Her singing voice isn't exactly sublime and her celebrity impressions could use a bit of updating, but give her this much: Kaye Ballard knows how to put on a show.
Like many troupers of an earlier era, Ballard is a jack-of-all-trades. Novelty songs, risque jokes, corny impersonations, physical shtick, even a little warbling on a flute--Ballard covered it all Wednesday night at Toulouse Cognac Bar.
At her best, she can put across a song with a degree of honesty and emotional openness that makes even her pulpiest material comparatively easy to swallow.
Take her closing number, "Hero Song," a tear-jerker in praise of the unsung heroes of the world. A lesser interpreter might have turned the piece into so much treacle. Ballard, by contrast, sang the tune so straightforwardly, and with such vigor and conviction, that she made a sweet little tune into something considerably more imposing.
Not surprisingly, Ballard's vocal limitations were most apparent in ballads, where the wobble of her vibrato and the imprecision of her pitch could not be disguised. Even so, her reading of "The Very Thought of You" had a tenderness and sincerity that any number of superior vocalists would have been hard-pressed to match. Having performed material of this kind for several decades, Ballard knows how to make every syllable count.
Jimmy Durante stands as a major inspiration in Ballard's life, as she pointed out by placing a fedora on her head, affecting a thick accent and singing--what else?--"Inka Dinka Doo." The segment came on a bit strong, and yet, when Ballard concluded it with the line, "Good night, Mr. Durante, wherever you are" (a play on Durante's signature farewell to Mrs. Calabash), only a stone-hearted listener could have remained unmoved.
As for Ballard's impersonations, however, they sound as if they were conceived when the great Durante himself was a lad. When, after all, was the last time you heard a performer do Barbara Stanwyck, Jayne Meadows, Sophie Tucker and Miriam Hopkins?
Yet just when Ballard's act seemed as if it were going to tumble irretrievably into show-business antiquity, she caught her audience off guard with wickedly funny vignettes, such as her satirical traversal of the history of American pop music. Ballard proved merciless in skewering the excesses of '60s folk, '70s country and '80s pop/soul. Here, she finally gave her audience something fresh and uniquely her own.
For those who value a performer who does everything imaginable to entertain a crowd, the weaker moments of Ballard's show are relatively easy to overlook.
More important, Ballard sums up historic chapters of American show-business tradition, bringing creaky old forms back to life.
Kaye Ballard, accompanied by pianist Woody Reagan, plays Tuesdays through Saturdays, through June 1, at Toulouse Cognac Bar, 2140 N. Lincoln Park West, Chicago. Phone 312-665-9071.