Steve And Eydie: They're Still Fresh And Fabulous

When you're as terrific a team as Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme, can one properly say they're ``better than ever''?

Certainly they seemed to be better than ever when the pair held forth for nearly 90 minutes of music and comedy Friday night at the 5th Ave. Theatre in a concert that had the capacity audience cheering.

Small wonder. The two long ago proved they're masters at putting their own spin on the great standards of pop music, the songs of Berlin, Porter, Gershwin, et al.

What is surprising is how fresh their performances remain, the continuing quality of their voices, the care and showmanship with which they invest each performance. There was never a moment that seemed mechanical, a song that seemed done by rote. True professionals - and great ones!

There were fewer solos by Steve and Eydie this time around and more harmonizing - and their first-rate arrangements (for their voices and the swinging big band that accompanied them) are tricky and complex - and always navigated to perfection.

Even songs that began as solos often wound up as duets, although Eydie did sock across two of her biggest hits, ``Guess Who I Saw Today'' and Jerry Herman's ``If He Walked Into My Life,'' and Steve did a version of ``Luck Be a Lady'' even Sinatra would have envied.

The showpiece of the concert was a tribute to the Big Band Era which would have had the audience up and dancing if there were room in the 5th Ave. aisles, swinging versions of some of the greatest hits of the '30s and '40s, everything from ``Serenade in Blue'' and ``You'll Never Know'' to ``Stompin' at the Savoy,'' ``Take the `A' Train'' and ``In the Mood.''

It's a smartly put-together collection of nearly 20 songs the two performers should record.

Eydie, in three smashing costume changes, and Steve, trim and handsome and apparently ageless, have as much fun doing comedy as singing - and it's on the same slick level.

They borrow from friend George Burns for material - and Steve can be nearly as funny as Burns.

Even the Lawrences' domestic jokes, which they've probably done hundreds of times, are done with such infectious good humor they seem spontaneous. Again, the mark of real pros.

Theirs weren't the only jokes. The concert began with an appearance by Dick Capri, a stand-up comic unknown to me whose act was entertaining - but he does need to dump the Indian jokes.