Cabaret Review: JULIE BENKO AT BIRDLAND

JULIE BENKO IS, AND IS ABOUT TO HAVE,
A BROADWAY BABY

Vocalists have found many fruitful ways of reaching their audiences, from celebrating other singers to paying tribute to composers and lyricists, from revealing personal challenges to reviewing personal triumphs. Julie Benko may be the first to reflect on the ups and downs of pregnancy. But considering that she is seven months pregnant and her show, Julie Benko@Birdland, will be her last before the big event, her choice of subject matter is entirely appropriate.

Jason Yeager, Julie Benko

Having demonstrated her acting and singing chops in Harmony and Funny Girl last season, Benko has taken her own show on the road, appearing in such venues as San Francisco’s Venetian Room and New York’s Café Carlyle. Now that she’s expecting her first child, Benko has worked her fears, hopes and joys effectively into her repertoire.

But that doesn’t mean all her choices are obvious. Benko began the night with Jule Styne and Comden and Green’s “Never Never Land,” inviting the audience to come with her “where dreams are born and time is never planned.” It’s up to the audience to decide what, if anything, this has to do with her pregnancy.

Julie Benko and band at Birdland

But Benko made her motivations quite clear when it came to the other songs. She admitted her apprehensions with Brandi Carlile’s “Mother” and expressed her love with Harold Arlen’s “A Sleepin’ Bee.”

Laura Nyro wrote “Save the Country” after the June 1968 assassination of Robert Kennedy. For Benko, the anthem represents the struggle we all face now in the coming election, a struggle that especially concerns her as a future mother. But on the lighter side, “The Bare Necessities,” from the Disney’s The Jungle Book, reminds her to “forget about your worries and your strife,” in other words don’t worry about which kind of baby bottle or carriage is best because “you can live without it/And go along not thinkin’ about it.”

Julie Benko

Banko has a flawless delivery wherever the notes fall in her wide vocal range. She would sound fine everywhere and anywhere. But at Birdland, she was backed by a particularly talented band: Paul Francis on drums, Michael O’Brien on bass, Justin Poindexter on guitars and mandolin, and Gabe Terraciano on violin. Best of all, the show featured new arrangements by her husband Jason Yeager, who also accompanied her on piano. Indeed his version of “Children Will Listen” was heartbreaking.

Another treat was Benko’s featured guest, Funny Girl co-star Jeremiah James. The two sang “What Could Be Better?” True, it’s a love song. But everyone agreed James was just standing in for Yeager, who was at the piano.

Jeremiah James, Julie Benko

At the beginning of her show, Benko commented that babies can hear from the womb. This makes her own yet to be born child part of her audience. She wondered what kind of a review she might receive in the Uterine Times. If Benko’s child has a good ear for music, it will undoubtedly be a great one.

photos by Kevin Alvey

reviewed Aug. 12 at Birdland, 315 West 44th St