CABARET AND JAZZ REVIEWS : FEINSTEIN’S GREAT WITH GREAT SONGS

The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel might just as well turn the keys to the Cinegrill over to Michael Feinstein.

The opportunity to see a brilliant new talent the moment it explodes into public consciousness is not an everyday event. And that’s what makes singer/pianist Feinstein’s three-week engagement there so special.

His performance Wednesday night--despite technical glitches--was the stuff of legend.

Feinstein’s totally ir reverent but infinitely loving way with the music of the Gershwin brothers, Rodgers and Hart, Cole Porter and Jerome Kern reminded us that they were young men when they wrote their songs, filled with the joy of invention and the excitement of new ideas. A good part of Feinstein’s ineffable appeal is his ability to share that joy and excitement, and allow us to hear songs like “Isn’t It Romantic” and “How Long Has This Been Going On” as vital, living pieces rather than musty “classics.”

He was just as impressive with other material, especially a Sondheim medley of “Hey, Old Friend” and “Nothing’s Gonna Harm You” and a buoyantly optimistic “Alexander’s Ragtime Band.”

He uses bits and pieces of humor for seasoning, rich with oddities like Al Jolson’s “Where Did Robinson Crusoe Go With Friday on Saturday Night,” “You Must Have Come From Rhode Island” and the devastatingly appropriate “I Love a Film Cliche.”

Judging by the lines for his second show Wednesday night, word seems to have gotten around that here’s a star in the making. Of course, the Cinegrill could just hold him over until he runs out of songs. That should keep him around until at least 1995.