Review: The happiest season of all

The Blue Strawberry Showroom and Lounge unwrapped an early Christmas present for St. Louis audiences last night (December 5) with a jazz-inflected holiday show by local singer/actress/educator Debby Lennon that definitely made the evening (in Irving Berlin's words) "merry and bright."

This article originally appeared at 88.1 KDHX, where Chuck Lavazzi is the senior performing arts critic.

Debby Lennon at the Blue Strawberry

"My Favorite Christmas" combined two dozen seasonal songs from the Great American Songbook and Broadway with a sprinkling of traditional favorites to produce a tasty holiday treat that went down quite well with an enthusiastic audience.

Backed up by a combo of Nick Schlueter on piano, Jeremy Pfeffer on bass, and Joe Weber on drums, Ms. Lennon's flawless voice rang out loud and clear, while her ebullient stage persona (which bears a striking resemblance to her ebullient offstage persona) won the audience over from the very first notes of her opening medley of "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year," We Need a Little Christmas" (from "Mame"), and Irving Berlin's "Happy Holiday" (from "Holiday Inn," where it's actually performed on New Year's Eve).

When she enthusiastically told us a bit later that "Christmas songs make me high," she was just confirming what was surely obvious to everyone: that she was having a great time up there and wanted all of us to be a part of it. You could see that in her happy interactions with the band and in the polished assurance with which she delivered each number, be it comic novelties like "Never Fall in Love (With an Elf)" (a hilarious song from a forgettable musical) or the sentimental 1970 Carpenters classic "Merry Christmas, Darling," dedicated to her husband.

Stringing this all together were personal reflections on Ms. Lennon's own Ghosts of Christmases Past that went deep enough to provide context without ever descending into the "this is my life" school of cabaret that erroneously assumes everyone else finds the intimate details of your biography as interesting as you do.

So, for example, her comments about past dating failures were just detailed enough to provide background for the "Elf" song without slopping over into "too much information" territory, and her thoughts about spending the holidays without loved ones who have moved on to the Grey Havens told us just enough to set up the medley of what she called "sad Christmas ballads": "I'll Be Home for Christmas" and "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas."

Debby Lennon at the Blue Strawberry

True to the show's jazz roots, the band was featured prominently. That included a purely instrumental medley of "O Christmas Tree" and "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen" during which Ms. Lennon retired to the sidelines and turned the stage over to them. The medley gave all three band members a chance to show off, with some smokin' solos, especially from Mr. Schlueter and Mr. Pfeffer, who also did the arrangements for the show. Not every performer is that generous with her time.

At just under 90 minutes, "My Favorite Christmas" was perhaps a bit on the long side, but there were so many entertaining moments that it hardly mattered. Some of my favorites included her take on the manic version of "Jingle Bells" Jack Gold and Marty Paich created for Barbara Streisand's 1967 "A Christmas Album" and her smoldering "Santa Baby," as well as a "White Christmas" that sounded a bit more provocative than Mr. Berlin might have had in mind.

Debby Lennon now moves on to her next theatrical project, Max and Louie Productions' local premiere of Joanna Murray-Smith's one-woman play "Songs for Nobodies" in January 2020. Meanwhile entertainment, seasonal and otherwise, continues at The Blue Strawberry pretty much every weekend; check out their calendar for details. St. Louis's newest cabaret space boasts clean sightlines, excellent sound, and a small but very well balanced food and drink menu. It's a welcome addition to the local scene, to say the least.

Review: Ken Haller celebrates 65 at the Blue Strawberry

L-R: Marty Fox and Ken Haller

The St. Louis cabaret scene has really taken off over the last fifteen years or so, and local performers are increasingly showing up at nightspots like Davenport's in Chicago and Don't Tell Mama in New York. One of the most prolific of those performers has been singer/actor/pediatrician Ken Haller. His latest show, "When I'm 65," demonstrates why that's the case.

This article originally appeared at 88.1 KDHX, where Chuck Lavazzi is the senior performing arts critic.

Presented at local impresario Jim Dolan's Blue Strawberry nightclub, "When I'm 65" was Classic Ken, with a varied and neatly balanced song list, just enough patter to let us know why the list made sense, and a perfect mix of the mirthful and the moving. Indeed, Dr. Haller and his music director Marty Fox managed the ingenious trick of putting together an evening that dealt with the experience of joining the Medicare Generation without using a lot of songs that specifically dealt with aging.

So, while the show opened with "When I'm 65" (a clever partial rewrite of the Beatles classic "When I'm 64"), that number allowed Mr. Haller (I'm dropping the "Doctor" from here on out, if we're all OK with that) to segue into the Jerome Kern classic "I'm Old Fashioned" which led to reflections on his love of the Great American Songbook and memories of how he listened to many of those memorable tunes on the black and white TV in the family living room.

That, in turn, moved logically into a medley of two Johnny Mercer standards that emerged from that tinny speaker all those years ago: "Dream" (as recorded by Ella Fitzgerald on the 1964 "Johnny Mercer Songbook" LP) and "Moon River" (from the 1961 film "Breakfast at Tiffany's"). Haller and Fox gave the latter a bit of medium-tempo swing that made it feel less cloyingly sentimental than it sometimes does-a pleasant surprise, and just one of many in the evening.

If you've seen a Ken Haller show before, you know there's always going to be a heaping helping of humor, and "When I'm 65" was no exception. That included a wry take on Lerner and Lowe's "I'm Glad I'm Not Young Anymore" (from "Gigi"), a version of "Rock Island" (from "The Music Man") done as a rap number (which it sort of is anyway), complete with baseball cap and cheesy "bling," and Kooman and Diamond's outrageous stalker parody "To Excess."

That last one was something of a risky choice, since it's usually sung by a young man to the unseen woman with whom he is obsessed. Performed by an older singer, it runs the risk of coming off as more creepy than funny, but Mr. Haller made it work and the crowd loved it.

It came at an ideal point in the evening as well, providing a necessary bit of comic relief after a moving and powerful segment on love and loss built around Mr. Haller's reminiscences of the first great love of his life, Bob Corsico, and the lessons he took from that relationship. Beginning with a beautiful duet version with Mr. Fox of William Finn's "Heart and Music" (from "A New Brain") and culminating in a performance of "The Man That Got Away" that turned that classic torch song into a declaration of emotional independence, this was the strong emotional heart of the show.

And, since this was a Ken Haller show, there was a Sondheim song. In this case, a very appropriate one: a celebratory rendition of "I'm Still Here" (from "Follies") with the original lyrics.

I'm not normally a big fan of cabaret shows that rely heavily on the personal lives of the performers, but "When I'm 65" was just intimate enough to be emotionally compelling without ever descending into self-referential navel gazing. Mr. Fox's original and inventive arrangements were a big plus as well, as was the obvious close rapport between him and Mr. Haller. Well done, gentlemen.

"When I'm 65" was presented on October 31st and November 21st at The Blue Strawberry on North Boyle in the Central West End. There are shows most Wednesdays through Sundays at St. Louis's latest cabaret venue; check out the web site for a complete list. Ken Haller, meanwhile, returns to the Blue Strawberry on December 21st with an encore of his entertaining "Happy HallerDays," first presented in 2017. I loved it then and can heartily recommend it now.