Reviews

Jane Krakowski Has Sold Out… Tickets Available

The Tony Award winner and 30 Rock star’s new cabaret show at Feinstein’s at the Loews Regency is enormously entertaining.

Jane Krakowski
(© Soul Brother/FilmMagic)
Jane Krakowski
(© Soul Brother/FilmMagic)

Part sex kitten, part All-American girl, Jane Krakowski is 100 percent adorable — a quality that’s fully evident throughout
Jane Krakowski Has Sold Out… Tickets Avaiable, her immensely entertaining and occasionally disarming cabaret show at Feinstein’s at the Loews Regency. Indeed, Krakowski’s patented brand of va-va-voom coupled with vulnerability has kept her in good stead for over 20 years — from her Broadway triumphs in Grand Hotel and Nine (which earned her a Tony Award) to her popular TV roles in Ally McBeal and her current show, 30 Rock (for which she received a 2009 Emmy Award nomination) — and it’s a smart move for her to capitalize on it for her official cabaret debut.

Most of the time, the va-va-voom is front and center as Krakowski lends her sultry touch to such songs as Cole Porter’s “The Laziest Gal in Town,” Richard Adler and Jerry Ross’ “A Little Brains, A Little Talent” (which is even more full-bodied than her version in last year’s City Center Encores! production of Damn Yankees), Eubie Blake and Andy Razaf’s double-entendre “Handy Man” (in which she gets a strong assist from bassist Jay Leonhart), and Dickie Thompson’s heat-inducing “Thirteen Men” (a 1960s novelty which she found while watching an old Ann-Margret special).

So it’s especially lovely when Krakowski switches gears and shows her softer side on Johnny Mercer and Jerome Kern’s “I’m Old Fashioned” — winningly paired with “Old Fashioned Girl” — and Irving Berlin’s “Face the Music and Dance.” Her self-deprecating humor, which comes up periodically in her patter, also adds another dimension to what could be a lesser performance in other hands.

Not content with singing predictable standards, Krakowksi’s act includes a couple of unusual cabaret detours: the Sesame Street favorite “Rubber Ducky” (complete with bubbles blown on the stage) and an offbeat “drug medley” of “When I Get Low I Get High” and “Wacky Dust,” two songs completely new to me. Wisely, as well, she adds a contemporary twist to the evening by performing a brilliantly updated version of Rodgers & Hart’s “Zip” called “Tweet” with special lyrics by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, as well as a rap version of “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend’ (with additional lyrics by Chad Begeulin).

By evening’s end, every man in the room (and even a few women) will want to buy a 30-carat ring for Krakowski. But despite her onstage persona, even if you do, she won’t be going home with you.