The title says it all.
when it comes to describing Chris Barrett's show
at the Metropolitan Room. Unburdened by too much patter,
Barrett is at his best singing some of Broadway's best songs
magnificantly. Like
Woody Allen's latest movie, "Midnight in Paris," time
disappears and
the worlds of Cole
Porter, Jerome Kern, Oscar Hammerstein II, Stephen Sondheim
magically appear. I just sat back in happy abandonment as
Barrett sang "I'll Buy You A Star" by Arthur Schwartz and
Dorothy Fields from "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn," Cole
Porter's "Ours" from "Red, Hot and Blue," and Stephen
Sondheim's "Pretty Woman" from "Sweeny Todd." Barrett can
make you miraculously believe you're in a bygone Broadway
era with no sleight-of-hand other than his elegant piano
playing and rich and warm voice.
“Barrett’s Broadway,"
which opened at the Metropolitan Room May 17 for five
performances, also plays Friday, June 10 at 9:30pm
Friday, June 17 at 9:30pm.
“Barrett is one of
cabaret's best interpreters of Broadway songs,” says Peter
Leavy, CabaretScenes.org. He is "one of the most engaging
performers to carry on an elegant piano bar tradition
typified by entertainers like Bobby Short and Steve Ross,”
Stephen Holden has said in the The New York Times.
I've heard many performers sing Stephen Sondheim's
"Everybody Says
Don't," a favorite of cabaret's top stars, from"Anyone Can
Whistle" and no one sings it better than Barrett did at The
Metropolitan Room the night I saw him there.
Barrett, who has been
performing throughout the U.S. and Europe since 1973, was a
fixture at New York's legendary Stanhope Hotel dining room
and at the Carlyle, Pierre, U.N. Plaza, and Westbury Hotels.
His appearances throughout the U.S. are the Hotel Bel-Air,
Los Angeles; the Ritz-Carlton, Washington, D.C.; and the
John Drew Theater, East Hampton, N.Y. In Europe, he has had
repeated engagements at the Hotel Cipriani, Venice; the
Berkeley Hotel, London; and the Hotel Poseidon, Positano,
Italy.
Barrett is the
recipient of the Back Stage Bistro Award for
best singer/instrumentalist and a finalist at the 2005
Nightlife
Awards.
His most recent CD, "Champagne Sometimes...a Night Out with
Chris Barrett," and other of his recordings will be
available at the
Metropolitan Room for purchase.
Reservation line is 212.206.0440.
www.christopherbarrett.com
There's a $15 cover / 2 drink minimum ($10 cover for Cabaret
Hotline Online and MAC members) The Metropolitan Room is at
34 W. 22 St (between 5 and 6 Avenues) in Manhattan.
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