Concert Review by Andrew Poretz . . .

The latest installment in cabaret great Michael Feinstein’s Standard Time series took an eclectic turn from his themes celebrating specific musical icons. Here, the well-researched show focused on songs cut from familiar shows and films, numbers from flops that could be standards, and even alternate lyrics by such A-list writers as Johnny Mercer and Sammy Caan that were ultimately replaced.

Feinstein, whose encyclopedic knowledge is impressive, was funny, charming, and comfortable with his sizeable, appreciative audience. He was in excellent voice throughout, shifting easily between soft, sweet ballad singing and an almost muscular approach to swingers. He dazzled with long, powerful high notes for the “big finish” on several songs.

Feinstein was backed by musical director and pianist Tedd Firth, bassist David Finck, and drummer Mark McLean. Feinstein himself frequently took over on the Steinway in this show.

After a beautiful reading of “It’s Time For a Love Song” (Burton Lane/Alan Jay Lerner) from the obscure Carmelina, Feinstein described the evening’s premise. His biggest challenge was in choosing from an embarrassment of riches. (There’s enough material for many shows like this.)

Duke Ellington composed songs for the 1966 Broadway flop Pousse-Café, with lyrics by Marshall Barer, probably best remembered for the theme to Mighty Mouse. It ran only three performances, but had several excellent numbers. (Coincidently, I learned of the show last month, when singer Maude Maggart performed one of its songs at Birdland.) Feinstein, at the piano, performed the stunning “C’est comme ça,” the ill-fated show’s love song.

In introducing “Have You Ever Missed the Good Old USA” from “Spice of 1922” (Buddy DeSylva/Irving Caesar), Feinstein told a funny anecdote about Caesar, most famous for “Swanee.” In a funny impression, he incorporated Caesar into a variation of the old “I make a living” joke about a man hit by a car. When asked if he needed help, Feinstein claimed, Caesar responded, “Get out of my way, I wrote ‘Swanee’!” Along with an expository middle like a George M. Cohan song, Feinstein gave it another “big finish.”

“It’s hell to play one song and sing another,” Feinstein said, “But for YOU!….” Astoundingly, he then sang George and Ira Gershwin’s “Embraceable You” (including a lyric completely unknown to me), while simultaneously playing “Fascinating Rhythm,” “Strike Up the Band,” “Someone to Watch Over Me,” and more. It was brilliant in both concept and its flawless execution.

Feinstein is so meticulous that after performing “Everybody Has the Right to Be Wrong” from Skyscraper (Jimmy Van Heusen/Sammy Cahn), he insisted on redoing, standalone, two lines of the obscure sung verse – a verse Cahn was particularly proud of – because he fouled it up – something not a soul at Zankel would have noticed.

Another enlightening addition was “Boys and Girls Like You and Me” (Richard Rodgers/Oscar Hammerstein II), an unlucky song cut from three MGM films: Take Me Out to the Ballgame, Oklahoma and Meet Me In St. Louis. From a stool, with just Firth’s luscious accompaniment, Feinstein sang it beautifully, adding a coda that seemed to match its origin story, “We go on, and on, and on, and on…” before trailing off.

A wonderful segment had Feinstein performed alternate songs and lyrics to several well-known titles. He sang two different title songs that were written for the 1936 film San Francisco:the famous song by Bronislaw Kaper and Walter Jurmann/Gus Kahn) and a rejected attempt by Harold Adamson and Walter Donaldson. Feinstein revealed Johnny Mercer’s original lyrics for a song composed by Johnny Mandel, originally called “Once Again in Spring.” The lyrics were ultimately tossed aside for a better one written by Paul Francis Webster, and the song became “The Shadow of Your Smile.” Hearing these back-to-back made clear which was the superior lyric. To illustrate how a song’s character changes with different lyrics, Feinstein sang alternate lyrics for “Everything’s Coming Up Roses” and “The Man That Got Away.”

Feinstein also sang “Singing (‘Cause He Wants to Sing)” by Sonny Burke and Peggy Lee, cut from the animated 1955 Disney film, “The Lady and the Tramp” He had fun with this delightful song, written from the dog’s point of view.

Gershwin wrote six different sets of lyrics for “Long Ago and Far Away” (Jerome Kern/Ira Gershwin) before producer Arthur Schwartz had enough and chose the second one. Feinstein sung the lost lyric that Gershwin included in his memoir, which was equal to, if not better than, the chosen one.

More excellent choices followed, including “Through the Eyes of Love,” a fabulous song cut from Mary Poppins that Julie Andrews now can’t believe she “let them cut” (though she actually insisted they do so.) Feinstein revealed a completely different melody and lyric for the title song from “The Way We Were,” both written by Marvin Hamlisch with Alan and Marilyn Bergman. At the piano, Feinstein performed this alternate song, which the writers jokingly referred to as “The Way We Weren’t,” before segueing into the song everyone knows.

Feinstein closed with “The Trolley Song,” a song not lost to history, but to Feinstein’s previous Standard Time show, a tribute to Tony Bennett.

This was one of my favorite editions of this series. Feinstein will be back on February 26 with a 17-piece band.

Standard Time with Michael Feinstein: The Songs That Got Away took place on November 6 at Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall, 881 Seventh Avenue (https://www.carnegiehall.org/About/Building-Overview/Zankel-Hall)