Jungr at Heart

Some entertainers are a cut above and some are in a class by themselves. Barb Jungr is in a class by herself. She comes from England but her sensibility seems far more European; to put it another way, there is nothing polite about this fierce singer of lyric-driven contemporary music.

Her repertoire is eclectic, including some compositions of her own, but she has a special affinity for the work of Bob Dylan. Jungr sings several of his songs in her current act at Mama Rose and, in every instance, she brings an astonishing sense of reality to the material — even to such famous items as “Like a Rolling Stone.” Truly, her performance made us feel that we were hearing that song for the first time.

Distinctive, daring, and dangerous, Jungr seems lit by an inner fire. You can see it burning in her eyes; she’s blessed with a great face for acting and she knows how to use it. She’s so good at both singing and patter that you’re happy to see her on stage no matter what she’s doing. When she tells a seven-minute story to set up a four-minute song, you’ll love the talking as much as you’ll love the singing.

No doubt, you have seen your share of performers who have great voices but little personality or vice versa. Jungr is one of those rare types with a spectacularly rich and rangy voice as well as a mesmerizing personality. Obviously, we are quite taken with her; the irony is that she’s won us over despite the fact that her song selections are mostly outside of our main area of interest. Her interpretive skills are such that she draws us into the worlds of Elvis Costello and Ray Davies. Jungr weaves a few of her own intriguing tunes into the program, including a song called “Do You Play Guitar” (written with Adrian York). The only song in her show that one might genuinely call a cabaret number is Charles DeForest’s “When do the Bells Ring for Me?” Well, the bells were ringing for us throughout the evening.

You’ve got just two more chances to see her while she’s in town: Friday, June 18 and Monday, June 21 at 9:30pm at Mama Rose. Failing that, get hold of her new CD, Waterloo Sunset (Linn Records). It contains a considerable number of the songs in her act, including some of our favorites mentioned in this review. You’ll want the CD no matter what but you’ll treasure it more once you’ve seen and heard Jungr live.

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Summer Magic

The Musical of Musicals: The Musical is back at the York Theatre, running (one hopes) through the summer. This delicious spoof of musical theater styles includes riotous takes on the works of Rodgers and Hammerstein, Stephen Sondheim, Jerry Herman, Andrew Lloyd Webber, and Kander and Ebb. The original cast has been reassembled for this run and they’re oh so good. The more you know about musicals, the more you’re going to enjoy this show.

We’ve been programmed to expect big action movies during the summer but there are, in fact, a couple of films coming out soon that have big-time theater connections. No doubt you already know about De-Lovely, based on the life of Cole Porter and starring Kevin Kline. It opens on July 2. A little lower on the radar screen but opening earlier (June 25) is The Intended; written by and starring the Tony Award-winning actress Janet McTeer, it also features Brenda Fricker and Olympia Dukakis.

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[To contact the Siegels directly, e-mail them at siegelentertainment@msn.com.]