Polly Bergen Puts Oomph Into Coconut Club

Anyone who thought Polly Bergen was a former actress-singer principally visible lately on one of cable television’s shopping networks was badly misinformed. The evidence was on display Saturday at the Coconut Club in the Beverly Hilton Hotel, where the svelte-looking artist offered an elegant star turn that will long be remembered.

Bergen, 70, actually arrived in the wake of a highly praised run at Michael Feinstein’s Manhattan cabaret room. But few in the audience could have been prepared for her impressive performance.

Starting with what appeared to be a bit of nervous reticence, she moved into high gear with a highly theatrical medley of the Kern-Hammerstein classics “Why Was I Born?” and “Bill.” Other material received similar big stage treatment, and there were moments when one wondered if Bergen was revving up her energies for her role in the upcoming Broadway revival of “Follies.”

At times, in fact, that larger-than-life manner seemed outsized for the material, especially with the Maltby-Shire “I Don’t Remember Christmas,” which Bergen attacked with a ferocity that came dangerously close to overwhelming the song’s layers of poignant intimacy.

But once she settled into her program, she found precisely the right balance between her interpretive emotional swings. Her rendering of Janis Ian’s touching anthem “Stars” was a marvelous balance between musical intimacy and world-weary acceptance, its impact underscored by superb accompaniment from pianist Joseph Thalken and bassist Jered Egan.

When she got around to Sondheim’s “The Ladies Who Lunch,” Bergen managed to underscore the sardonic qualities of the song without falling into the tough, gruff Elaine Stritch mode. And she further enhanced her program with the quick-patter humor of the whimsical “He Ain’t Mr. Right” (by Jeff Franzel and Amy Powers).

It was the sort of performance the Coconut Club has long promised, but never--before now--delivered. If Merv Griffin needs any further evidence that Los Angeles will support marquee stars in a big, elegant nightspot such as his Coconut Club, it was amply provided by Bergen’s superb musical evening.