Jeff Harnar – Confessions of A New Yorker
In the expert hands of Jeff Harnar and Alex Rybeck, what might’ve been yet another chestnut-filled paean to Manhattan, arrives personal and fresh. Braided together with entertaining stories of the artist’s unique history, Confessions is memorably entertaining. It’s hard to imagine, but Harnar, who treats every performance as a high stakes event, just keeps getting better.
Aunt Fran introduced him to Manhattan. At nine, he recognized home. Ten years later, the vocalist enthusiastically arrived for school and to pursue his craft. One trajectory finds him with the job of a room service waiter at a luxury hotel, quitting to act as Phyllis Mcguire’s houseboy, subsequently opening for The Mcguire Sisters. Harnar shares with warmth, gratitude, bemusement, and a soupçon of surprise.
Distinctively treated, familiar selections are arrayed with eclectic finds. Eight bars of John Kander/Fred Ebb’s “New York, New York” emerge with new lyrics (Dale Gonyea), morphing into the Portia Nelson song after which this evening is titled. “I’m in hate/love with New York,” the performer sings with a candid shrug, representing us all. Despite sophistication, Harnar retains a bit of the boy nextdoor. Phrasing is appealingly conversational.
A marvelous arrangement of the other “New York, New York” begins with Alex Rybeck’s solo piano conjuring the harbor at dawn as sailors leave their ship rather than the usual bounce. It then transforms into “Lonely Town,” pathos in every verse (Betty Comden/Adolph Green/Leonard Bernstein). “The New York, New York” of its day, “Manhattan” veritably dances. (Richard Rodgers/Lorenz Hart; arrangement James Followell, with Ritt Henn on nifty ukulele.)
Performed with bittersweet ardor, “East Side of Heaven” (James V. Monaco/ Johnny Burke) recalls a former relationship which went predictably south. It’s a perfect lead in to wry quips about dating in
New York and Francesca Blumenthal’s terrific “The Lies of Handsome Men.” Rybeck not only cloaks
his collaborator in mesmerized romance, he fills the club with it. A waltzy “Falling in Love with Love”
seems to defy gravity. (Richard Rodgers/Lorenz Hart). Sequencing is artful.
Side by side at the piano, Harnar and Rybeck offer three songs by Betty Comden/Adoph Green/Leonard Bernstein connected by “Strange Duet.” Melodic acumen comes together like a mosaic. It’s quirky, lighthearted fun, a challenging number made to look easy.
Rybeck’s What a Funny Boy He Is” (with Michael Stewart) strokes piano keys: “…Nothing of splendor/No work of art/And yet so tender/He breaks my heart…” It’s just lovely. “I Love You” (Harlan Thompson/
Harry Archer; a Mcguire Sisters arrangement by Murray Kane) is hap, hap, happy. Rybeck jauntily duets.
“No cabaret show would be complete without a Sondheim song,” the artist notes. After an earlier evening of his work by Harnar with KT Sullivan, the men became pen pals. In tribute, he sings Rick Crom’s brilliant “Sondheim’s Oklahoma” – a medley depicting how the master might’ve written the earlier classic. Brilliant. and vocally difficult. The vocalist turns on a dime between mood and music.
“Fourteen years ago, New York became a lifeboat to me,” he tells us. We close with excerpts from Kander and Ebb’s “But the World Goes Round” followed by “That’s Life” (Dean Kay/Kelly Gordon). Harnar makes a meal of it. He’s rhapsodic; among the very few who can sing a rapt grin.
“The Shape of New York” (Bob Walton) is a questionable choice. Otherwise NOTHING less than splendid ensues. The band, additionally including Dan Gross on drums, is excellent. Alex Rybeck continues to elevate every musical partnership with warmth, skill, imagination and comprehension of each singer’s intentions. He and Harnar have been doing this together forty plus years. Bravo.
Photos by Maryann Lopinto
Jeff Harnar: Confessions of A New Yorker
MD/Piano/Arrangements-Alex Rybeck
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