Jeff Harnar

Jeff Harnar Sings Sammy Cahn: The Second Time Around

Coachella Valley Repertory Theatre, Cathedral City, CA, July 24, 2025

Reviewed by Joel Vig

“Come out to the cabaret, Old friend, Come out to the cabaret.” This paraphrased lyrical reference to a popular Fred Ebb/John Kander song captures the spirit of one of the great success stories in the arts scene in the Palm Springs desert cities in over the past several years. In an effort to entertain season ticket-holders, year-round desert residents, and tourists (yes, tourists still visit Palm Springs and the other desert cities even in the summer) the Coachella Valley Repertory Theatre in Cathedral City created a Summer Cabaret Series that has been a proven success. A wide range of performers, including Faith Prince, Ken Page, Melissa Errico, Steve Ross, and many others, have entertained enthusiastic crowds who have braved triple-digit temperatures to come to the air-conditioned comfort of CV Rep Theatre (located in a former IMAX movie house) to see and hear the kind of intimate theatrical experience that only cabaret provides. The final two performances of the CV Rep 2025 Cabaret Summer Series will feature Lee Roy Reams on July 29 and Christiane Noll on July 31.

On a balmy summer evening on Thursday, July 24, at 7:00 PM, Jeff Harnar gave the CV Rep audience a master class in the art of cabaret. Now in his fourth decade as a cabaret headliner, Harnar made it seem easy and effortless as he wove stories and songs throughout the evening that illuminated the genius of lyricist Sammy Cahn. Cahn holds the record for a songwriter for receiving the most Academy Award nominations. Of his 31 songs nominated for the Oscar, Cahn won four times. Written for Broadway, feature films, television shows, and popular music headliners, Cahn’s songs were recorded by such legendary singers including Bing Crosby, Doris Day, and Frank Sinatra (who stated that no songwriter’s words fit better in his mouth than those written by Sammy Cahn.)

The terrific arrangements were written by music director Alex Rybeck, who played the onstage grand piano. he was joined by Ken Wild on bass, Ed Smith on drums, and Ed Smart on tenor sax and flute. Harnar used the words by Cahn and the music by a number of his legendary collaborators to give the audience a spellbinding experience. It featured the classics “All the Way,” “It’s Been a Long, Long Time,” and “The Tender Trap,” along with some obscure and lesser-known gems and special material that Cahn had written for Dean Martin and others. The audience got a big laugh listening to Cahn’s lyric “It’s impossible, to make love in a Toyota, it’s impossible.”

Director Barry Kleinbort kept the evening simple and seamless. Harnar wore the same well-tailored blue suit and tie that have become his trademarks. With no gimmicks, no silly hats, no projections or props, the simple staging allowed Harnar the freedom to move from a stool to center stage to the piano, and his focus was always placed clearly on Cahn’s words and their meanings. Harnar met Cahn late in Cahn’s his life. He shared the story with the audience and told of a cherished telegram that Cahn after Harnar had performed of one of his obscure songs that charmed both the audience and the critics. After his show, Harnar shared with me that in a performance of this show just two nights before in a club in Los Angeles, Cahn’s widow Tita Cahn had been in the audience and had showered him with praise.

Harnar told me also how wonderful it was to perform in the beautiful CV Rep Theatre with its top-notch lights and sound, a real dressing room with a private bathroom, and not having to enter through a hot and noisy restaurant kitchen. At a time when the arts are under assault and cabaret and theater venues are disappearing all across the country, Harnar praised the leadership, the patrons, and the financial sponsors of CV Rep for their commitment and vision.

The show ended with two standing ovations. The first was for the final number, “Time After Time,” and the second was for Harnar’s rousing encore, “My Kind of Town.” After the show, Harnar shared with me his final memory of his first time playing CV Rep. “Because it was built as an IMAX theater, there is not a bad seat in that amphitheater house. My last memory of the show I will never forget—a wall of the peoples’ smiling faces as they stood and applauded. Cathedral City is my kind of town.”