne), which was jazz-flavored and relaxed (a different approach) and included some playful scat. What followed was Jimmy Sagorin and Amanda McBroom’s “No Fear,” which had a lyric that was unmistakably styled by McBroom. Later in the set, Mironti sang McBroom’s song of yearning “Crimes of the Heart.” She introduced “All That Jazz” (John Kander/Fred Ebb) with a story about being emboldened in dance class and used a sexy, well-executed little dance routine to close the number. “Kingdom Come” (Susan Werner) basically implored the Lord to protect us from phony religious posers who claim they are the Lord’s good buds. Werner’s lyrics and Mironti’s delivery didn’t fail.
Mironti has a huge sense of humor, and it was on full display in “Middle-Aged Woman” (Lisa Koch), a song that visits the not-so-charming aspects of getting older from a hormonal point of view. She showed her own songwriting talents with “Early Morning,” written with Mario Fuliano, with whom she has worked with for many years as a singer in Rome. Mironti is rather an international gal, but more on that later.
She is a fabulous, mature woman, and her inclusion of “All of Me” (John Legend) and “Praying for Time” (George Michael) made me realize how music can be such a unifier in a way. If you love meaningful lyrics and good tunes, you can find something to love in every generation of song. That’s not an original thought, but it’s one that warms me every time it pops into my head.
Mironti sang her touching version of “Good Night, New York” (Julie Gold) in combination with “Santa Lucia Luntana” (Giovanni Gaeta). Her show concluded with a medley of “Life Is What You Make It” (Dawn Hampton) and “That’s Life” (Dean Kay/Kelly Gordon). The two songs seemed as though they were one. Her encore was “Crazy World” by Henry Mancini and Leslie Bricusse.
Mironti stretched herself; she pushed her range to its limits and then som, but then it was thrilling that she went there! Whether that was imperfect or not is up for interpretation. There was one song I found completely unnecessary: “Little Blue Man” by Fred Ebb and Paul Klein. There must have been a reason for including ir, but it escaped me.
We don’t see Mironti stateside too often. That is because she is the co-director with Michael Mele of a travel company named Il Chiostro, which brings groups of people to Italy for an unusual travel experience that includes workshops in music, writing, photography, and painting. It is through Il Chiostro that director Lennie Watts has conducted some of his creative workshops during the past few years, in gorgeous locales. The website for Il Chiostro includes a long list of interesting opportunities, and many of them are sold out.
But back to the singer: Mironti is a skilled talent who I hope to see more often. Her repertoire was varied, yet it all worked together, and I’m sure director Watts had something to do with that. In cabaret, we see a variety of talent, a lot of very manicured shows, cold shows, young people finding themselves, and people drawn to it as a hobby late in life, all of which is fine. Then, we sometimes see great things. Mironti was in a class with the greats; we were in her world and wanted to see what she was going to do next. There was not a bit of amateur in her. The voice was unique—both her actual voice and her spiritual one. You could tell she had been around the globe and had surrounded herself with things that were important to her: celebrating her Italian heritage, good food, good music, and art. She brought her full self to Perfectly Imperfect. How lovely it was!
