Mayes sings songs her mother can love

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Cabaret artist Sally Mayes performs Feb. 12 at North Central College. | Courtesy of NCC

Updated: February 7, 2012 9:19PM

Had Sally Mayes’ mother shared her daughter’s love of obscure music, perhaps this show might never have gotten off the ground.

As it is, the cabaret artist’s mother wanted to hear songs she recognized. Thus, Mayes made an album of jazz standards called “Valentine.” It’s this album that her current cabaret act is based around.

She’ll perform her critically acclaimed show “Valentine” at 6 p.m. Feb. 12 at North Central College, in the Madden Theatre.

Mayes made her Broadway debut in Cy Coleman’s “Welcome to the Club.” She is best known for her performance in the Roundabout Theatre revival of “She Loves Me,” for which she won a Tony Award, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle nominations. Her solo albums include “The Dorothy Fields Songbook,” “Our Private World: Sally Mayes Sings Comden and Green,” “The Story Hour,” “Boys and Girls Like You and Me,” and her latest release, “Valentine.”

Mom’s idea

“I have this thing about finding things that have never been done and never been recorded,” she said. “My mother listened and said, ‘Baby — she’s from Texas — Baby, when are you going to stop singing that crap nobody knows? When are you going to sing things people know?’ ”

She called her producer and dropped the bomb — she wanted to sing songs people knew.

“The whole proviso of the album was they had to be crap my mother knew,” she said laughing. She ran each selection past her mother for approval.

“It’s basically a jazz album, and it’s a lot of really cool standards that I love, and that she loves,” she said. “I’ve added a few comedy pieces because I like to do that when I perform live. I think it’s going to be a really beautiful show.”

Yes, there will be jokes in the show, she said.

“You have to give people something to laugh at,” she said. “But it is mainly a jazz show. It’s a fun evening.”

It took her about three months to put the whole show together.

“I knew I had a couple of arrangements I wanted to record that I had never recorded, and there were songs I’d always wanted to sing that were standards,” she said. “I knew I had a great arrangement of ‘The Best is Yet to Come.’ Everything else was around what Mom liked.”

Her mother is 81 and has dementia.

Music therapy

“She’s precious and I love her. I wanted to do something for her,” she said. “These are a lot of love songs. I’m very fortunate to have a handsome husband who I totally adore and have been married to for 20 years, and a son who is my heart. I’m happy. So singing an evening of love songs is good for me.”

She calls herself an actress who sings, and loves to perform for audiences.

“I enjoy seeing how an audience is going to respond to different things,” she said. “I love meeting people and talking to people and telling my different stories. I don’t get tired of it.”

People should get to have a great evening and be moved, she said.

“I like to take audiences on a journey,” she said. “With the help of my friend Mark Burnell, who is a local guy. With his help, we’re going to take the audience on a journey so they feel like they’ve been transported somewhere after the show. It’s going to be fun. I love Chicago.”