For Mr. Barnum (or anyone else enamored of Mr. Tom Wopat), a review from the New York Times (Stephen Holden) of Wopat's new cabaret act in the Oak Room of the Algonquin
Music Review | Tom Wopat
Rugged Leading Man Is a Little Bit Broadway, a Little Bit Country
By STEPHEN HOLDEN
Published: March 11, 2009
Tom Wopat strolled into the Oak Room of the Algonquin Hotel on Tuesday evening, crooning a flawless a cappella rendition of “Last Night When We Were Young.” Halfway through the song the pianist Tedd Firth slid in behind him, and Mr. Wopat’s wonderful new show, “Love Swings,” was off and running. Following them every step of the way were David Finck on bass and Bob Malach on tenor sax.
Because both Mr. Wopat and Frank Sinatra are saloon singers who imprint their personalities on everything they perform, they are kindred spirits, although their voices are not much alike. Mr. Wopat’s version of the Sinatra hit “That’s Life” stripped this pugilistic anthem of much of its combativeness and turned it into an easygoing “One for My Baby”-style jaunt, without the alcoholic content.
Unlike Sinatra, Mr. Wopat can be a rugged Broadway leading man (“Annie Get Your Gun,” “City of Angels”) when the occasion demands.
Then, without straining to be anyone other than himself, he can strap on a guitar and deliver honky-tonk country-blues (Delbert McClinton’s “Maybe Someday Baby”) with the casual authority of a veteran who has played a thousand nights at juke joints, or a rural Mississippian (his languid, folksy rendition of “Ode to Billie Joe”).
What he shares with Sinatra is an ability to live inside whatever he sings. His flexibility doesn’t seem to be a matter of self-conscious role playing but an expression of his far-reaching musical tastes and personal experience. A similar range applies to the ages of his songs’ narrators. Singing a slow bossa nova-flavored version of the Beatles’ “And I Love Her,” in a boyishly smooth voice, he conveyed the rapture of a young man in the throes of first love. (Mr. Wopat is 57.) A similar sense of a somewhat older man spellbound while on a romantic journey infused his version of Judy Collins’s “Since You’ve Asked.”
His most refreshing reinvention was a brisk, understated version of “Over the Rainbow” that took the song back from the hundreds of histrionic belters who have used it as a platform for broadcasting their self-pity. Mr. Wopat treated it as an expression not of defeat but of possibility. As he sang the words, “Why, oh, why can’t I?,” it sounded as if he meant: “Why not? Let’s give it a try.”
Tom Wopat performs through March 21 at the Oak Room of the Algonquin Hotel, 59 West 44th Street, Manhattan; (212) 419-9331, algonquinhotel.com
