Photos: Lindenhurst Native Entertains LML Crowd

Until recently the little outdoor performance stage at might've seemed like an unlikely place to be feted with a cabaret act that has been seen at the Friars Club, the Rainbow Room and in casinos and night clubs from Atlantic City to the Catskills.

Not any more.

Johnny Fusco, a Lindenhurst resident, recently wowed the library audience with a tour de force singing , offering up an attractive repertoire of nightclub-style "crooner" songs.

Songs made famous by standards singers like Tony Bennett, Perry Como, Dean Martin, Jimmy Roselli, Jerry Vale, Louis Prima, and the chairman of the board, Frank Sinatra, of course.

Clearly a man at home on the stage, Fusco combined smooth and convincing renditions of songs with an ingratiating stage badinage that made the afternoon feel like an intimate private gathering at his own house or in the neighborhood.

Fusco is no novice to this kind of a scene. In addition to the Rainbow Room and Friars Club, his credits include appearances at the New York Athletic Club; the Claridge and the Hilton Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City; and the Villa Roma, The Concord, the Raleigh, Kutsher's and Grossinger's in the Catskills.

And he’s worked with plenty of stars in his career, listing Kenny Rogers, Johnny Maestro, Jackie Mason and Don Cornell among them.

In fact, his repertoire is quite diverse. Because he bills himself as a musician and a wedding, restaurant, birthday, event, corporate and club entertainer, he’s got a range of musical acts in his repertoire beyond the crooner ilk - counting Al Green, Marvin Gaye, the Four Tops and the Temptations among them.

However, from his recent appearance at the library as part of the Live at LML Fall , it’s clear he’s particularly comfortable with the role of nightclub entertainer.

Between numbers he offered up a liberal helping of genially gruff bantering with the audience, and left the outdoor stage for the personal touch.

When his brothers’ grandchildren showed up at the performance, he waved them up on the stage and gave them all hugs.

Aside from the remarkably clear and attractive quality of his voice, perhaps the most winning aspect of Fusco’s performance was his willingness from the beginning to take requests from the audience.

Dean Martin? He belted out Everybody Loves Somebody Sometime. Al Martino? A little tinkering with the sound system and out came Spanish Eyes.

The names of the songs alone are enough to evoke recognition and a "warm and fuzzy" feeling, even among those for whom nightclub crooning is not their number one musical choice.

Songs like Tie A Yellow Ribbon, It’s Impossible, I Ain’t Got Nobody, intermingled with bouncy Tarantella-style Italian standards, were all on the menu - and on several occasions the hand-clapping in the audience turned into a little spontaneous dancing.

Fusco's appearance on seemed to be sufficient evidence that what plays in the big clubs also plays in Lindenhurst.

Be sure to take a peek through the at the highlights at the library's Outdoor Performance Center.