LESLIE ANDERSON

Contact Us: ****SHOW AND CD REVIEWS**** **JOHNNY MERCER A-Z** The Metropolitan Room, NYC Reviewed by: Jay Jeffries of www.CabaretExchange.com, Sunday, July 29, 2007 When gravel-voiced Ricky Ritzel and dulcet-toned Leslie Anderson first teamed up to do an evening of Johnny Mercer songs, the pairing was serendipitous. The material seemed to fit them like a glove, and their early shows were smart, sophisticated and well-structured. Over the years, they have experimented with their Mercer show, adding more obscure material to the avalanche of hit standards, determined, it seemed, to sing their way through the entire catalogue of his 1,000+ songs. Last night they opened to an enthusiastic audience at the intimate Metropolitan Room with another variation on their Mercer A to Z show. The gimmick: they planned to sing a Mercer tune for each letter of the alphabet, at least each letter for which he had provided a song title, and do it in one hour. The result: a fast-paced, polished, good old-fashioned cabaret act with nary a dull moment. Even the material that is not top shelf Mercer remains fresh, witty and inventive. And the brief but informative anecdotal patter that celebrates and gives a glimpse into Mercer’s life and writing technique, is never rambling, always right on the mark. Take, for instance, “Bathtub Blues,” which Ricky Ritzel dashes off his keyboard with charm and aplomb, and proves to be a forgotten gem. How clever, I thought, to come up with a song about an overflowing bathtub and blame it on love! But not unexpected from a man who thought up “Accentuate the Positive” with which Anderson and Ritzel open their alphabetic journey. Leslie Anderson, whose perfectly pitched voice is like liquid gold, can break your heart with standards like “Skylark,” or lesser known classics like “Can’t Teach My Old Heart New Tricks.” But now she has also become the queen of tongue-in-cheek comedy. It’s worth more than the price of admission to watch her take on Pearl Bailey’s star making “Legalize My Name,” and deftly land her jokes channeling Pearlie Mae’s throw-away style. She performs the same sly magic with “Getting’ A Man” from Saratoga, a small patch of wit in an otherwise heavy-handed Harold Arlen-Mercer musical. It’s sheer side-splitting pleasure to watch Ms. Anderson and Mr. Ritzel tackle the Louis Prima-Keely Smith version of “Old Black Magic,” or better, “Past My Prime” from Li’l Abner. But then, how could you miss with such wonderful lyrics as “I ask you who’s elated, when youse Methuselated?” And they climb to more hysterical heights with “Jamboree Jones,” an unlikely football song with steamroller lyrics, as Ms. Anderson marches in with a trombone, and proceeds to blow the house away. Particular favorites of mine were a new entry from the catalogue, “Oops,” “Rhumba Jumps,” and “Have You Got Any Castles,” in which they whimsically vie for each other’s love, asking, “Have you got any mountains that you want to have clum/Have you got any rivers that you want to have swum?” I could go on and on, but I think you get the point. I wholeheartedly admit my penchant for Mercer’s language twisting lyrics and the lovely and lively melodies underpinning them. They are still fresh as a daisy, but then, genius will out. Three cheers for Ricky Ritzel and Leslie Anderson! They will be performing entirely new Mercer shows at the Met on August 30th and again on September 30th. They are consummate musicians and they sure know how to put on a helluva show. **MERCER AT THE MOVIES** at Helen's Hideaway Room, NYC by Peter Leavy at Cabaret Scenes Magazine November 18, 2005 Ricky Ritzel and Leslie Anderson are Johnny Mercer specialists. From their initial focus on the versatile lyricist with the long-running and Back Stage Bistro award winning piano bar series, Mercer A to Z, through their MAC award winning cabaret show, The Johnny Mercer Birthday Show, the pair have visited nearly every song he ever wrote. Now, celebrating the wordsmith’s ninety-sixth birthday, Ritzel and Anderson have brought to Helen’s Hideaway Room Mercer at the Movies, a closer look at their favorite songwriter’s film songs. For this one, they go multi-media, opening with a film clip of Mercer’s 1935 film debut in Old Man Rhythm, jauntily singing Come the Revolution, Baby (You Belong to Me). Ritzel makes a dapper pianist/singer, spiffed out in his white dinner jacket, with Anderson every bit as chic in a chiffon evening gown. They follow the film clip with a couple of additional up-tempo examples of early Mercer, Love is On the Air, and the ever popular Accentuate the Positive. Much of Mercer’s songbook lends itself to such energetic and often whimsical delivery: Jeepers Creepers, or The Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe, for example, or Too Marvelous for Words (in which Ritzel turns the lyrics into a rushing waterfall of words). But there was a gentle and sentimental side to Mercer as well, and it’s easy to bask in Leslie Anderson’s ballad-ability with her rendition of Out of This World or Moon River. It’s more of a shocker when Ricky Ritzel reveals a smooth-voiced crooner lurking behind his usual cement-mixer delivery as he sings an atmospheric One for My Baby, and Life is What You Make It. Ricky and Leslie obviously cherish Johnny Mercer, and the show solidly communicates their delight. They hit some wartime spoofery with his light-hearted He Loved Me ‘Til the All Clear, and I’m Doin’ It For Defense. And their take-off on the dubbing by the young Andy Williams of Lauren Bacall singing How Little We Know—Ricky sings, Leslie lip-syncs—is a show stopper. Jim Luzar directed, Shane Mathews was tech director, and Ritzel’s arrangements are as well tailored as a Saville Row suit. **COOL, COOL, COOL - SONGS OF JOHNNY MERCER** LESLIE ANDERSON AND RICKY RITZEL - No Label by Rob Lester at TalkinBroadway.com April 21, 2005 Could they be any more honored with MAC nominations this year? Leslie Anderson is nominated as piano bar singer, Ricky Ritzel as piano bar instrumentalist, and as a duo: their Johnny Mercer Birthday Show is vying for Best Revue (it's still playing) and their Mercer CD is up for Album Of The Year. They're not Johnny-come-latelys to this material; the two have been living in Mercerland for a long time with an ever-changing weekly "A-To-Z" act which has gone through dozens and dozens and more dozens of the songwriter's numbers. A bit of a chameleon, Mercer wrote with many different composers of varying styles, and sometimes wrote his own music. He wrote pop songs, Broadway and movie songs. Tastes of each are in this 15-song CD. The two Broadway songs are both brash comic pleas: St. Louis Woman's "Legalize My Name" introduced by Pearl Bailey (music by Harold Arlen) and "I Fought Every Step Of the Way" from Top Banana, the only song here with Mercer's own melody. They are fine vehicles for Leslie Anderson's good-times sense of fun. Her voice is clear, unadorned, and unpretentious. Most of the songs are her solos, but on a few numbers, pianist Ritzel chimes in. "Chime" may not be the right word since his voice can be as raspy as hers is clear, but it's all fun and quite entertaining. They sound like they are having a ball, presenting the songs in a pretty straightforward way, not trying to rethink, revise or reharmonize. Still, they make it all sound quite fresh, and their delight in the material as written is more than evident. Occasional respites for the ballads "Skylark" and "Not Mine" add a change of pace, but things never get gloomy. This is a party; there is even a Louis Prima and Keely Smith salute as the pair do "That Old Black Magic" as Louis and Keely did it for their hit record (which won another award, the Grammy, in the very first year those honors were presented). Leslie and Ricky seem to be cast from the same mold. LESLIE ANDERSON AT THE 2005 NIGHTLIFE AWARDS... THE TOWN HALL - JANUARY 31, 2005 VARIETY.COM by Robert L. Daniels 2-1-05 Laugh acts did not fare as well, with the possible exception of winning piano bar performer Leslie Anderson, who mixed witty vocalizing of "O Mio Babbino Caro" and "The Toreador Song" into a madcap medley alternating with trombone breaks. THEATERSCENES.NET by Simon Saltzman 2-2-05 Leslie Anderson, winner Outstanding Cabaret Piano Bar Performer, got the evening' s heftiest laughs. Her ditsy operatic aria tour from Puccini to Bizet was embellished by her own dazzling virtuosity on the slide trombone. What could top that? ****The Johnny Mercer Birthday Show**** CabaretScenes by Peter Leavy 2-17-05 Happily for cabaret, Ricky Ritzel and Leslie Anderson are Johnny Mercer aficionados. They enjoyed a long run with their weekly series, Johnny Mercer A to Z, during which they performed darned near the entire Mercer catalog. Distilling the possibilities, this brand-new Johnny Mercer Birthday Show, directed by James Luzar at Rose’s Turn, is a romp, a spectacle, and splendid entertainment. After years of performing together, the two dovetail beautifully. And playfully, evoking guffaws as well as applause for some of their banter and carryings-on. Leslie even pulls out her signature trombone for a couple of licks, coincidentally endangering Ricky with the slide. The recent recipient of a 2005 New York Nightlife Award, she possesses a versatile and lovely voice, which she uses expertly to comic advantage. Ritzel’s abilities have to be characterized as mesmerizing, considering that