By Steven Suskin
08 Nov 2009
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Just what is the power of two? When the duo consists of Michael Feinstein and Cheyenne Jackson, it is a combination of vocal strength and personality. The pair merged in June for a smashingly good three-week gig at Feinstein's at Loews Regency, and they have now brought their act to Harbinger Records. "The Power of Two" spotlights their talents, individual and combined, and will surely thrill a large audience while making new fans for both.
"Power of Two" can be seen as two distinct acts intertwined, and I don't refer to the singers (who contribute equally to the proceedings). Numerous vocalists and bands have been recreating the Rat Pack sound for 50 years now, sometimes with effective results. But Feinstein and Jackson don't sound like a recreation of Frank and Dean; they sound like the real thing. No, they don't sound like them, but their act — built around Cy Coleman & David Zippel's "I'm Nothing without You" — has the same essence; not a nostalgic revival, the real thing. It's 1959 in 2009, and who thought contemporary artists could give us a modern-day equivalent? And who imagined that it would be so highly entertaining?
Feinstein has been singing in this style for years, of course, but as he has grown from bright young singer to mature leading man — from Jack Whiting to Billy Gaxton, in Broadway terms — he has developed an underlying humor to accompany that twinkle that has always been in his eye. Cheyenne Jackson, on the other hand, is a relative newcomer. He has displayed a warm and friendly personality since arriving in the lukewarm All Shook Up, back in 2005. In the last couple of years he has been developing his talent, as can be seen in the newly-opened production of Finian's Rainbow at the St. James. In "'The Power of Two," over at Feinstein's, he was able to hold his own against his more experienced partner — who as presenting proprietor seemed to have consciously built the act to showcase Cheyenne.
The other half of "Power of Two" might be considered the power of the Moment. When Feinstein and Jackson stood on opposite sides of the bandstand at the Regency and sang "We Kiss in the Shadow" (with strains of "I Have Dreamed" woven into the arrangement), an audible gasp could be heard from the opening night crowd. This was not the first time anyone ever tried something of the sort; the theatre has given us a few, if not overly many, such moments over the years. But there on Park Avenue, with a Cafe Society crowd (or what passes as such nowadays), a barrier did seem to break; and it was met with a long, rousing ovation. Other parts of the act, and of the CD, are in a similar vein. Standing out are two solos by Feinstein, "Old Friend" (Nancy Ford-Gretchen Cryer) and "The Time Has Come" (Michael Leonard-Marshall Barer). This last is something of a revelation; a little-known song of — what, liberation? — which seems to have all but languished on the piano bench for almost 40 years. Leonard is the composer who wrote "I'm All Smiles" and several other especially strong songs for the 1965 musical The Yearling; lyricist Barer is the man from Once upon a Mattress. Their "Time Has Come" is very good. Jackson, for his part, gives us one of his Finian songs, "Old Devil Moon," and two excursions into Feinstein's own personal Gershwin songbook, "A Foggy Day" and "Someone to Watch Over Me."
"The Power of Two," from Harbinger. When the two are Feinstein and Jackson, that power is substantial. Continued...
