AMG Review of I'll Be Your Baby Tonight

Stephen Thomas Erlewine
All Music Guide

I'll Be Your Baby Tonight is an odd collection from Bernadette Peters, one of the most popular Broadway singers of the '70s, '80s, and '90s. Instead of sticking to traditional Broadway material, Peters branches out to sing material from pop, rock, R&B and country composers like Bob Dylan, John Lennon and Paul McCartney, Sam Cooke, Lyle Lovett and Billy Joel. Although Peters is well-suited to sing Lennon/McCartney's pop material and the pseudo-show tune stylings of Joel, she sounds a bit lost when she tries grittier material like the country-rock of Dylan's title track or Sam Cooke. Still, there are enough fine performances -- including a few cuts written by Stephen Sondheim and Rodgers & Hammerstein -- to make the missteps tolerable for dedicated fans.