Jeff Harnar in Sammy Cahn: All the Way

Grandel Theatre Cabaret Series

About half-way through All the Way, his tribute to lyricist Sammy Cahn, Jeff Harnar notes that, in putting the show together, he was surprised to discover how many Sammy Cahn songs he knew without being aware that they were actually Sammy Cahn songs. I know what he means. Earlier that evening when my wife Sherry asked me what Cahn had written the only song I could remember was “All the Way”. When I got to the Grandel Theatre and looked at the song list I had the same revelation as Harnar; I had no idea Cahn had contributed lyrics to so many hits of the ‘40s, ‘50s and ‘60s. I grew up with this guy.

For that matter, you probably did as well. For over three decades, Sammy Cahn was one of the most prolific lyricists in Hollywood and (occasionally) Broadway, working with songwriters as diverse as James van Husen, Jule Styne and Vernon Duke. His songs from the 1940s are a virtual social history of the sadness of separation and joy of reunion experienced by so many young men and women during Word War II. The hits he penned for Frank Sinatra in the ‘50s and ‘60s were the blueprint for the hipster, Rat Pack image that the singer so carefully cultivated in those years. And Cahn seems to have pretty much invented the idea of the movie theme song. He had 26 Academy Award nominations, four wins and a string of hits that are now pop and jazz standards, including “Ain’t That a Kick in the Head”, “Call Me Irresponsible”, “Come Fly With Me”, “The Tender Trap”, “It’s Been a Long, Long Time”, “Time After Time”, “My Kind of Town” and “Teach Me Tonight”.

During his two-hour program Harnar performs all of those familiar numbers, along with some obscure gems, with a seemingly effortless grace and confidence that’s basically irresistible. Whether he’s delivering a tender ballad directly to an audience member or swaggering, Sinatra-like, through an upbeat, jazzy arrangement, Harnar is a consistently charming and compelling singer. His voice is a smooth light baritone that flows like liquid gold and soars effortlessly into a solid falsetto that he uses for effects both dramatic and comic, the best example of the latter being a do-wop version of the Mario Lanza classic “Be My Love”.

Harnar is capably backed up by his long-time music director Alex Rybeck on piano and Jered Egan on bass, both of whom also contribute remarkably tight back-up vocals on numbers like “Teach Me Tonight” and “Bei Mir Bist du Schön”, where the close three-part harmony brings back echoes of The Andrews Sisters, for whom this was a major hit during the Big Band Era. St. Louis’ own Dwight Bosman of The Bosman Twins sits in on sax and flute and while he got off to something of a rough start, once he hit his stride on “I Fall in Love Too Easily” there was no stopping him, either.

The bottom line is that Jeff Harnar’s Sammy Cahn: All the Way is a solid opening to the Grandel Cabaret Series’ tenth anniversary season. The show runs through this Sunday at the Grandel Theatre, 3610 Grandel Square just north of the Fox. Call 314-533-8825 for tickets. And while you’re there, pick up a copy of his CD and, as Harnar wryly notes at the end of the show, “help it go platinum – or at least zinc.”

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