Review by Ron Fassler . . .
Oscar Hammerstein II’s words to Jerome Kern’s melody “The Song is You,” could have been written to perfectly describe the songstress Marilyn Maye:
Beautiful rhapsody
Love and youth, and spring
Music is sweet
The words are true
The song is you
“The Song is You” is just one of the fifteen numbers the wonderous Marilyn Maye performs over the course of the latest iteration of a rapturous 70-minute set at 54 Below, Broadway’s Supper Club. This ten-performance engagement will end November 6th and, as I often write when reviewing her shows, if you have never seen Marilyn (we all call her Marilyn), you simply must do whatever it takes to see her in her element—a room with the very best musicians and an adoring crowd—to find out what it is that makes her one of the great practitioners of the art of acting a song. Her connection with people is as profound as the pure unadulterated joy and abandon she still puts into her singing at the age of ninety-seven.
It’s remarkable that she’s not just rehashing old hits but continues to dig deep into her repertoire and create new shows. This one threads through several songs she sang while a frequent guest on The Tonight Show, the long-running late-night program first hosted by comedian and songwriter Steve Allen. Jack Paar, who followed Allen, had her a half-dozen times or so on as well. But it was Johnny Carson who gave her the widest attention. During his thirty-year reign as host, he invited Marilyn more than any other singer resulting in her record of seventy-six Tonight Show appearances, which still stands as a record.
All the Tonight Show hosts were helpful in pushing Marilyn’s recording career immeasurably. Sadly, Marilyn’s special brand of music died out in the early 1970s; a painful period for her. It’s true that she had good company stranded in the wilderness in 1970, with Tony Bennett dropped by Columbia Records after a twenty-two-year relationship at exactly the same time Marilyn was let go by RCA Records. Thankfully, both made comebacks.
We all know Tony made a comeback in the late 1980s by reinventing himself and selling hit records all over again. Marilyn wasn’t so fortunate. Although she would never have another hit recording the way she once did, she did begin to make a name for herself in clubs with great success. In her late seventies, she was rediscovered by the New York cabaret scene kicking off a Marilyn Maye renaissance in 2006. Although she’d been singing around the country, this was her first time headlining in New York after a long absence and audiences went wild for her. It’s now been twenty years of her as a non-stop presence not only in New York, but in her favorite places to sing across America, especially around and about Wichita, Kansas, her hometown. She is—and this is without hyperbole—a national treasure.
At 54 Below you can catch her singing songs by some of her favorite songwriters: John Kander & Fred Ebb, Stephen Sondheim, Harold Arlen, Irving Berlin, Johnny Mercer . . . the list goes on. Highlights this time around included her jazz rendition of the Witch’s song from The Wiz, “No Bad News” (Charlie Smalls), “I Love You Today” (Steve Allen), and her mash up of Arthur Schwartz and Howard Dietz’s “By Myself” with Sondheim’s “Being Alive.” And if you don’t think Marilyn can also handle Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive” (Freddie Perren and Dino Fekaris), then think again. Mention must be made too, of her musical director Tedd Firth, one of the best in the business, accompanied by Tom Hubbard on bass and Mark McLean on drums. The way these three play with Marilyn is a genuine sight to behold.
Singing “I Will Survive” at ninety-seven. Just think on that for a minute. Just like Marilyn Maye herself, it’s about as good as it gets.
Marilyn Maye is at 54 Below, 254 W. 54th Street, NYC. Tickets for upcoming performances are available the following dates: October 28, October 30, October 31, November 1, November 2, November 3, November 4, and November 6— all at 7pm. For further information, please visit: www.54Below.com.
Photos by Ron Fassler.
