Michael Feinstein Elevates Standards at Valley Performing Arts Center

Entertaining at CSUN's Valley Performing Arts Center on Saturday night be as close to a homecoming as it gets for Michael Feinstein, arguably today's greatest standard bearer for musical standards.

A native Ohioan, Feinstein ventured to the San Fernando Valley in the mid-1970s, playing at the piano bar of Mother's Restaurant and selling instruments at Finnegan's Pianos & Organs on Sherman Way in North Hollywood. In little time, though, Feinstein was burrowing deep into the world of Ira Gershwin, Rosemary Clooney and Oscar Levant. In so doing, he layed the foundation for a spectacular career devoted to the show tunes, movie music and popular songs that define The Great American Songbook.

When Feinstein is in concert, you get more than an appealing voice serving up time-tested songs. You also get a showman whose introductions to those songs, more often than not, include personal recollections of the people who wrote them. The mix of music and anecdotes enthralled a sold-out audience.

Throughout the two one-hour sets, Feinstein chose numbers that were both familiar and fresh. His opener was a seemingly effortless mashup of Luck Be a Lady from Guys and Dolls and All I Really Need is the Girl from Gypsy. The very next tune, How About You? from Ralph Freed and Burton Lane, has a line that proclaims love for a Gershwin song. Where you find Feinstein, the Gershwins are never far away.

Feinstein spent six years cataloguing the works of Ira and George Gershwin. His book,  The Gershwins and Me: A Personal History in Twelve Songs, was released last fall, with an accompanying CD. True, he celebrated the birthday anniversary of Irving Berlin (with Alexander's Ragtime Band and I Love a Piano) but, to paraphrase Cole Porter, Feinstein's heart belongs to the Gershwins.

So it was hardly a surprise when, in the second hour, he solicited requests for Gershwin songs. From the suggestions and his own favorites, Feinstein  reeled off a medley that included Of Thee I Sing, S'Wonderful, Embraceable You, Our Love is Here to Stay and Someone to Watch Over Me.

Feinstein, recently named lead conductor of the Pasadena Pops, owns a smooth, comfortable voice. Unlike some others, it doesn't call attention to itself. Instead, it tends to conform to the shape of the various songs it embraces.

Sometimes, the shape is different from what you expected. In the case of two songs, The Way You Look Tonight and Fly Me to the Moon, Feinstein switched from a swing style to the slower quarter-time that the composers in each case had envisioned. That added an extra layer of feeling to  the former but made the latter a dull and plodding melody. Turns out Frank Sinatra knew what he was doing.

Regardless, every number won enthusiastic  applause. My own favorites, from the standpoint of Feinstein's beautiful phrasing and the feeling he imparted, were What Kind of Fool Am I? from  Stop the World, I Want to Get Off and Hello Dolly from the musical of the same name. The latter included a fun impersonation of Louis Armstrong plus new lyrics from the song's author, Jerry Herman.

Feinstein, backed by a talented six-man ensemble, frequently  elbowed aside pianist and musical director Sam Krieger and accompanied himself. In each instance, he demonstrated that his skill at the keyboard was  as great as his artistry behind the microphone.