Michael Feinstein returns to his eponymous Manhattan boîte-in-the-cellar, Feinstein’s/54 Below, with a melodious summer-in-the-city idyll, I Happen to Like New York. The title is borrowed from a 1930 American Songbook standard by Cole Porter, who happens to play a small part in the evening both musically and anecdotally.
Supporting the cabaret headliner for the first half of his two-plus week engagement is Marilyn Maye, although you’ll pardon the word “support.” The 91-year-old veteran makes her way to the stage unsteadily, yes; but once she starts singing, she does so powerfully and no question that she can hold the room as well as anyone.
The songs include many of the usual suspects, along with occasional non-New York-related songs by non-obvious writers ranging from George Washington Thomas (“New Orleans Hop Scop Blues” from 1911) to James Taylor (“Don’t Let Me Be Lonely Tonight” from 1972). All this, plus that “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy from Company C,” from Don Raye and Hughie Prince in 1941.
Also standing out are the Hamlisch-Bergman-Bergman “The Way We Were,” the Bernstein-Sondheim “Somewhere,” and a jaunty duet by Feinstein and Maye to Jimmy McHugh and Harold Adamson’s “It’s a Most Unusual Day.” There are also a few nods to Bobby Short, the longtime fixture at Café Carlyle who spent much of his career rescuing songs from the American Songbook. These include stories of his meetings with Porter, who went out of his way—at a time when white and black musical worlds were often kept separate—to express appreciation to Short for his performances of Porter songs.
On the New York side of the ledger, we get songs familiar and non, including Burton Lane and Ralph Freed’s relatively obscure “Anything Can Happen in New York.” (“Once Rockefeller didn’t have that oil/ And Tiffany, he didn’t have a ‘poil’/ Why even Ziegfeld didn’t have a ‘goil’/ But anything can happen in New York.”)
Refreshingly, the city songs omit that oft-heard Rodgers and Hart paean to “Manhattan.” Feinstein sneakily skirts the inevitable “New York, New York.” Include the Kander & Ebb classic? Ignore it? The vamp is teased, again and again, with the singer finally singing it—to a parody lyric: “I’m ready to scream/ It’s like a bad dream/ Don’t make me sing that song again/ New York, New York.” He makes it clear that he appreciates the overexposed song, he just would rather escape the need to keep singing it.
Feinstein is in fine form throughout, craftily switching from his genially smooth nightclub persona to “acting the song” when called for. He is a consummate showman, the best at what he does, and he knows just how to get the effects he wants.
Maye continues through Tuesday night. (Feinstein, as proprietor of the room, twice plugged the crowd-pleasing nonagenarian’s upcoming October stint at the nightclub beneath Studio 54, “Blame It on My Youth!”) Following Maye’s present week with Feinstein, he will be joined by Melissa Manchester on August 15-20, and Jackie Evancho—a 19-year-old singer with multiple platinum recordings to her credit—for his final three nights.
Michael Feinstein: I Happen to Like New York opened August 6, 2019, at Feinstein’s/54 Below and runs through August 23. Tickets and information: 54below.com
