Steve Ross: Good Thing Going

Steve Ross is best known as a sophisticated, old-school interpreter of composers like Cole Porter, Noel Coward, and George and Ira Gershwin. In fact, there is hardly anyone better at illuminating their work than this erudite and witty performer. But in Good Thing Going, his new show at the Algonquin Hotel’s recently renovated Oak Room, Ross has extended his reach to the far more modern Stephen Sondheim, while the Oak Room has also extended its reach to include more tables as well as a more modern lighting system.

It will come as no surprise that Ross excels with Sondheim songs that are genial throwbacks to an earlier musical comedy style like “Ah Paris!” “Buddy’s Blues,” and “We’re Gonna Be All Right.” These are songs that come to him as naturally as juggling comes to a clown, and like a clown he knows how to juggle a lyric until he gets a laugh. The actual surprise is that Ross, with a modest piano-man’s voice and an otherwise dapper and sly performance style, can so deeply delve into the emotional complexities of songs like “Sorry-Grateful” and “Losing My Mind,” by coupling both songs into a moving dramatic arc.

The wise and revelatory coupling of songs is, indeed, the hallmark of this show that Ross debuted in London. Some of the time, Ross sings through both songs, segueing from one into the next with a powerful effect. Such is certainly the case in his opening medley of two songs from Company: “Another Hundred People,” which establishes the high potential for despair among all of the hopefuls who come to New York, and “Being Alive,” which stresses the equally desperate need for human warmth and connection.

On other occasions, however, he only sings part of a Sondheim song to set up the second; for example, crooning a single verse from “Johanna,” to highlight the love of one woman, before quickly opening that sentiment to include a great many more young women with “Pretty Women.” While we admit this sort of musical slice and dice can oftentimes work in the masterful hands of a performer like Ross, we’re nonetheless of the opinion that if the song is worth singing, it’s worth singing all of it.

In any event, some numbers stand alone — and do so with impressive results. Regardless of his ever-youthful appearance, one wouldn’t think that this elder statesman of cabaret would sit behind a piano and sing “Broadway Baby,” yet his winsome rendition is one of the many highlights in this winning show. And nothing is more stunning than his piercingly acted version of “Send in the Clowns, with which he closes his act.

You can always count on Ross for sharing a fair share of little known gems, and he does not disappoint when he gives us a song called “I Must be Dreaming” from a show Sondheim wrote when he was in college in 1949 called All That Glitters. The lyric was a bit weak but the melody was lovely, and we are thankful for the opportunity to hear it, just as we are thankful for this lovely show.