Baby Jane Dexter’s Grown-Up Attitude, Voice Fill the Room Cabaret Review

Attitude and manner, of one sort or another, are vital to anyone who steps onstage to entertain. Baby Jane Dexter, who opened a six-night run at the Cinegrill on Tuesday--her first Los Angeles appearance since 1993--has plenty of both.

Working on one of the starkest stage settings ever seen at the Cinegrill--piano and accompanist, microphone and stool--she nonetheless used her considerable performing energies and her well-developed sense of self to fill the entire space.

At times she did so with great effectiveness. Dexter’s between-songs patter was supported by a colorful imagination and sparked by an ebullient personality. Her voice, which ranged from a near-baritone in its darker depths to an edgy contralto in her upper notes, was big and brassy. And in a program that embraced decades of popular song--from “It’s a Sin to Tell a Lie” and “There Is Nothing Like a Dame” (an unusual choice, to say the least) to Randy Newman’s “Guilty” and a pair of Abbey Lincoln songs--she demonstrated the versatility to cover all the stylistic bases.

In addition to attitude, manner and the capacity to dominate a stage, cabaret requires smaller, more intimate qualities. Unlike musical theater, cabaret is about eye-to-eye contact and subtle emotional interaction with an audience. Too often, Dexter’s presentation--despite occasional humorous efforts to directly contact audience members--had a feeling of detachment that tended to prevent her from reaching the center of many songs.

Dexter further erred in failing to identify most of the writers of her lesser-known material. “Don’t Rush Me,” for example, was an effective number for her, but few in the crowd could have known that it was by Peggy Lee. One left the performance with the feeling that Dexter has all the fundamental skills required to deliver a fine cabaret outing. But only if she steps out from behind too many layers of attitude and manner.

* Baby Jane Dexter, through Sunday at the Cinegrill, Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, 7000 Hollywood Blvd., L.A., 8 p.m. $15 and two drink minimum. (323) 466-7000.