Where: The Presenters Dolan at the Kranzberg Center
When: February 18 and 19, 2011
Before he even sang a note, it was already clear from Craig Pomranz’s publicity material that he had both a reputation as a technically strong singer and a self-deprecating sense of humor. Anybody who sells t-shirts with the phrase “I Spent the Night With Craig” can’t be too stuffy, after all.
Throw in Mr. Pomranz’s ebullient stage persona and easy give and take with pianist and music director Stephen Bocchino and the result was a charming and entertaining evening, marred only by the singer’s apparent reluctance to fully engage with the core emotions of some of the more heart-wrenching ballads in his list. As a result, I felt that we got to see only one side of Mr. Pomranz’s musical personality.
Mind you, that one side was very strong. Mr. Pomranz has impressive vocal technique with an enviable head voice, easy falsetto, and solid breath control – all of which allowed him to neatly manage that pianissimo diminuendo trick that eludes so many singers. He also has (to use his droll phrase) the “thespic skills” necessary to convincingly act a song. I just felt that if he’d shown me more heart to go with that great technique, the show would have been more engaging.
That said, there’s no question that the evening was a success overall. There was the musical variety, for one thing. Based on the annual Valentine’s Day show Mr. Pomranz and Mr. Bocchino present at the Metropolitan Room, the show emphasized love songs, but in this case the genre was stretched to include some pleasant surprises. Among my favorites were “I’m in Love With Miss Logan” (a winsome portrayal of puppy love from New Faces of 1952), “The Brain” (from Young Frankenstein – possibly a Cabaret First), and Murray Grand’s outrageous “Doris Was Nice”, about a gent who falls on his face and in love with a gorilla.
There were some unexpected numbers of a less silly nature as well, including “The Guilty Ones” from Spring Awakening – as mordant a view of young love as one is likely to find – and a Broadway Belter version of “I’ve Never Been in Love Before” from Guys and Dolls. Mr. Pomranz and Mr. Bocchino clearly have wide-ranging musical tastes, and the evening benefited as a result.
That’s not to say they didn’t do well by the American Songbook. Standards included “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love”, Porter’s “What Is This Thing Called Love?”, Martin and Blaine’s “Love”, and the Styne/Comden and Green favorite “Make Someone Happy” (from Do Re Mi, a 1960 Phil Silvers vehicle about the jukebox business). The Damn Yankees classic “Heart” became a delightful duet and "They Say It's Wonderful" got a somewhat rueful treatment that, while fully justified by the lyric, isn’t often seen in performance.
Not everything worked for me. A medley of early 20th century numbers culminating in a sing-along of “Meet Me in St. Louis”, for example, seemed a bit under-rehearsed - which may be why we got only a rough approximation of both the melody and lyrics of the verse of that World’s Fair classic. There were also minor lyric changes in other well-known tunes, presumably intended to make them more inclusive. It’s an admirable idea, but I don’t think that always worked, especially when (as in “My Funny Valentine”) it killed a rhyme.
Still, these are relatively minor complaints, which is why they’re at the bottom of this review. In the final analysis, Mr. Pomranz, Mr. Bocchino and their director, former Mound City resident Ron Cohen, put together a likable and diverting evening of cabaret. It was a fine homecoming for a local guy who has made good in the city that never sleeps.
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