Terese looks awesome in a red feather boa.

Fresh-faced and ingratiating, Terese Genecco and her knockout five-piece band delivered one of the most engrossing, all-out talented performances I’ve seen in years of reviewing San Francisco cabaret. Named Cabaret Entertainer of the Year at S.F.’s 2003’s cabaret competition, this totally original vocalist is an entertainer whose vocal range and comedic flair are spellbinding evocations of Bette Midler, Betty Hutton, and in her impeccable phrasing of romantic ballads, Wesla Whitfield. All this, plus a high-energy homage to ‘50s club performer Frances Faye.

Currently developing a full-length production of “Drunk with Love,” a tribute to Frances Faye, Terese will premiere the new show July 14 at the New Conservatory Theatre. (“Drunk With Love,” a favorite song of Faye’s, was written by gay composer and club pianist Bruz Fletcher who committed suicide in the ‘40s when he couldn’t find work after police raids closed Manhattan’s gay bars.)

Terese’s concept for the Empire Plush Room show was a splendid re-creation of a girl singer fronting a hot band, a nostalgic throwback to ‘40s movies and the big band tours of the swing era. Her “little big band” features talented pianist/arranger Barry Lloyd, a tour de force performance by Fil Lorenz on tenor sax, Daniel Fabricant on bass, Randy Odell on drums, and Ricardo Pruett on bongos.

Bursting on stage in an impression of the hyper persona of Frances Faye, silver pants-suited Terese opened with her idol’s racing delivery of “The Man I Love,” interwoven with a medley of snippets from other standards. A sweet, sultry intro to “You’re My Thrill” immediately evolved into a belted, uptempo full-band arrangement. Switching into an introspective mood, Terese sang DeSylva/Gershwin’s winsome “Somebody Loves Me” and one of the evening’s more memorable ballads, the poignant “Just in Time.” The vocals were beautifully interwoven by the alternating musings of Lorenz’ sax and Fabricant’s bass.

Terese’s knockout “Fever” got a racing belted treatment, and her “Don’t Blame Me” featured an elegant piano intermezzo by Lloyd. She merged “Face to Face” with a gorgeous arrangement of the Fields/Romberg classic, “Close as Pages in a Book,” followed by Faye’s torchy “Drunk with Love.” Vocally and physically she delivered a wild, shake-rattle-and-roll “I Wish I Could Shimmy Like my Sister Kate.”

A rock-and-roll interlude featured “Unchain My Heart” and “Blueberry Hill” accompanied by a sexy, growling sax and, on the latter number, Terese herself on the bongos. Prior to a short break, Terese introduced Mark Robinson who lent his romantic tenor to “My Foolish Heart.” Returning with Mike Greensill’s jazzy arrangement of “I Ain’t Got Nobody,” Terese traded phrases with Lorenzo’s moody, wailing sax and Fabricant’s throbbing bass to the lyrics of “A Lot of Livin’ to Do.”

Accompanying herself on piano, she closed with a pensive and moving treatment of Billy Joel’s “New York State of Mind” and sang her “thank you’s” with typical Frances Faye banter. Again, and I repeat, “spellbinding!” You hadda be there.