Two for the Show

Among supper-club songbirds, the Act has become as ritualized as a liturgy, right down to the devotion "to all the wonderful people who made this performance possible." So the audience is exhorted to applaud Mom and manager, composer and choreographer, gag writer and special-material arranger, the second violins and the third husband--just about everyone, in fact, except the plastic surgeon.

Thus the Cafe Cristal crowd at The Diplomat in Hollywood, Fla., received a refreshing surprise last week when a new singer named Lana Cantrell announced kiddingly, "I wrote all the music, and I made the dress myself." The same club is in for the same sort of happy jolt this week when another new comer, Marilyn Maye, breezes in and limits the tributes to her piano-accompanist husband, Sammy Tucker. "Stand up, honey," she usually says, "and let them see your fat little body." Their asides aside, Lana and Marilyn are old-fashioned do-it-yourself singers with an unmistakable message: a first-rate entertainer can do without the fancy trappings of the packaged big sell.

Rhythmic Finesse. Born continents and almost a generation apart, both prove that talent tells. Cantrell, 23, is a slangy, swinging Aussie blonde with a communicable crush on life. She's got a lean, almost Twiggy figure, long arms, and a lilting voice. More of a pop than a jazz singer, she goes against all cabaret conventions. She opens with downbeat tunes such as I'm All Smiles, and then follows with joyous ballads -- Let Your self Go, Nothing Can Stop Me Now, Sunny -- achieving an intense dramatic vocal projection that plays an audience much as Streisand does.

Marilyn Maye, 36, is a Wichita girl who made her reputation in Kansas City, where she has been packing The Colony for seven years. A gifted musician, she can coo a dreamy The Lamp Is Low as well as belt out Bill Bailey or Cabaret with a rhythmic finesse that connoisseurs find rare in singers nowadays. There is virtually no style, in fact, that she does not command. With her husband's intricate piano work and the backing of drums and fender bass, her performance has put Kansas City back on the map for jazz lovers.

Both girls are now recording for RCA Victor, and both are aiming for Broadway. Lana, being younger, is the more impatient. When and if a Broadway role comes along, she says, "I want to go in as a star." Marilyn is more philosophical. "If it happens," she muses, "it'll be great, and I'll be terribly excited. But if it doesn't happen, that's all right. I know what I can do. I've been around for so long that I'm not at all starry-eyed."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.