by: Marilyn Lester
Video: Magda Katz
Karen Wyman’s decision to retire from a successful singing career to raise a family was a tremendous act of love –– and now that she’s back on stage, that same love showers her audience in spades. Wyman loves the stage and loves singing on it; her infectious enthusiasm made for an evening of entertainment that flew by all too soon. Singing standards by Cole Porter, Jule Styne and Harold Arlen, as well as 1960’s classics from The Beatles and Burt Bacharach, Wyman proved adept at subtlety as well as going full-throttle with a powerful belt. “What you see is what you get,” she said at one point in the evening; lucky for us what we get is a whole lot of authenticity coupled with musical mastery.
Her sold-out audience would certainly agree. Kudos to Music Director and pianist John Oddo and his two capable sidemen, and to Show Director, Russ Weatherford.
Karen Wyman: Songs I Love To Sing!, The Metropolitan Room, January 31 at 7 pm
The Metropolitan Room, 34 West 22nd Street, 212-206-0440, www.metropolitanroom.com