Search - Various Composers, David Krane, Paul Ford :: Upstairs at O'Neals' [Original Cast Album]

Sweet Throwback

Ex-lyricist | New York, NY | 08/08/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

""Upstairs at O'Neals" was a 1978 effort to rekindle a form of cabaret that flourished in the 40's and 50's in soigne nightclubs: the revue comprised of witty topical sketches, comedy songs and ballads, drawn from a broad range of creators. ("Saturday Night Live," more than the troupes that have supplied its casts over the years, is now obviously a dinosaur of the breed.) The show--like everything writer/director Martin Charnin has been involved with--was so taken with itself that most of it was dated and coy even when it opened; the then-famous saloon near Lincoln Center which housed it vanished in the 80's as well. But several pieces were highly praised then and remain noteworthy: the sprechgesang performed by the mothers of three major Broadway critics of the time is a good catty item on its own terms (and the kind of thing "Forbidden Broadway" has handled with ease for the past few decades); but the best song is a lovely and literate piece that has been overlooked almost entirely. "I Furnished My One-Room Apartment" is worth the cost of the album, if someone is looking for a touching, funny, human song; it's also not too difficult to sing, and since it's a story-song whose last lines ideally transmute the song's meaning, it will keep listeners' attention right to the last word."