The last of this year’s ‘Cabaret in the Day’ series , on Sunday 1 September ( Father’s Day), featured slick Mr Showbiz himself, Glenn Amer.
The theme was ‘Romance, Romance’ . Amer has a wonderful rich operatic tenor, quite seductive and he is massively talented on the piano as well. With jokey linking patter the show was a collection of golden oldies and lyrical classics with a couple of funny songs thrown in and as well an improvised world premiere.
The glowing black piano was so highly polished you could see the reflection of Amer’s hands!
Amer opened with the delicious ‘What Kind of Fool Am I?’ ( Bricusse/Newley – from the musical ‘Stop the World I Want to Get Off ‘) and then as a big contrast Kurt Weil’s ‘September ‘ song – most appropriate .
This was followed by Amer’s arrangement of Addinsell’s 1941 ‘Warsaw Concerto’ in the style of Rachmaninoff – where Amer was technically amazing , showing off with lots of passionate allegro and rippling keyboard. From the very start of the concert Amer’s performance style was similar to that of Liberace. Therefore it was no surprise when Amer segued into a tribute to the great showman, with flashy , florid embellishments at times , that included ‘Baubles , Bangles and Beads ‘ from ‘Kismet’, a jazzed up version of ‘With a Song In My Heart ‘ and a lovely version of ‘ As Time Goes By’ .
Great fun was had next with ‘O Sole Mio’ – or is it Elvis’ ‘It’s Now Or Never’?
The wistful ‘So In Love With You Am I ‘ followed and then a somewhat jokey love song ‘Molina ‘ – with an unexpected twist at the end !This led into ‘Laura’ from the 1944 film.
An enchanting medley of romantic waltzes followed, sparklingly played and including Offenbach / ‘The Merry Widow’ favourites and a version of ‘True Love’ .
A highlight was the challenging ‘Mosman Concerto’ a world premiere of an improvised medley devised from audience requests that included ‘Smoke Gets In your eyes’ ‘ Some Enchanted Evening ‘ , ‘Maria ‘ ( from West Side Story ), Cole Porter’s ‘Night and Day’ and others in a thrilling performance.
Next came a medley of ‘show stoppers‘ of some greats then the jaunty, catchy ‘Walking My Baby Back Home’ to bring the afternoon to a finish . But wait there’s more! As an encore we were treated to a very moving rendition of ‘Love is A Many Splendoured Thing’.
ROMANCE ROMANCE, the last part of the Cabaret in the Day series, played at the Mosman Arts Gallery for one performance only on Sunday 1 Sept 2013. Running time – 90 mins (approx) no interval.