Jeff Harnar met vocalist Sylvia Syms very early in his career. “Alex Rybeck is the perfect picture frame for your music,” she told him. “Do anything he says, marry him.” Thirty-five years ago tonight, the pair debuted at Palsson’s Supper Club on West 72nd Street “in the coveted 11 p.m. slot…” That venue continues as The Triad and Harnar/Rybeck “are still making music together and still speaking.” It was Kismet. The two artists are salt and pepper, ham and eggs, Astaire and – Astaire. Tonight we look back spotlighting how they’ve flourished.
A Bob Fosse-like arrangement of “My Personal Property” (Cy Coleman Dorothy Fields) –all tipped hat and pelvis, begins the infectious celebration. Harnar’s longer notes ride Rybeck’s rhythm like a dancer…The thing I wanna make quite clear/I’m gonna split it with everybody here…Ease and sincerity pervade.
Jeff Harnar (Photo by Steve Friedman)
“Young at Heart” (Johnny Richards/Carolyn Leigh) arrives slow and waltzy. Rybeck comes in with airbrushed vocal echo. Harnar harmonizes in high scale Jersey Boys tenor. Tandem musical moods of Charles Aznavour/Jeff Davis/Gene Lees’ “There is a Time” (Le Temps) transition like smoothly shifting scenery. Emotion palpably swells without excess volume or undue stress. Harnar can even, unaccountably, deliver an 11 o’clock number this way. (If this could only be taught…)
The so-called “Strange Duet Medley,” worthy of any Ziegfeld Follies, is sheer delight. Side by side on the piano bench, Rybeck executes classical excerpts while Harnar plays “Heart and Soul.”…Yesterday we hadn’t even met/What a strange duet…they affectionately sing. Across the stage bassist Jared Egan and drummer Dan Gross grin widely. “Close Harmony” and “Wrong Note Rag” add zest, froth, and just the right amount of good-natured corn. (Betty Comden/Adolph Green; Betty Comden/Adolph Green/Leonard Bernstein)
Watch Harnar’s eyebrows during Cole Porter’s “It’s De-Lovely.” The deceptively nonchalant performer moves very little – a raised palm, a slight bounce, a turned shoulder, his brows, yet never seems stiff. Here, he leans in to those up front, telling a story, making it irresistibly personal. With a smidgen of Durante and a dash of drunken groom, Harnar is adorable. Few in the business can make this prefix sound utterly natural.
Jeff Harnar and Alex Rybeck (Photo by Shoshana Feinstein )
Rex Reed called this Harnar/Rybeck verson of “It’s Not For Me to Say” (Robert Allen/Al Stillman) “a shaboom to remember.” Like Rybeck’s arrangements of “Blue Skies” (Irving Berlin) and “Time After Time” (Jule Styne/Sammy Cahn), it’s completely rearranged, meaning and charm intact. You’re unlikely to hear or feel the sentiments of these lyrics more clearly. ‘Pristine creative work. Harnar elegantly perches on a stool as if born to it.
The collaborators’ adroitly interwoven Politics Medley, a duet, satirizes corruption we now take for granted. With Rybeck as prosecuting counsel and Harnar playing various defendants (each with a distinctive, local accent), Jerry Bock/Sheldon Harnick’s “Little Tin Box” emerges a scene-in-one replete with a brief soft shoe.
“The Country’s in The Very Best of Hands” (Gene de Paul/Johnny Mercer) enthusiastically follows: You oughtta hear the senate/When they’re drawing up a bill/Whereases and Towits are crowded in each codicil/ Such legal terminology/ Would give your heart a thrill/There’s phrases there that no one understands/ The country’s in the very best of hands…Yee-haw! We close parentheses with “No Way To Stop It” (Richard Rodgers/ Oscar Hammerstein II), suggesting improbable compromise.
Jeff Harnar (Photo by Steve Friedman)
Recalling the advice of Donald Smith, agent/publicist/friend/creator of The Mabel Mercer Foundation, Harner tells us he’ll now “just sing” – as if there’s anything about a Harnar/Rybeck show that might aptly be prefaced with “just.” “What a Funny Boy He Is” (Alex Rybeck/ Michael Stewart) has the delicacy of a hand blown, frosted glass ornament. The love song is as pure as they come, reminiscent of Noel Coward ballads.
“How Little We Know” (Hoagy Carmichael/Johnny Mercer), accompanied by tripling-brook piano, makes one want to reach out and supportively touch the artist’s shoulder. This is one of perhaps two songs wherein Harnar turns inward. Withdrawing selectively increases impact. Piano and vocal are tantalizingly understated. This is also true of Harold Rome’s poignant “I Say Hello” shadowed by Egan’s tenderly stroked bass and vintage music box piano.
Shaken from a dream state by Gross’s terrific bongos, we launch into Burton Lane/Alan Jay Lerner’s “Come Back to Me” performed with focus and determination, not a flicker of errant stage smile. “…so lucky, so lucky, so lucky…” Harnar sings and means it. An encore of “Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen” (Sholem Secundal/Sammy Cahn/Saul Chapin), swinging as if from a 1940s bandstand, transmits joy and gratitude. Laurie Beechman Theatre rises to its feet as if one.
The show is well sequenced, beautifully directed and marvelously performed. A perfect example of why some of us remain in this challenging business. For your sakes, I hope they do it again.
Opening Photos courtesy of the performers
Jeff Harnar & Alex Rybeck-The 35th Anniversary Show
Alex Rybeck MD/Piano/Vocals
Jered Egan-Vocals/Bass; Dan Gross-Drums
Original theme shows from which these numbers are garnered directed by Sara Lazarus
June 13, 2018
The Laurie Beechman Theatre
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