Claire Martin & Richard Rodney Bennett - Live Review - The New York Observer

The New York cabaret season is humming to a close, but before waxing that bikini line and heading for the beach, take note: The big rooms are saving the best for last.

The finale for the Algonquin's august Oak Room season features music so sublime it must not be missed. A whole night of Irving Berlin, sung to perfection by England's best young jazz singer, Claire Martin, accompanied by the incomparable, knowledgeable and knighted Sir Richard Rodney Bennett. Ms. Martin looks, at some angles, like Jodie Foster, and when she stamps gorgeous movie songs like "Better Luck Next Time" (from Easter Parade) and "Love, You Didn't Do Right by Me" (from White Christmas) with her own special patina, you know she's on friendly terms with the cinema. Berlin wrote 15,000 songs in his salad days, so you can do only so much in a one-hour cabaret show. But when this dazzling Dreamsicle covers the territory, it stays covered.

Of course, it wouldn't be Berlin without celebrating his favorite singer, Fred Astaire-their careers were so intrinsically linked. Sometimes Mr. Bennett joins Ms. Martin in inspired duets like "Let's Face the Music and Dance" and "Let Yourself Go," sounding like two Astaires instead of one. They both love to explore seldom-heard songs off the beaten track. From the Broadway show Louisiana Purchase, Ms. Martin breathes fresh oxygen into the obscure but haunting "Fools Fall in Love," and on an old Alice Faye favorite, "He Ain't Got Rhythm," Mr. Bennett really hits his stride. With his conversational reading of "Say It Isn't So," he reaches the apex of his own musical imagination, and his arrangement of "What'll I Do?" builds a rueful introspection for Ms. Martin's voice to bask in. What a great way to wind up the season. They are to songs what sugar and cream are to coffee. With Claire Martin, Richard Rodney Bennett and Irving Berlin, sophistication is guaranteed. The burnished wood under the muted lights of the Oak Room glows as much as the audience.

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