CABARET REVIEW - CHICAGO
Erin McDougald at DAVENPORT'S

Erin McDougald, "The Night Life"
Davenport's Piano Bar and Cabaret, February 2, 2003, 8:00 pm

Erin McDougald returns to Davenport's this month in her brand new show "The Night Life." It is unfortunate that Ms. McDougald's performance was not up to par this time around. As a "lounge act" is was merely passable. As a cabaret show it was more than dreadful.

Her show supposedly celebrates the unconventional lives of legends such as Charlie Parker, Cole Porter, Billy Strayhorn, and Jimmy Rowles. Their words and music have been much better served by far more talented jazz singers. Ms. McDougald's style of breathing each word of the lyric quickly became annoying. Add to that some major pitch problems, and it was painful to listen to her.

Ms. McDougald also tends to sing songs because she likes them rather than sing songs she can relate to - she is far too young to truly understand material like "Lush Life," for example. She also needs to bring a subtext to her material (or at least learn what that means) in order to involve herself in the show and make it a personal evening.

Zero stars to a woman who can do much, much better.

DAVENPORT'S is located at 1383 North Milwaukee Avenue, Chicago, IL - 773-278-1830 - http://www.davenportspianobar.com

Todd Shuman

Copyright © 2003 by Todd Shuman

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