When Steve Ross, who epitomizes meticulous, sits at a piano with the collar of his dinner jacket folded improperly, it's a moment of real shock. Ross, who has been a cabaret star more than 40 years, is a pianist and singer who calls forth Noel Coward and Cole Porter, glittering martini glasses and glamorous women. St. Louis has become almost an annual stop on his year-round, nationwide schedule, a complimentary nod to our growing musical scene. He opened last night at the Kranzberg cabaret space in Grand Center with a program celebrating the witty lyrics of Alan Jay Lerner and will be here through Saturday.
The collar was unnoticed by most, I'm sure, but a jarring note to me because of my admiration for him for many years as a rare example of a man who looks proper and comfortable in formal dress. The distraction was like seeing a dancer with a hole in her tights or an actor whose wig was slipping.
Ross, like most cabaret singers, is most at home with the Great American Songbook, music and lyrics of the 20th century, most from the great Broadway musicals that have been made familiar to St. Louisans by the Muny and, more recently, by Stages. What sets the songs apart are the lyrics, from Lerner, Porter, Oscar Hammerstein II, Stephen Sondheim, E. Y. (Yip) Harburg, Lorenz Hart, Irving Berlin, Leonard Bernstein, Ira Gershwin, Harold Arlen, Johnny Mercer and scores of others.
Lerner wrote lyrics and libretti for Frederick Loewe and Burton Lane — "My Fair Lady," "Brigadoon," "Gigi," "Paint Your Wagon," "Camelot" and many others, one of which, "Carmelina," was a Broadway flop of only two weeks, but the predecessor to "Mamma Mia," were with Loewe. His work with Lane, toward the end of his career, was highlighted by "On a Clear Day You Can See Forever."
His lyrics are complex and sparkling with various intricate rhyme schemes and word plays, as in "Married," from a relatively unknown play, "My Man Godfrey," but a song that savages marriage, an especially ironic touch when one considers, or as Ross relates, that Lerner was married eight times. "If Ever I Would Leave You," from "Camelot," was another high spot, as were "I'm On My Way," from "Paint Your Wagon," medleys from "Gigi" and "My Fair Lady," and "One More Walk Around the Garden," from "Carmelina."
Ross got off to a slow start, rather uncomfortable in the higher registers and missing a couple of lyrics, but he obviously relaxed after about 15 minutes, when everything became smoother. As a story-teller, he was splendid, with a fine selection of anecdotes and tales about Lerner, the shows and the songs. And he drew the evening's biggest laugh when he talked about "distressed theater," referring to outdoor performances in hot weather, and noted, "You people in St. Louis know about distressed theater — you have the Muny."
At the Kranzberg Theater in Grand Center, through Saturday.
–Joe