Frank Loesser’s “New Ashmolean Marching Society” begins this evening on an up note with merry piano styling. Seven love songs, one witty (up go the shoulders and eyebrows), follow. Ross is in a tender, rueful mood. There’s experience in every lyric. By the time we get to “When I Fall in Love” (Edward Heyman/ Victor Young), inclination is to sit under the piano and let the music wash over. “Song in the Sand” (Jerry Herman) evinces a faint hurdy-gurdy in the background. “One of Those Songs” (Will Holt/Gerard Calvi) follows suit evoking nostalgic, black and white beach images. A luxuriant piano medley of Edith Piaf material sweeps us away, each selection bowing elegantly to the next.
While all Ross’s presentations cover considerable territory, this one flows less well than usual. It’s as if much were changed on the spot. Noel Coward’s “I Travel Alone” is a perfect insouciant shrug, but the author’s “Don’t Put Your Daughter on the Stage, Mrs. Worthington” arrives once too often. A couple of also familiar (to his shows) Gershwin choices precede “She Didn’t Say Yes” (Otto Harbach/ Jerome Kern) during which the artist is appealingly animated. “Come Rain or Come Shine” (Harold Arlen/Johnny Mercer) with piano pattering rain and “Stormy Weather” (Harold Arlen/Ted Koehler) show classical roots.
Cole Porter’s “Pets” is a welcome addition. From whom else would we hear the eclectic song: Some folks collect paintings/Some folks collect stamps/…but me, I collect pets/Everything from mice to marmosets… The pride of my collection is my bevy of Harvard boys… Porter’s “Get Out of Town” and “Love for Sale” speak of apache tango with Ross rocking on the piano bench. His rendition of “The Laziest Girl in Town” arrives syncopated innuendo: …Every little proposition I just turn it down/ WAAY YY down, yeah… as a patent leather foot taps time.
New York themes include Ross’s (with Richard Crosby) own “Manhattan Moon” (which should be performed by others more often) and a vaudevillian arrangement of “My Town” (George M. Cohan). These are oddly followed by Porter’s dark, plaintive “So in Love” and then “Old Friend” (Gretchen Cryer/ Nancy Ford). Frank Loesser’s “Once in Love with Amy” and Dorothy Fields/Jimmy McHugh’s “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love” feel like two endings between which he can’t decide.
Ross is always a treat, but this show lacks focus.
Steve Ross: Fall Collection 2023
Birdland
315 West 44th Street
