Pia Zadora, the little dyanamo, once traded domestic bliss for the zip-a-dee-doo-dah of show business, but has made a successful return to NYC with her Back Again and Standing Tall in which she mused on her life in song.

The opener, “Pick Yourself Up” (Kern/Fields), expressed her personal philosophy.  Her big hopes were expressed in “Maybe This Time” (Kander/Ebb) sung with a youthful, open-eyed eagerness, which she also used to convey her excitement at having been on Broadway as a youngster with “City Lights” (Kander/Ebb). She sang a rollicking “All of Me” (Gerald Marks/Seymour Simons) and turned “C’est si bon” into a gently sensual samba. She flirted her way through the audience during “I’m Beginning to See the Light” (Ellington/George/Hodges/James).

In fact, Zadora’s style is a flirtatious variation on the slick style she adapted in her precocious boom years appearing with Sinatra in Vegas. She knows how to put over a song, but, endearingly, doesn’t dig too deeply.

She ended kind of oddly with Jerry Herman’s “I Am What I Am,” not as an anthem, but an expression of confidence.

Vinnie Falcone was her fine musical director/pianist leading a very experienced band: Ronnie Zito (drums), Joe Lano (guitar), Jay Leonhart (bass) and Ned Ginsberg (keyboards).

Joel Benjamin
Cabaret Scenes
February 9, 2013
www.cabaretscenes.org