his vocalizing varies from an appealingly husky crooning to something this side of a drill sergeant. In the Mercer birthday show, he reveals a polish and sophistication he only infrequently displays. Sporting a pearl gray suit, white shirt and tie, with slicked-back hair and powder blue eyes, he creates a persuasive semblance of a romantic thirties’ vocalist. Mercer’s lyrics are inventive and catchy. Who doesn’t remember Moon River, On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe, Glow Worm, Fools Rush In, or Blues in the Night? Little wonder his songs have endured, and what collaborators he had providing the melodies! Harold Arlen, Duke Ellington, Henry Mancini, Blossom Dearie, Richard Whiting, Jerome Kern, all of them represented here. With such a wide spectrum of familiar songs to offer, from light-hearted to romantic, Ricky takes some risks in his arrangements, most of which pay off handsomely. The Johnny Mercer Birthday Show can be seen again at Rose’s Turn, Thursday, February 24th. If you are unlucky enough to miss it there, catch it at the new Encore starting March 17th. ****The Johnny Mercer Birthday Show**** VILLAGE VOICE January 12-18, 2005 Edition PICK Listing by David Finkle Thursday January 13, 2005 - Don’t Tell Mama, 343 W 46th, 212-757-0788 These spelunkers in the bottomless Johnny Mercer lyrics cave have been turning up known, little-known, and unknown treasures from the superlative wordsmith and occasional tunesmith. The plucky troubadours are touring this tribute locally for everyone’s enjoyment. Goody goody. At 9. ****The Johnny Mercer Birthday Show**** Reviewed by: STU HAMSTRA CABARETHOTLINEONLINE.com December 3, 2004 Ricky Ritzel & Leslie Anderson presented their late-night show "Mercer A to Z" for about 18th months, celebrating the Johnny Mercer songbook. After a brief break, they have returned to HELEN'S RESTAURANT, CABARET & PIANO LOUNGE (169 Eighth Avenue, NYC - 212-206-0609 http://www.helensnyc.com) to celebrate the prolific songwriter's 95th birthday with a brand new show. I attended the show on the second night of the run on Friday, November 19th at 7:00 pm. With barely a break for patter, this most talented duo treated us to 35 Mercer songs, including a non-stop medley of 13 of Mr. Mercer's most familiar (and some less familiar) masterpieces. It was one of my major musical treats of 2004! I often attended the late night sessions of the A to Z series, first uptown at DILLON'S and then later downtown at HELEN'S. I have become a huge fan of Ricky and Leslie. The ease with which they present this one-hour Mercer tribute says much about their familiarity and love of the material. Ms. Anderson, who underwent vocal-chord surgery earlier this year, never sounded better, and Mr. Ritzel's unique vocals are always right there to join in on the harmony or present a solo. I was especially thrilled when Mr. Ritzel offered the Burt Lahr hit "Bon Vivant" from FOXY, with Ms. Anderson joining in on trombone and Ricky ad-libbing in the Lahr style. Can we expect a Burt Lahr retrospective soon similar to Ricky's Jimmy Durante tribute? Mr. Ritzel was also right on with his rendition of "Days of Wine & Roses." The show is a fun-filled hour of terrific songs, performed by two terrific talents. Direction is by Jim Luzar. **** Mercer A-to-Z Show **** Reviewed by: PETER LEAVY Cabaret Scenes Magazine September, 2004 Edition Ricky Ritzel and Leslie Anderson - Johnny Mercer, A to Z The Hideaway Room at Helen’s Ricky Ritzel and Leslie Anderson have been staging an ongoing show, Johnny Mercer, A to Z for quite a while, first at Dillon’s and now at The Hideaway Room at Helen’s. Ritzel is almost encyclopedic with his anecdotes and history of Johnny Mercer, his songwriting and collaborations. Leslie Anderson has honed her interpretation of the Mercer songbook to a fine edge. Their usual routine is to pick song titles each show with the same letter of the alphabet, but at their Thursday night show in mid-July, they rolled out their new CD, Cool, Cool, Cool – The Songs of Johnny Mercer, and essentially did the cuts. Ritzel and Anderson truly share the vocalizing. Leslie can be knowing, seductive, cynical, compassionate or rueful. Ricky specializes in the humorous and whimsical lyrics. While an accomplished keyboard artist, Ricky’s voice is raspy, but like Louis Armstrong or Louis Prima, it can be strangely affecting. When Ricky and Leslie launched the Louis Prima and Keely Smith version of That Old Black Magic, they generated enough electricity in the room to require a lightning rod. If not as raucous, most of their numbers, and their presentation, were just as stirring. All in all, they make a truly fine trio: Ritzel, Anderson, and Johnny Mercer.