Lea DeLaria - Play It Cool
Standup comedian, actress, and singer Lea DeLaria presents a less confrontational image here than she did on 1994's Bulldyke in a China Shop, adopting the role of seductive, witty, confident, and heterosexual jazz chanteuse to perfection. Her voice ranges from little-girl-lost innocence to harder-edged tones, both suited to the opening "The Ballad of Sweeney Todd." With stylings from Billie Holiday to Judy Garland, "I've Got Your Number" heads straight for the heart of 1950s big-band balladry, improvised scat vocals proving DeLaria can swing with the best. "Cool" is anything but, the accompaniment understated, that voice dripping with the promise of sex. In "With Every Breath I Take," we get to imagine every late night smoky bar in every old Hollywood film we've ever seen--while it is pastiche, the characterization is startlingly evocative.
DeLaria sums it up with "All That Jazz," confidently suggesting, following her recent twin roles in the lavishly acclaimed 2000 Broadway revival of The Rocky Horror Show, that this girl just wants to have fun playing bad. When she sings "Life Has Been Good to Me," she has such an upbeat twinkle, you suspect she means every word. --Gary S. Dalkin
