Review by Jeremy Gerard for Bloomberg

March 1 (Bloomberg) -- Lari White, a gamin powerhouse with several Grammys, made her New York cabaret debut Tuesday at the Algonquin Hotel in a high-energy set titled ``My First Affair'' that offered Johnny Cash and Broadway standards with equal volume, and equal finesse.

Taking the Oak Room's tiny stage, she launched into Dottie West's ``Country Sunshine,'' a number as upbeat as it is relentless. But the singer, who splits her time between New York and Nashville, had an ulterior motive, confiding to us: ``Do you have any idea how exhausting that is?'' That got a laugh and set the stage for a nominally more nuanced song list that included numbers by Sammy Cahn, Ira Gershwin, Stephen Schwartz, a lovely ``Cockeyed Optimist'' by Rodgers and Hammerstein bouncing off a ruminative ``Falling in Love With Love'' by Rodgers and Hart. She also sprinkled the program with a few of her own songs: ``Minor Changes,'' a sort of country version of Frank Loesser's ``Marry the Man Today'' from ``Guys and Dolls,'' and the torchier ``Over and Over.''

White has been making a name for herself as a worthy interpreter of the songs of Marilyn and Alan Bergman, and her set included a knockout trio of their numbers written with Michel Legrand. But the home run in the set was a song with a mixed pedigree right for the occasion: Steven Lutvak's haunting ``Museums,'' about connecting with an emotionally distant father, gorgeously sung.

No Heartache, Please

A close second was ``It Ain't My Business'' from an unfinished show by Lisa DeSpain and Kristen Anderson-Lopez, in which the heart-on-sleevers in the crowd are told: ``I don't mix my business with no heartache.''

That pretty accurately sums up ``My First Affair,'' an exuberant set in which the singer, exquisitely backed by pianist Don Rebic and bassist Steve Doyle, didn't plumb the depths of heartache even when singing about it, but didn't lean on the good-feelings hard sell, either. It was a completely enjoyable 75 minutes.
 

Jeremy Gerard is an editor for Bloomberg News. The opinions expressed are his own.
Reprinted from: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aVzEy2yygQPU&refer=home