Shortly after Emily Skinner began the second of two Sunday nights adorning Feinstein's at Loews Regency, I wrote down Mae West's name. Not an original thought, it turns out, as late in the highly entertaining act tall, blond, zaftig Skinner announced she's often compared to the Paramount sex bomb. She went on to say she's so frequently mentioned as a West-alike that she's thinking about putting together a project built around the resemblance — an idea to be encouraged, as she proved when she segued into the stage and movie goddess' "Come Up and See Me Sometime" (Louis Alter-Arthur Swanstrom). The West impersonation — hand on hip, eyes rolling in mock innocence, vowels drawled suggestively — was on the nose.
But Skinner isn't all West all the time, as she'd already proved through the material leading up to the simmering before-encore closer. She'd applied her head voice and chest voice — both strong, luscious, and forever on pitch — to a series of songs under the overall title Broadway, My Way. Her way was to focus on more-obscure numbers, the least obscure being 1929's "More Than You Know" (Edward Eliscu-Billy Rose-Vincent Youmans). And what a ravishingly subtle reading she gave that one, especially when she reached the line "more than I'd show" and indicated the fear of deep loss.
The less well-known items — perhaps there were one or two too many — included "Miss Celie's Blues" (Quincy Jones-Rod Temperton-Lionel Ritchie), Rupert Holmes' "Moonfall," and beg-off "My Brother Lived in San Francisco" (Bill Russell-Janet Hood). Because Skinner also has a boldly funny side to her — she joked about having all the attributes necessary to be a bordello madam — she leaned into the comic as well. Along those lines, she put oomph into Stephen Sondheim's bawdy "I Never Do Anything Twice," and there was lots of oomph in her assured and seemingly off-the-cuff patter.
Others to whom Skinner might be compared are Texas Guinan, because she has that infectious "Hello, suckers" way about her, and Ursula, the tentacled witch, because she played the part in the Little Mermaid workshop. She also has the onstage power of someone like all-but-forgotten musical leading lady Dolores Gray, whom she honors by reprising Gray's "I Say Hello" (Harold Rome) from Destry Rides Again. Moreover, confiding that her corporate boyfriend recently told her she could "sex up" her act, she's also heading effortlessly in that direction.
Talking about her theatre assignments, Skinner said she's usually cast as either "blowzy whores" or "evil villainesses." She wants it known she's more than that. By the time she ends, she's more than proved her point.
Presented by and at Feinstein's at Loews Regency,
540 Park Ave., NYC.
June 1 and 8.