February 8–15, 2001

critic pick| theater

Tom Wopat

When I heard Tom Wopat was doing a cabaret act of smooth country and theatrical jazz standards at Painted Bride, I, like you, thought "Luke Duke at The Bride? Is this a Big Mess trick?" No, the smart brother of TV’s The Dukes of Hazzard, Wopat will indeed be at the house of the Spoken Hand, Sun Ra and such. But don’t get riled. Wopat, as witnessed during a recent run of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Annie Get Your Gun at the Merriam Theater, is a gracious, amiable presence and a singer of subtlety and strength. Wopat did the dinner theater thing throughout his youth, and eventually became a Broadway baby before hitting the little screen with The Dukes of Hazzard. Like his TV bro’ John Schneider (a.k.a. Bo Duke), Wopat has conquered the glossy-pop-country market with CDs such as Learning To Love and Hands On. But his quaintly brusque, burnished voice and warm purple hush is at its genuine best on The Still of the Night (Angel). Here, with American standards such as "Let’s Fall in Love," Jimmy Webb’s oddly dramatic "The Moon’s a Harsh Mistress," the cuckoo sexy classic "Baby it’s Cold Outside" (sung with Tony Bennett’s daughter Antonia), Sinatra-associated tunes like "Where or When," and a stark "I Get Along Without You Very Well," Wopat handles himself nicely, pondering the question of romance rather than pounding on it. Weirdly enough, by Night ’s end, he goes for bossa nova’s gentle brio with "In The Still Of The Night," a risky move. When you’re produced by Russ Titleman (Sinatra, Clapton) and have jazz guitar faves John and Bucky Pizzarelli behind you, how flat can you fall?

—a.d. amorosi

Tue. Feb. 13, 8 p.m., $25, Painted Bride Art Center, 230 Vine St., 215-925-9914.