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Deborah Bean: Songs of the Heart |
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At: Arci's Place
Reviewer: David Roberts |
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When someone with as varied a background as Deborah Bean steps onto a stage, one expects magic to happen. Ms. Bean is a stage actor, daytime television performer, cabaret and supper club singer, spokesperson, and voice over artist and all of these skills factor in making her recent appearance at Arci's Place filled with moments of magic.
Magic begins when one realizes and accepts life in all its vicissitudes. Beginning and ending her program with Stephen Sondheim's "Being Alive" is no accident. The song, splendidly interpreted by Ms. Bean serves as a "pair" of bookends to the songs of heart-songs that come in between. There are celebrations of longing, destiny, doubt, madness, passion, and hope in the nineteen songs in her program "Songs of the Heart."
  
Deborah Bean has a subtly commanding presence on the stage which she can modify at any time with a smile, a wink, an arm movement, a turn to her accompanist, a lingering glance at an audience member. She is a skilled performer with a strong commitment to the material she chooses to perform. Even when Ms. Bean patters between songs, there is not a wasted word or a careless movement.
Nor is anything careless in her styling or in her interpretation. Obvious care has gone into "Songs of the Heart" and the audience has the opportunity to experience a full range of feeling in the songs presented: "It Had To Be You," "Moondance," "Blues In The Night," "The Way We Were," "Losing My Mind," "Something Wonderful," "Being Alive" and more.
Ms. Bean has particular fun with "Thanks A Lot But No Thanks," giving the audience a chance to see her comedic side. She gives "What Are You Doing For The Rest Of Your Life" a fresh and appropriately sensuous interpretation and manages to bring new insights to the often heard "Being Alive" and "Marry Me A Little."
The ultimate celebration of life and love comes in unconditional and non-judgmental love and this acceptance is reverently and carefully treated by Deborah Bean in her encore "All The Things You Are."
One hopes for more New York appearances by Deborah Bean at the always wonderful and always surprising Arci's Place. And she can bring with her Jon Delfin (piano) and John Loehrke (bass) who, with Ms. Bean, form a trio which goes very well together.
Reviewed on Monday, February 19, 2001
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Produced and directed by Stan Martin. Piano: Jon Delfin. Bass: John Loehrke. Mondays in February at 8:00 p.m at Arci's Place, 450 Park Avenue South between 30th and 31st Streets. Reservations: (212) 532-4370.
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