Lainie Kazan

Lainie Kazan

Lainie Kazan CDs

    Lainie Kazan brings a lot of history to her Plush Room debut. Finally getting to go on for Barbara Streisand eighteen months into the run of Funny Girl led to a record contract and a manager - her career was launched. And what a varied career it’s been. Spotted by Francis Ford Coppola at the Venetian Room, she was invited to join his Zoetrope Players and appear in One From the Heart. She starred in Lust in the Dust opposite Divine and Tab Hunter, and garnered award nominations for her role in the Broadway and movie versions of My Favorite Year. Along the way, she’s appeared on television and recorded half-a-dozen albums.
    After a well-arranged instrumental version of "You Go To My Head" by her able trio of piano, bass and percussion, a highly dramatic drum roll announced Kazan to the stage. Her leonine hair and porcelain skin were handsomely set off by a glittering necklace and pleated black satin top over a floor-length black skirt. Opening with a heartfelt interpretation of Cole Porter’s "I Concentrate on You," more contemporary offerings followed with Leon Russell’s "Song for You" and Carole Bayer Sager’s "Come In From the Rain." But for the most part Kazan stuck to standards from the American Songbook.
    "I could use a little more volume," she commanded. "Of me," she added, as if there was any question. Her reputation of being "difficult" because of her demands for professional sound systems, lighting, and dressing rooms seemed to play out at the Plush Room. Several times during opening night she complained of "too much reverb." Her observation that "it’s a little thin up here," apparently did not refer to her ample girth, of which she seemed well aware.
    For the cover art of her newest CD, "Body and Soul," she was encouraged to use photographs from her Playboy spread during her "hippie days." Referring to the provocative poster hanging in the lobby, she remarked, "If you got brought in by the body, I hope it’s the soul that you enjoy."
    Unfortunately, her interpretations were seldom more than rudimentary. Thin at the top of the range, her voice settled into somewhat warmer hues in the lower registers, but the emotional depth of much of her material was never fully plumbed. Occasionally, she used offbeat phrasing in an attempt to put her stamp on a familiar song. One of the most effective moments was the first of "three really depressing songs" - the melancholy "The Last Time I Saw Jimmy" in which she had the audience believing she was waltzing with a long-ago lover. The other two were a merely serviceable "Body and Soul" and "The Man That Got Away."
    Kazan declared that she was happy to be back in San Francisco, recalling that she began her 35-year career at the hungry i. She was endearingly informal as she alternated between sophisticated seriousness, lusty sexuality, and bawdy humor, sometimes invoking Mae West. Kazan also offered a Sophie Tucker medley of "One of these Days" and "I’m Living Alone and I Like It."
    Near the end of her act, Kazan confessed that she almost didn’t make it to the gig. She’d had a "most horrendous week," moving from a big apartment to a much smaller one, while, at the same time, her mother had triple bypass surgery. But the audience’s resounding reception seem to make it all worthwhile. "I’ve got a bunch of movies coming out, but this is where I live," she kvelled.

San Francisco, October 19, 1999 - Jim Van Buskirk