From: owner-believers-digest@smoe.org (believers-digest) To: believers-digest@smoe.org Subject: believers-digest V10 #21 Reply-To: believers@smoe.org Sender: owner-believers-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-believers-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk believers-digest Sunday, March 12 2006 Volume 10 : Number 021 In Today's believer's digest: ----------------- Chicago Tribune RAVE for Susan ["Tim Dunleavy" ] Re: Chicago Tribune RAVE for Susan ["Ron Rosen" ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 11 Mar 2006 10:09:49 -0500 From: "Tim Dunleavy" Subject: Chicago Tribune RAVE for Susan MUSIC REVIEW Convention showcases voices, fresh faces in the art of cabaret By Howard Reich Tribune arts critic March 11, 2006 Anyone who believes that the art of cabaret belongs to some dusty, moldering past should have dropped by the Empire Room of the Palmer House Hilton Thursday evening. New voices, original songs and fresh sensibilities launched the third Chicago Cabaret Convention, a marathon of grown-up musicmaking that runs through Saturday evening (though the setting shifts to the Park West). If past incarnations of the festival have leaned toward extremely familiar attractions and well-worn repertoire, this edition often broke cleanly with tradition, at least so far as the night's best performers were concerned. Yes, a few of the evening's singers seemed hopelessly mired in long-outdated performance styles, strangely determined to interpret classic songs as if we still lived in the age of Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald (which wasn't so impressive the first time around). But the new talent pointed to a better way, rejuvenating an art form in bracingly contemporary terms. By far the most striking set of the evening belonged to Chicago singer-songwriter Susan Werner, who achieved a breakthrough performance on this night. Though Werner has been playing the city's clubs, and national venues, for several years, her original songs -- and her keenly intelligent way of dispatching them -- announced the arrival of a potentially major artist. Multiply blessed as vocalist, pianist, tunesmith and raconteur, Werner gave a new face to a very old art form. Here was a woman declining to play either of cabaret's classic female roles: the demure ingenue or the world-weary cynic. Instead, Werner took the stage as precisely the bold, straightforward, pull-no-punches protagonist her songs depict. The luster of her vocals, the tonal assurance of her pianism and the verbal acuity of her lyrics suggest that she may be the most promising triple-threat artist to have emerged in Chicago since Patricia Barber began writing songs several years ago. In the course of just two tunes, Werner showed a great deal of expressive range. "I Can't Be New" said more about the expectations that lovers bring to a romantic relationship than one is accustomed to hearing in modern-day songwriting. And her ode to Chicago -- admittedly a facile way of rousing the hometown crowd -- nevertheless conveyed a melodic grace and easy, breezy tone well suited to its subject. Lumiri Tubo also turned cabaret conventions on their ear, entering the room singing, well before she got to the stage. Considering the scorching power of her vocals, which were steeped in traditions of jazz and blues, the dramatic entrance hardly could have been more appropriate. She tore into Cole Porter's "From This Moment On," pushing tempos relentlessly, bringing growls and cries and other exhortations to the melody. Many cabaret singers are less amusing than they think, but the New Orleans diva Banu Gibson knows how to poke fun at her songs, and herself. Yet if she found ample humor in Porter's "Find Me a Primitive Man," she also dug deep to the interpretive core of the same songwriter's soliloquy on urban ennui, "Down in the Depths on the Ninetieth Floor." Alas, not every performance was at this level. Singer KT Sullivan and singer-pianist Mark Nadler offered a lugubrious reading of the supremely sophisticated songs of Dorothy Fields. And soap opera star Eileen Fulton established beyond doubt that her talents are best saved for the small screen. - ---------- hreich@tribune.com The Chicago Cabaret Convention continues at 8 p.m. Saturday at the Park West, 322 W. Armitage Ave.; $25-$50; 773-929-1322. Copyright ) 2006, Chicago Tribune HELP! owner-believers@smoe.org Send mail to believers@smoe.org Susan's CD's are available on your desktop at World Cafe CDs http://worldcafecds.com ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 11 Mar 2006 09:58:15 -0800 From: "Ron Rosen" Subject: Re: Chicago Tribune RAVE for Susan > Anyone who believes that the art of cabaret belongs to some dusty, > moldering past should have dropped by the Empire Room of the Palmer House > Hilton Thursday evening. "Guests of the Mike Douglas Show stay at the Palmer House." HELP! owner-believers@smoe.org Send mail to believers@smoe.org Susan's CD's are available on your desktop at World Cafe CDs http://worldcafecds.com ------------------------------ End of believers-digest V10 #21 ******************************* ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------- -------------------------- This has been a posting from the Susan Werner believers-digest To unsubscribe send mail to Majordomo@smoe.org with "unsubscribe believers-digest" in the body of the message