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AN EVENING WITH…PEGGY LEE
An Evening with Peggy Lee at The Green Room 42 on December 15th at 7:00 pm was a delightful, informative and beautifully sung program celebrating this great legend, in the last of 2018’s “An Evening With…” series produced by Danny Marin.
Most all the performers have very impressive Broadway or Off-Broadway credits which is not, seemingly, the kind of cast you would expect to sing a Peggy Lee show. But, that’s what makes this series so exciting. As an audience member it felt like each member of the cast, were all as excited to challenge their chops with “other material” as we listened to them sing it! Where else can you get a cast like this together for the price of one ticket?!
Appearing in this performance (in order of appearance): Marissa Rosen, Christine de Frece*, Jess Hendy, Tim Young, Jane Bruce, Spencer Glass*, Chris Blem, Kristina Nicole Miller*, Sarah Kleist, Emily Trumble, Jack Scott*, James Crichton*, Josh Daniel* and Alison Fraser appeared as the special guest killing it on “Is that all there is?”
*In addition to those indicated above, other members of the series company are: Kerry Conte, Emily Croft, Christine DiGiallonardo and Jordon Tyson.
Lead by band leader, arranger and host, Blake Allen, The Whobethems (a fantastic little big band) could not have been better. The band included the wonderful talents of: Jared Newland (woodwinds), Dustin Beardsley, Paul Trafula (trumpet), Camille Enderlin, Sienna Peck (violin), Harper Randolph (viola), Lyndia Paulos (cello), Magde Kress (bass), Damien Bassman and Mark Katsouanis (percussion).
Blake also kept things rolling from the piano with commentary about the featured performer, in this case, Peggy Lee, with a meticulously researched script that puts all the music in historic context, which is informative and funny. I loved the story about how Sarah Vaughn (Peggy’s idol) was put off by Peggy, feeling like she was trying to copy her! The show is accompanied by a video. This is a beautifully put together production, yet it flows very casually. and, while we got most of Peggy’s biggest hits, there were also lesser-known or lesser-successful songs presented.
The series serves to both educate the audience, and preserve great American music, with entertainment as the vehicle. The 2018 series featured: Della Reese, Mary Martin, Patti Page, The Sherman Brothers and Peggy Lee.
The Green Room 42’s 2019 series includes:
February 22nd @ 7:00 – Dionne Warwick
April 25th @ 7:00 – Nat King Cole & Natalie Cole
July 19th @ 7:00 – Doris Day
October 18th @ 7:00 – Eartha Kitt
December 13th @ 7:00 – Shirley Bassey
I strongly encourage a reservation to treat yourself to a very special night out.
With a cast as big as this, it would take 2 days to write about each performer, so I decided to review the series rather than individuals. Trust me though, every person on that stage is a star! I was particularly moved by the beautiful voices of Spencer Glass, Chris Blem, and the petit powerhouse, Emily Trumble. But again, everyone was wonderful.
Please watch for my interview with Blake Allen soon on Cabaret Hotspot! In the meanwhile, I highly recommend that you all try to make one of the shows in this most impressive series…An Evening With…
For more information please visit: www.thegreenroom42.com
The Green Room 42
@ The Yotel Hotel
570 10th Ave 4th floor
New York, New York 10036
(646) 449-7792
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