September 22, 2004

A Duo Conjures Up Nostalgia

ixie Carter, that madcap steel magnolia from Tennessee, and John Wallowitch, the venerable Manhattan composer, singer and pianist of the old school, make an odd but charming couple. The relationship between the glamorous Southern cutup and the urbanite with a sly Cheshire-cat smile goes back more than 40 years. And when Ms. Carter sings Mr. Wallowitch's intimate after-hours ballads, "Come a Little Closer" and "This Moment," they conjure a poignant, less hectic Manhattan where sophistication implied nothing naughtier than an extra glass of Champagne and cocktail chatter discreetly laced with innuendo.

The two are appearing through Oct. 9 at the Cafe Carlyle, which, with its aura of impermeable chic, should be the ideal place to relive those good old days. But on Friday evening, when Ms. Carter and Mr. Wallowitch began their engagement (with the drummer Warren Odze), the chemistry of their nostalgic conjuring act flickered only fitfully. For one thing, the show needed the binding ingredient of an extra instrument, like the viola, cello or violin that Ms. Carter has used in the past, instead of a drummer who barely registered.

As an entertainer Ms. Carter is irresistible when playing the life of the party, telling the story of her much-anticipated and thoroughly botched first kiss and doing broad impressions of Mae West swiveling through "My Baby Just Cares for Me" and Marlene Dietrich groaning "Black Market." But these musical resurrections require rigorous vocal upkeep. And in the Cafe Carlyle's punishing acoustic environment, Ms. Carter's voice sounded frayed and out of condition.

Her face, once wildly expressive, has been stretched into a mask that has lost so much mobility that songs like "When the World Was Young" (which I've seen her transform into a devastating dramatic monologue) and Bob Dylan's "Forever Young" acquired a slightly macabre Norma Desmond-like subtext.