CABARET REVIEW : Under Sam Harris’ ‘Hats,’ Some Pluses and Minuses

If there was a significance in the title of Sam Harris’ new cabaret revue, “Different Hats,” it never quite managed to materialize.

Best known for his prize-winning appearances on the “Star Search” television series, Harris has traveled from stage to stage in the last few years in a sometimes quixotic pursuit of a proper venue for his soaring tenor and boyish charm. His opening night at the Pasadena Playhouse Balcony Theatre one recent evening provided a good illustration of both the pluses and the minuses of his style.

Take the hats, for example. There was, in fact, only one. Harris wore it in an introductory number that spotlighted the Arlen-Mercer standard “Any Place I Hang My Hat Is Home.” An interesting premise, but one that had little to do with the balance of the show, which turned out to be an intermittently entertaining series of songs and special material. The hat remained, ignored, where Harris had left it, on a hatrack.

The two biggest pluses of the evening were Harris’ voice and the exuberant singing and dancing of his featured companions, Natalie Nucci and Suzanne Harrer. On slow pieces, such as “More Than You Know,” “My Funny Valentine” and “If Love Were All,” Harris’ touch was magical--made more effective by the subtle understatement of his delivery. Only on “I Got It Bad” was he tempted to fall back on the sinus-searing high notes of his “Star Search” efforts.

Working with Nucci and Harrer, Harris revealed a respectable dancing ability, especially during a whimsical version of Sondheim’s “You Could Drive a Person Crazy” and an appropriately Bob Fosse-inspired sequence on “Two Lost Souls” from “Damn Yankees.”

In their sole set-piece number, an amusing bit of crafted material about the difficulties of backing up Harris, Nucci and Harrer brought a genuine burst of Broadway energy to the tiny theater.

The program’s overall pacing was more problematic. Lacking a structure that was advertised, but undelivered by the show’s title, the evening proceeded in fits and starts. Energetic and vital whenever Nucci and Harrer were on stage, emotionally rich on several of Harris’ ballads, it was otherwise casually chaotic, never coming together as a unified concept.

There was one additional minus. Neither in the playbill nor in the show itself did “Different Hats” ever acknowledge the origins of its songs. Credits galore for lighting, costume and sound design--even special material--but nary a mention of the Sondheims, Arlens, Adlers, Mercers, Youmans and Rodgers who gave the performance its real substance.

“Sam Harris in Different Hats: An Evening of Song & Dance,” Pasadena Playhouse, Balcony Theatre, 39 S. El Molino Ave., Pasadena. Thursdays-Saturdays, 8:30 p.m.; Saturdays, 5:30 p.m.; Sundays, 5 p.m. Ends May 24. $20; (818) 356-PLAY, (213) 480-3232. Running time: 1 hour, 30 minutes.