Maureen McGovern Delivers the Whole Package

Maureen McGovern’s new show at Feinstein’s at the Regency (through March 15) celebrates the 30th anniversary of her monster hit record “The Morning After” (Al Kasha/Joel Hirschhorn). The lady’s voice, as true as the North Star, still sounds as if this morning really is the morning after that record sold its one-millionth copy. This show intends to be nostalgic as McGovern retraces highlights of her last three decades in show business; the sweet surprise is that she’s a far better performer in a club setting now than she ever was in the past.

You see, the rap on McGovern was always that she had the most incredible voice on the planet but rarely bothered to interpret a lyric. We noticed significant changes in that regard a couple of seasons ago when she performed at the Oak Room. Suddenly, she seemed to notice that there were words — not just notes — in the songs she was singing. Warmer and more engaging, McGovern was becoming a real cabaret singer. The result of that evolution is very much evident in her show at Feinstein’s, so this really is a celebration.

McGovern starts the show with an off-microphone, a cappella rendition of “My Funny Valentine” (Rodgers & Hart) that is both thrilling and beautiful. It’s a daring gambit for her to begin with a bit of vocal drama that some of the best singers hold in reserve; think Barbara Cook, who traditionally caps her shows by putting down her microphone for the encore. The rest of McGovern’s show had to be strong enough to avoid the sense that it’s all downhill from there — and, to her considerable credit, it is that strong. The singer elegantly glides through standards like “Once Upon a Time” (Lee Adams/Charles Strouse) and avoids the pitfalls inherent in singing the overly familiar “Ac-centu-ate The Positive” (Arlen/Mercer) by setting up the number with some pointed patter about CNN. Formerly a cool (dare we say cold?) entertainer, she has so transformed herself that she can even pull off the Styne/Comden & Green classic “If,” a hot-blooded piece of musical comedy material if ever there was one.

In a show full of standards, one of McGovern’s finest moments is her performance of the as-yet-unknown “Arnold” by Jeffrey D. Harris and Allison Hubbard, a touching ballad about an older woman getting a second chance at love. Only after singing did she reveal that her musical director/pianist, Jeff Harris, wrote the music. (Allison Hubbard wrote the lyrics.)

Harris’s arrangements for piano and bass (the top-notch Dick Sarpola) are smart without calling too much attention to themselves; they allow the singer to do what she can do, which is plenty. This is, by far, the best Maureen McGovern show we’ve ever seen.