I know what you're thinking. You thought I was dead, says Polly Bergen, the 70-year-old, still-quite-beautiful-and-svelte singer who greeted the audience that was packed in like sardines at Feinstein's at the Regency. Bergen, who, for whatever reason, chose to leave the professional stage thirty five years ago at the peak of her popularity, has retained the smoky sensual and strong voice that made her the undisputed queen of smoke-filled (the good-old days) cabarets. That Bergen was a formidable actress (the terror classic "Cape Fear"), as well as a singer was duly rewarded with an Emmy for Best Actress for CBS TV's "The Helen Morgan Story.ö The Tennessee native, who began singing at 15, made a number of films under contract first at Paramount, and then at MGM, and had her own variety show for NBC-TV "The Polly Bergen Show," appeared both as a musical and dramatic actress on Broadway, before retiring.
Never mind the reasons behind the disappearance, it's the appearance that counts, and it was astonishing. The best among a rare breed of torch singers, Bergen's maturing has weathered her voice just enough to give added pathos to many a melancholy song. Notwithstanding the Helen Morgan medley of "Why Was I Born?" and "Bill," which she sang in the obligatory perch on the piano, Bergen squeezes out the heart and soul of Janice Ian's "Stars" (beautifully enhanced by bassist Jered Egan), and the poignant new song "Time," music by her pianist/musical conductor "Joseph Thalken (lyrics by Barry Kleinbort) for a new musical about the grown-up Dorothy in Oz. All was not dour and sad, and Bergen's sassy jazzy interpretations of "I Don't Remember Christmas, (And I Don't Remember You)" and "He Ain't Mr. Right, (But He's Mr. Right Now)" were showstoppers. While an obvious audience-pleaser was the bitter and sardonic "Ladies Who Lunch," it was the reflective "It's the Little Things," by Portia Nelson, and her signature song (and popular hit) "The Party's Over" that had me thinking about the days when you couldn't see the singer's teary eyes through the smoke in the room. Now you can them and they are Bergen's. After ninety minutes, you'll know why this torch singer's flame is still flickering.
