As twilight segued into evening behind the theatrical windowsof the Allen Room at Jazz at Lincoln Center, the stars inside offered a musical tribute to Broadway/Jazz composer Cy Coleman.  Michael Feinstein, singing host/director narrated details of Coleman’s brilliant seventy year career (three Tony’s and a host of popular song standards.)   Joining Feinstein onstage were musical director Ted Firth and four vocalists.   .Johnny Rodgers,  a blast of impish energy fused with vocal/ piano chops and savvy showmanship,  ignited jazz/Broadway standards: “I’ve Got Your Number” “The Best Is Yet to Come” and Will Rogers’ anthem “I Never met a Man I Didn’t Like.”  Chuck Cooper, Tony Award Winner for The Life (Coleman’s portrayal of a pre-Disney, pimp-infested Times Square) brought the devil back from hell with his sinister rendition of the bluesy “Don’t Take Much.” Michele Lee, Tony-Nominated for her role in Coleman’s See Saw, played a funny, feisty, fallen angel – in recovery from an affair with a married man. A be-gowned Tamara Tunie (from TV’s Law and Order) belted “Big Spender” (Sweet Charity) and torched “He’s No Good (But I’m No Good Without Him)” an ode to the sweet misery of romantic addiction.   Backstage, Johnny Rodgers shared details about his life and career with genial, boyish charm (“I always sang. My big brother threw pencils as me to get me to stop but it didn’t work.”) His big sister (also musical) wore down their parents’ resistance to buying a piano by drawing one on cardboard and pretending to practice, so Johnny got to play a real one – and still does, bouncing back and forth on stage from piano to vocal mike, and writing, performing and recording original songs ( including “I Would Never Leave You” for Liza Minelli). Born, raised, and trained in Miami (his grooves put the heat in Miami Heat), Johnny, who got noticed on the Chicago cabaret circuit, now travels the world as a musical ambassador for the State Department, and is poised to conquer the New York Cabaret and Jazz scene (next stop – a June 5 musical birthday party at the Iridium (1650 Broadway @ 51^st , NYC ) As the stars faded into the night sky and the traffic on Columbus Circle orbited twinkling head and tail lights outside the theatrical windows of this elegant jazz room, I thought about how far we’ve come – not only from the nostalgically seedy version of Times Square portrayed in Coleman’s The Life but also from the backwoods juke joints and New Orleans brothels that gave birth to the blues and Cy Coleman’s Broadway/jazz. Happiness/Success Habits Do What You Love:  I love songs, singers, theatre, jazz and cabaret – that’s a major reason I write this blog.  What do you love? Enjoy torch songs – but don’t live them!  A great song and singer are as seductive as chocolate truffles. But helpless yearning for no-goodniks is not much fun in real life!  On the other hand, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “I’m In Love with a Wonderful Guy” doesn’t lend itself to bluesy jazz.  Is the song worth the suffering?  Personally, I like my bittersweet in blues and chocolate truffles – not romance.  How ’bout you? (Editor/Photographer: Jay Berman)

Susan (“Dr. Sue”) Horowitz, Ph.D.

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