Linda Lavin’s Debut at the Café Carlyle

Beloved Broadway and television star Linda Lavin plays the Café Carlyle as if she is the most gracious host, inviting guests into her living room for an intimate soiree. One of those guests on the night we attended was Hal Prince who directed her in Candide, a reminder that though she’s known more for dramatic roles, and comedy, she can sing. As chanteuse for her Café Carlyle debut she is warm, charming, providing a distinct comfort zone of classic tunes. Age-less in sparkling blue, she wants to know, “I look pretty good, don’t I?” as if she needed to ask!

Billy Stritch, her music arranger accompanies her on piano and joins her on vocals, and drummer Steve Bakunas sings with her too. Ron Affif plays guitar and Tom Hubbard bass. A most extraordinary treat is Aaron Weinstein on violin. The band welcomes her onstage with George and Ira Gershwin’s standard, “Lady Be Good,” and she follows up with Cole Porter’s “I’ve Got My Eyes on You”/ “You Do Something to Me.”  She acknowledges Rosie Clooney for teaching her Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn’s “I’m Checking Out,” and wants to tell us her story: growing up in Portland, Maine, her mother, an opera singer, encouraged her talent with tough love. At one school recital, Lavin sang as Judy Garland to boos from the audience. Her mother admonished, “Well, now you know. Don’t sing romantic ballads to teenagers.”

But she did become romantic with this crowd, singing, “Baby Let’s Get Lost/” “Let’s Eat Home,” with Steve Bakunas, who is her husband. Seated close as we were, we could see their eyes lock. Well aware that this was “Bobby Short’s castle,” she paid homage to him and his passionate connection to the music with a medley of  “Here’s to the Boys/” “Hooray for Love,”/ “I Like the Likes of You.”

Linda Lavin closes out her set featuring the violinist Aaron Weinstein for a lively, “After You’ve Gone.” She met him at Birdland, she says and asks, “How do you play so fast?” “Amphetamines.” Like her, he doesn’t miss a beat.

Regina Weinreich

Graphic Design: Salpeter Ventura