When gravel-voiced Ricky Ritzel and dulcet-toned Leslie Anderson first teamed up to do an evening of Johnny Mercer songs, the pairing was serendipitous.  The material seemed to fit them like a glove, and their early shows were smart, sophisticated and well-structured.  Over the years, they have experimented with their Mercer show, adding more obscure material to the avalanche of hit standards, determined, it seemed, to sing their way through the entire catalogue of his 1,000+ songs.

Last night they opened to an enthusiastic audience at the intimate Metropolitan Room with another variation on their Mercer A to Z show.  The gimmick:  they planned to sing a Mercer tune for each letter of the alphabet, at least each letter for which he had provided a song title, and do it in one hour.  The result:  a fast-paced, polished, good old-fashioned cabaret act with nary a dull moment.  Even the material that is not top shelf Mercer remains fresh, witty and inventive.  And the brief but informative anecdotal patter that celebrates and gives a glimpse into Mercer’s life and writing technique, is never rambling, always right on the mark.

Take, for instance, “Bathtub Blues,” which Ricky Ritzel dashes off his keyboard with charm and aplomb, and proves to be a forgotten gem.  How clever, I thought, to come up with a song about an overflowing bathtub and blame it on love!  But not unexpected from a man who thought up “Accentuate the Positive” with which Anderson and Ritzel open their alphabetic journey.

Leslie Anderson, whose perfectly pitched voice is like liquid gold, can break your heart with standards like “Skylark,” or lesser known classics like “Can’t Teach My Old Heart New Tricks.”  But now she has also become the queen of tongue-in-cheek comedy.  It’s worth more than the price of admission to watch her take on Pearl Bailey’s star making “Legalize My Name,” and deftly land her jokes channeling Pearlie Mae’s throw-away style.  She performs the same sly magic with “Getting’ A Man” from Saratoga, a small patch of wit in an otherwise heavy-handed Harold Arlen-Mercer musical. 

It’s sheer side-splitting pleasure to watch Ms. Anderson and Mr. Ritzel tackle the Louis Prima-Keely Smith version of “Old Black Magic,” or better, “Past My Prime” from Li’l Abner.  But then, how could you miss with such wonderful lyrics as “I ask you who’s elated, when youse Methuselated?”  And they climb to more hysterical heights with “Jamboree Jones,” an unlikely football song with steamroller lyrics, as Ms. Anderson marches in with a trombone, and proceeds to blow the house away.

Particular favorites of mine were a new entry from the catalogue, “Oops,” “Rhumba Jumps,” and “Have You Got Any Castles,” in which they whimsically vie for each other’s love, asking, “Have you got any mountains that you want to have clum/Have you got any rivers that you want to have swum?”  I could go on and on, but I think you get the point.  I wholeheartedly admit my penchant for Mercer’s language twisting lyrics and the lovely and lively melodies underpinning them.  They are still fresh as a daisy, but then, genius will out.