“Whatever possessed me to do an entire show of eleven o’clock numbers?” Lucie Arnaz wondered aloud to a packed house at 54 Below, on the first evening of a return engagement that’s been years in the making.
The accomplished daughter of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz made her solo debut at the popular cabaret venue back in 2019 with a lively retrospective of her own long career in performance, focusing on musical theater, the source of some of her most memorable roles and experiences. The show, titled “I Got the Job! Songs From My Musical Past,” was a hit, but an encore kept getting delayed, first by the pandemic and then by an injury that led to knee-replacement surgery.
But Ms. Arnaz is back in full force this week. Dressed to party in an orange sherbet-colored blouse with sparkly buttons over black leggings, she greeted the crowd with the infectious warmth and blazing energy of an old friend determined to catch up quickly and reaffirm her devotion, and did not disappoint.
There were songs by Irving Berlin and Jerry Herman, respectively acknowledging Arnaz’s stints in productions of Annie Get Your Gun and Mack and Mabel, and affectionate anecdotes about Marvin Hamlisch and Neil Simon, creators of They’re Playing Our Song, which served as Arnaz’s Broadway debut back in 1979. Arnaz also recalled the flat stage her parents built in their Beverly Hills garage to accommodate their young daughter’s aspirations, and her time at Los Angeles’s Immaculate Heart High School, also the alma mater of Mary Tyler Moore and Meghan Markle.
But some of the most affecting moments in “I Got the Job!” involved rather lesser-known names, such as Dana P. Rowe and John Dempsey, respectively the composer and lyricist of a musical adaptation of the film The Witches of Eastwick that Arnaz starred in on the West End. One song from that show, the wisecracking “Who’s the Man?”—written for The Devil, the character that Arnaz had truly wanted to play, she quipped—proved a winning showcase for Arnaz’s noted skills as a comedienne.
Another, very different tune from Eastwick, “Loose Ends,” showcased her perhaps less appreciated knack for tender, nuanced musical acting. Though not a great singer technically, Arnaz has an affinity for phrasing and a sheer emotional transparency that made this ballad—a plea to accept and value the love of an imperfect father, before it’s too late—a highlight of the evening.
With simple, supple piano accompaniment from musical director Ron Abel, Arnaz also offered buoyant readings of the Gershwins’ “Nice Work If You Can Get It” and David Yazbek’s “What Was a Woman to Do?” from Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, savoring Yazbek’s description of a romantic prospect who’s “magically long of lash” but “tragically short of cash.” She wrapped the set with a nod to her most recent Broadway credit, in the celebrated 2013 revival of Pippin; the following year, she succeeded Andrea Martin, Tovah Feldshuh and Priscilla Lopez in the role of the protagonist’s spunky grandmother.
Arnaz tweaked Stephen Schwartz’s forever poignant, playful lyrics to “No Time at All” just slightly, to reflect her own age—a few years north of Pippin’s 66-year-old granny—and dedicate the song to her own grandchildren. The key line, “I believe if I refuse to grow old/I can stay young till I die,” remained intact, of course, and Arnaz delivered it, as she did the other numbers, with a zest that left no doubt of her resolve.
Lucie Arnaz: I Got the Job! opened July 19, 2023 at Feinstein’s/54 Below and runs through July 22. Tickets and information: 54below.com
