| New York Post Late City |
| Written by New-York Post |
 LATE City Final
PATRICK DeGennaro, who’s currently singing Fridays at Eighty Eight’s, has unusually eclectic tastes But his belief in the material he has chosen, 16s ability to put across stylistically diverse numbers with a natural air .of confidence and conviction, make hie show surprisingly effective.
Singing ”Peaceful Easy Feeling, which was a hit . for the Eagles in 1973, he projected an appealingly centered, whole, serene sensibility, which he sustained as he went grace- fully into ”The Nearness of You,” a Hoagy Carmichael-Ned Washington ballad popularized by Glenn Miller in 1940. He made those two songs, written in two very different eras, seem almost like a continuing narrative. After setting it up smartly witch an amusing reminiscence from his youth, he put a slightly sexy, hip swinging spin on Little Anthony’s 1960 novelty hit ”Shimmy, Shimmy, Ko-KoBop.” The sexual overtones in DeGennaro’s work be- came more overt as he moved on to a taut, smoldering original created for him by a friend, Keith Thompson (currently the conductor of ”Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" on tour) ,"Come To Me." One of the rewards of going to cabarets is hearing the occasional new song that you11 hear nowhere else, interpreted by some- one it’s just right for. And DeGennaro made this song of passion a highlight. I also enjoyed hearing him put over "Frankie and Johnny," a 19th-century number that has been successfully recorded in many variant versions by every one from Mae West and Ted Lewis to Sam Cooke, Sammy Davis, and Elvis ’ Presley. DeGennaro’s version doesn’t include all of the best available verses, but it’s fun hearing none- theless. His show is called ”Don’t Forget to Dance” (sound advice for dealing with life), and his final song, Garth Brooks’ "The Dance," pro- vided such a perfect close to the program that – much as I was enjoying DeGennaro’s sincere voice – I al- most wished he didn’t come back for an encore. |