In honor of Gay Pride Week/Month, the self-billed World Première Concert Pianist Drag Diva, