DIVA TALK: Nancy LaMott Revisited Plus Backwards Chats with Butler, Duncan, Kazan and More
By Andrew Gans
Nancy LaMott
News, views and reviews about the multi-talented women of the musical theatre and the concert/cabaret stage.
NANCY LaMOTT
Most of the songs on "Ask Me Again" were part of a private collection owned by radio personality Jonathan Schwartz — tunes recorded during 1988-1994 that LaMott had gifted Schwartz, her longtime champion, throughout the years. Some were performed live in concert, others on radio station WQEW, while several were piano-and-voice recordings preserved at small studios.
The majority of the tunes feature piano accompaniment by Christopher Marlowe, LaMott's musical director, whose arrangements are an integral part of the beauty of these recordings. LaMott, who was arguably the finest singer the cabaret world produced in the past few decades, was blessed with a honey-toned sound and a rangy, powerful belt; more than that, however, she was able to find the essence of a song and convey that to the listener simply, beautifully and without emotional or vocal overindulgence. Onstage LaMott was sunny without ever being blindingly so, and she embraced realism without any touch of world-weariness. Her voice was filled with a natural warmth that could pierce the soul, and she never sacrificed melody or a song's lyrical intention for vocal acrobatics.
Nancy LaMott's soon-to-be-released CD and DVD
The first CD begins with Leslie Bricusse's "You and I," and each successive track is simply terrific. Whether she's joyously singing "Cheek to Cheek" or tugging at the heart with "On My Way to You," LaMott's gifts as an expert interpreter are on full display. She also scores with the little-heard Jule Styne tune "Killing Time," a belty "Call Me Irresponsible" and the Cole Porter classic "Easy to Love."
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On the second disc, LaMott offers a wonderful version of Van Morrison's "Moondance" and a simple, slowed-down take on "The Wind Beneath My Wings." She performs a full-voiced "The Music That Makes Me Dance," and the disc's highlight may be a heartfelt reading of "No One Is Alone" that simply melts into another Stephen Sondheim song, "Not While I'm Around." The recording's penultimate number is a definitive version of Rodgers and Hart's "I Didn't Know What Time It Was," which was recorded Dec. 9, 1995, just days before LaMott's untimely death from uterine cancer: Here, LaMott was singing about love found as if her life depended on it. . . and perhaps it did.
What may be even more treasured by LaMott fans is the first Midder Music DVD, "Nancy LaMott: I'll Be Here With You," which offers a mix of rare live performances spanning the years 1978-1995. The disc boasts 24 selections and captures the life of a singer through changing hair styles and fluctuating weights. It's quite remarkable to watch the transition in LaMott's performance style and look: She begins as a Liza Minnelli-ish belter and through the years finds her own vocal style that is second to none — one where her quieter tones were as emotionally potent as her biggest belt. Among the many highlights are a wonderful, comic version of the Gershwins' "It Ain't Necessarily So"; a wholly unexpected yet emotionally potent version of Billy Joel's "Time to Remember" in which LaMott demonstrates she's an equally gifted interpreter of pop tunes; a simple reading of the holiday tune "I'll Be Home for Christmas"; a pairing of "Out of This World" and "So in Love" that is simply riveting; a tender "I'll Be Here With You"; a heartbreaking "Moon River" performed just weeks before her death; and an uplifting "Listen to My Heart."
Both "Nancy LaMott—Ask Me Again" and "Nancy LaMott: I'll Be Here With You" will arrive in stores Feb. 12. The complete track listings follow:
"Ask Me Again" CDs
CD 2:
"I'll Be Here with You" DVD
For more information visit www.nancylamott.com.
BROADWAY BACKWARDS Broadway Backwards , the annual benefit for New York's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender (LGBT) Community Center, is quickly becoming one of the more anticipated concerts of the theatre season. Created by Robert Bartley, who also directs, Broadway Backwards III — featuring male singers performing songs traditionally sung by women and women singing tunes written for men — will be presented Feb. 4 at the American Airlines Theatre. To date the starry list of performers boasts host Seth Rudetsky as well as Kerry Butler, Anthony Rapp, Ann Harada, Julie Halston, Michelle Blakely, Aaron Lazar, Lainie Kazan, Karen Mason, Julia Murney, Liz Callaway, Jen Colella, Tony Yazbeck, Neil Patrick Harris, Gary Beach, Charles Busch, Cheyenne Jackson, Nancy Dussault, Malcolm Gets, Tituss Burgess, David Burtka, Tastiskank (Kate Reinders and Sarah Litzsinger), Len Cariou, Brooks Ashmanskas, Sandy Duncan, Jose Llana and Sierra Boggess.
In keeping with the theme of the upcoming benefit, I posed the same two questions to a few of those scheduled to perform: (1) If you could play one theatre role that was written for the opposite sex, what would it be and why? and (2) What is one song written for the opposite sex that you've always wanted to sing? Answers follow.
David Burtka , seen on Broadway in Gypsy and Off-Broadway in The Play About the Baby :Lucky Stiff . It's such a sweet, yet moving song. You don't see many women songwriters, but when women tell a story, it's more true to heart. Lynn Ahrens is amazing. Continued...
