OTTAWA -- Anyone who tells you they're going to see Engelbert Humperdinck for his music is lying.
Humperdinck's less of a crooner than most people give him credit for. What most of the sell-out house of 1,100 at the Lac Leamy Casino Theatre payed $75 a seat to see is the legendary entertainer play Engelbert Humperdinck like no one else can.
One part Wayne Newton, one part Gene Simmons, Humperdinck's the original heartthrob for the retirement set.
When you stop and count the number of Top 10 hits Humperdinck's really had since his first hit Release Me in 1967, it doesn't really amount to a whole lot.
Sure, there have been 75 records along the way, which sounds impressive until you read the liner notes and realize that many of his discs are repackaging jobs of a dozen songs that have become standards of his generation.
What makes Humperdinck tick is his live performance, which blends a suave and flirty sexuality with some of the worst, and funniest, jokes you'll hear this side of Rodney Dangerfield.
Strangely, you'd think that the debonair Humperdinck would cancel out the cheeky comic, but after 35 years in the biz, he knows how to make it work wonderfully.
Svelte and looking like a goodfella in black, including a thick mop of tar-sand black hair last seen during the Vietnam War, the 68-year- old birthday boy proved smoother than Kraft creamy peanut butter during the first of his two nights at the Casino Lac Leamy Theatre.
"It's lovely to be here," he said graciously before getting confused about his actual whereabouts on this 25-city tour.
"Gat-een-uh," prompted Humperdinck's conductor Eddy Tobin. "Gatineau, Gatineau," repeated the confused singer.
And then, with a flash of eureka, he laughed that Gatineau reminded him of the old Rodgers & Hammerstein classic, Getting To Know You.
VIAGRA JOKES
Accompanied by an eight-piece band as well as a pair of bodacious singers, Humperdinck moved easily from one song to the next in his 18-song, 90-minute set that started with the Hoagy Carmichael standard Stardust and included a country-flavoured Am I That Easy To Forget, Too Young, and The Nearness of You before stripping off his jacket and getting down to business.
Later, there were more jokes about taking Viagra, about sleeping in a different hotel room and different bed every night, about drinking and feeling Melancholy, that is, until she left.
By the time that Hump had mopped his forehead with the signature handkerchief, which he promptly stuffed down his pants, a few women were already standing like love-zombies in front of the stage holding roses. Meanwhile, the middle-aged lady beside me groaned, clasped her hands to her breast and swooned when Humperdinck introduced After The Lovin'.
He showed that kind of power over his audience later when a chorus of "Ahs" greeted The Last Waltz.
By the time he wound things down with Release Me and his encore, My Way, this sweetly sordid 90-minute show left his mature fans cheering for more.
Humperdinck plays the Casino Lac Leamy Theatre again tonight.
JAM! Rating: 4 out of 5
