There's never been anything like Leslie Kritzer's re-creation at Joe's Pub of Patti LuPone's 1980 closing night at the now-long-defunct Les Mouches -- unless you count James Beaman's replication some years back of Marlene Dietrich's 1954 opening night at London's Café de Paris. And you must count the Beaman, because it was flawless. Or seemed to be, since I missed the Dietrich gig but was convinced five or more decades on that Beaman absolutely nailed the familiar Marlene sight and sound.
As a result, Beaman set the standard for remarkable undertakings like his and Kritzer's. She's developed hers with conceiver-director Ben Rimalower and David Lewis, who was LuPone's musical director and arranger for her Les Mouches late-night forays. He wuz dere, Charlie, and knows whereof he accompanies.
According to the standard Beaman established for this sort of enterprise, Kritzer -- who's been building a deservedly notable reputation for herself as a musical comedy soubrette -- falls short of the high mark, though not for lack of commendable effort and stamina. Kritzer has a belt that could have been forged in a steel factory -- as does LuPone -- and she raises it as if hauling a multi-ton Richard Serra sculpture into place.
Yet the voice is only intermittently synonymous with LuPone's. Kritzer's got LuPone's (now rectified) carelessness with consonants right some of the time, as well as the languor of her sliding vowels, but the timbre isn't the same. Turn away from the stage to listen to voice only, and you won't exclaim, "Why, it's Patti LuPone!" Actually, when Kritzer gets to the Bruce Springsteen-Patti Smith "Because the Night," she looks and sounds like Joan Collins mimicking Pat Benatar.
None of this disturbs fans who cheer the LuPone-like gestures and high notes. But whom are they congratulating -- LuPone, Kritzer, or their own cloudy memories (or manufactured images) of Les Mouches, 1980?
Presented by and at Joe's Pub,
425 Lafayette St., NYC.
Oct. 4-Jan. 6.