CABARET REVIEW : Cary Makes a Proper L.A. Debut

What makes a good cabaret performance? New York singer Claiborne Cary thinks she has the answer. In her debut Los Angeles engagement at Cassis in West Hollywood she offered, somewhat whimsically, a few pieces she felt were vital to proper cabaret.

First, an appropriately heartfelt he-done-me-wrong song. “Goody, Goody” might not seem like a particularly good choice. But with the tempo reduced to a slow drag, and the “Goody, Goody” comment eliminated until the very last line, it worked beautifully.

And, of course, a French song. Claiborne, tongue in cheek, sent up her own cabaret definition with a wacky Gallic spin through “Darktown Strutters Ball.”

She followed with the inevitable “special material.” “Between Men” was a sardonic commentary about the value of taking classes--yoga, macrame, mechanics, whatever--to ease the pain of a breaking heart. Cary’s own “My Couch Potato Patootie” took a more gleeful look at a shattering romance, tossing word rhymes around in wild abandon.

And, she suggested, no cabaret performance should be without a highly theatrical window-on-the-world piece, especially if it offers the singer an opportunity to emote. “The Last Rockette” did the job for Cary, although one might have hoped for a few bright flashes of humor to color its bathetic tale of life on the fringe of show business.

Cary sang--especially on her ballads--with a warm, musical phrasing that owed more than a little to jazz. Despite her appealing skills and excellent choice of material, however, this particular performance lacked intensity and focus.

Cary, who is Cloris Leachman’s younger sister, arrived in town with a bundle of rave reviews. There’s no doubt that the talent is there, but a little Manhattan energy would have made her cabaret definition a lot more convincing.