CD Release of the Week 

One of the all-time classic musicals, My Fair Lady set Bernard Shaw’s play Pygmalion—a still-relevant exploration of class and gender differences—to equally memorable music, as Lerner and Loewe’s sharp and witty songs bump up against Shaw’s brilliant characters, the low-class Eliza Doolittle and the arrogant Professor Henry Higgins, whose showdown is hilarious, dramatic and thrilling.

 

 

In this excellent recording—the latest in Chandos’ traversal of legendary Broadway musicals—Scarlett Strallen makes a feisty, powerhouse-voiced Eliza, and she’s matched perfectly by Jamie Parker’s droll Higgins. Eliza’s transformation from guttersnipe to princess is handled beautifully by Strallen, and the sumptuous music is given a wonderful spin by the Sinfonia of London under the sure baton of conductor John Wilson.

 

Ross grew up as Jeffrey Lifschultz, saying that his last name “is an old Hebrew word. It means, ‘Hey, you ought to change that’.” Working in his dad’s restaurant, Ross says that he got his work ethic from both parents. For 90 minutes, Ross spins an entertaining yarn that’s often hilarious and even, at times, poignant. But for such a tart-tongued performer, Ross often gets sentimental discussing his family, close friends and even the German Shepherds he adopted during the pandemic—and whom he jokingly named Ausch and Schwitz—even getting the audience to bark a collective “Aw!” when he brings one of his pups onstage.

 

There are sharp jokes scattered throughout as Ross reminisces about his mother, dad and grandfather, “Pop Jack,” with whom Jeff lived while trying to break into the comedy world. The show’s title comes from Pop Jack, who, Ross says, would give him a banana when Ross went into the city to perform at clubs, saying, “You never know when you’ll need one, so take the banana for a ride. You never know what’s going to happen: you might get stuck in traffic, you might need some potassium, you might need it for low blood sugar—and in a pinch you could use it as a dildo or if you get sad, turn it sideways: it’ll remind you to smile.” 

 

He candidly admits that bananas can get mushy inside, and a few times during a show where Ross skirts sappiness, I admit I wanted to hear him go off on a roasting tangent. But that’s not what he’s going for with this performance—he had a close call when he was recently diagnosed with cancer, and he also lost several close comedy friends: namely, Norm McDonald, Gilbert Gottfried and Bob Saget. Director Stephen Kessler helps pace what is essentially a long monologue adroitly—photos and videos are displayed on the screen behind Ross, while pianist Asher Denburg and violinist Felix Herbst accompany Ross with well-chosen musical selections and often amusing song interludes.

 

Ross does provide a bit of his penchant for insult comedy at the end, when he roams up and down the aisles chatting with audience members, giving them a cutting comment or two and handing them a banana for being good sports. Take a Banana for the Ride might not convert non-fans, but Ross’ observational comedy does successfully transfer to Broadway.