In a white shirt and black pants, 6 inch heels on silver shoes, legs, splayed and chest out, the great cabaret artist Phoebe Legere (pronounced Leshay) is so strongly feminine she appears to be veering into camp, but her performance is so wide ranging, deeply musical, and satisfying, there is nothing self-parodying about her.
What gives?
Last night at the Broadway jazz club Iridium, Phoebe is a friendly master of ceremonies, maneuvering around a tiny stage and dropping wise (“real estate is scarce on Broadway”), she starts with a selection from the GreatAmerican Songbook. “Our Love Is Here To Stay”. What is this Gershwin classic? Barrelhouse ragtime? Classical? Blues? She runs circles round all these genres and sits ion the keys for extra emphasise and all in the first song. Soon after she introduces the three piece band, Ray Macchio on drums, Jon Burr on stand up bass and (Sir) George Leonard on guitar and violin. They continue with “I Got Rhythm” with a bass solo while Phoebe changes outfits, then the bass is joined by drums, and Phoebe returns, puts herself on a green bouncing ball and plays some first rate boogie.
An accomplished songwriter in her own write, Legere’s next segment is a clutch of originals, all good, all travelling the distance between satire and heartfelt, including the just written “Texting In The Dark” and the theme tuneish “Stiff Hard Cock-Tail” off her all fun modern timeless last album, Ooh La LA Coq Tail. She will blame a handful of other tracks off the album, including “Crazy White Trash” -a song she uses to honor her family and the part French Canadians chanson d’amours, “Paris Je T’Aime” and “La Vie En Rose”. La Vie En Rose” is all Sappho wildness and lifestyle referenced and Phoebe goes as far as she can to include everybody in on it, it’s like a simple artifact for the entire world.
George Leonard is Legere’s foil on stage and it is a love foil. They duet on Leonard’s “I Love Myself When I’m With you” and it is such a sweet caress: such a wonderful love match. So is Phoebe and another former starlet. After a high rhythm “My Heart Belongs To Daddy” Legere segues to her own hot and sexy “Marilyn Monroe” and it oozes desire, it is liquid and horny. On a screen there are pix of MM interspersed with shots of a ridiculously hot young Legere. The connection is tenuous but would survive a leap of faith.
So far the guys aren’t doing too well with Legere, and she sings “Some Guys” to explain to her nephews the sort of men she hopes they grow up to be. Like all the songs later in the set it eschews sentimentality for straight up sentiment. Especially near the end during “Sometimes It Snows In Las Vegas” -a starling beautiful image of ice and sand.
The set lasts only 90 minutes but if feels both longer and shorter. The many talented, sex oozing Legere provides great entertainment, you don’t feel the time go. But she is so open hearted, so filled with songs, you feel as though you’ve been on a long journey. The last show I saw was Prince and in many ways this was the opposite of Prince’s set. Prince’s set was longer but it felt unfulfilled, as though we were waiting for it to happen and by the time it settled down it was over. Phoebe’s set was self-contained excellence; within the confines of time and space, she presented a vision of her artistry. From her paintings projected on the wall, to her sexually aggressive persona, from her Avenue B pop art denizen past, to her heroic current song mastery, she is a complete original and she is playing every third Tuesday of the month at Iridium. $25 and worth it