Edition: U.S. / Global

CABARET REVIEW; Sharing Ol' Blue Eyes Three Ways

Published: August 5, 1999

How is a young male performer to approach the legacy of Frank Sinatra without sounding like an inferior parodist of something that can't be duplicated? Eric Comstock, a rising young cabaret singer and pianist, has found a way in his utterly winning tribute to Ol' Blue Eyes at the Oak Room of the Algonquin Hotel.

In the show, ''Our Sinatra,'' which plays at the Oak Room through Aug. 14, Mr. Comstock is joined by two other singers, Hilary Kole and Christopher Gines. The trio divide up the Sinatra canon, with Mr. Comstock typically taking Sinatra's more swinging numbers, Mr. Gines his creamier ballads from the 1940's and Ms. Kole serving as a cheerful, upbeat liaison between the two.

Although a huge amount of territory is covered, much of it in a sprawling, witty medley near the end of the show, the emphasis is on what Mr. Comstock calls ''hidden gems'' and ''orphan songs.'' One example, which Mr. Comstock delivers with a perfectly phrased and enunciated authority, is the little-known ballad ''To Love and Be Loved,'' from the movie ''Some Came Running.''

In paying tribute to the mature Sinatra, Mr. Comstock adopts a distance from the aging swinger that is studied but never cold. Discarding Sinatra's Rat Pack tough-guy mannerisms, he meticulously takes the rhythmic pulse of each number and swings out with a steady, easygoing bonhomie. Mr. Gines has a strong, smooth baritone and a voluptuous timbre that recalls the young Steve Lawrence. His stunning tribute to Sinatra's mid-1940's recording of ''Ol' Man River'' resurrects a tradition of polished manly crooning that in recent years has seemed all but extinct.

If ''Our Sinatra'' has some minor glitches (the three voices have yet to find a comfortable vocal blend, and Ms. Kole too often confuses perkiness with intimacy), overall, it is superior cabaret entertainment that deserves to have much longer life than its current two-week engagement.

Photo: Hilary Kole in ''Our Sinatra'' at the Oak Room of the Algonquin. (Aaron Lee Fineman for The New York Times)