Tom Wopat: Love Swings

Tom Wopat has always been an intriguing mixture of velvet and sandpaper, and both sides of this musical cloth are abundantly evident in Love Swings, his highly entertaining and slightly overstuffed new show at the Algonquin Hotel’s Oak Room.

Indeed the Broadway veteran is perhaps a bit too determined to show off every side of his personality, as he careens through musical decades and genres with quicksilver speed — even displaying his own songwriting and guitar-playing ability with a little tune called “Thailand Sea” that he wrote while making a science-fiction film.

Fortunately, when you’ve got the goods — as Wopat does — too much of a good thing isn’t so bad. A strikingly effective rendition of the country classic “Ode to Billy Joe” may not seem a natural fit for the stately venue, but it feels just right. Dave Frishberg’s humorous “You Would Rather Have the Blues” is a sheer delight; a nicely understated “Over the Rainbow” is a pleasingly fresh take on the cinematic anthem; and an unexpected pairing of The Pajama Game‘s “A New Town is a Blue Town” and West Side Story‘s “Jet Song” — loosely tied to a story about Wopat’s adjustment to the big city life over 30 years ago — works wonderfully. (However, its placement towards the tail end of the 18-song set seems a bit misguided.)

The tougher, sandpapery side of Wopat gets its maximum exposure in his now-signature rendition of “Makin’ Whoopee” — delivered deliciously as a “cautionary tale about marriage” — and in “Fifty Checks,” a song from the upcoming musical Catch Me If You Can (by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman), in which Wopat’s character, Frank Abnegale Sr., instructs his son on the joys of the con artist’s life. If the Oak Room is any indication, this one might stop the show when it debuts this summer in Seattle on its way to Broadway.

Still, it’s when Wopat exhibits his tender touch that the show truly soars into the artistic stratosphere. Aided by the beautiful arrangements of musical director Tedd Firth, the singer’s renditions of the Beatles’ “And I Love Her” and Judy Collins’ “Since You Asked” are the ultimate declarations of devotion. In fact, I dare you not to sigh or swoon.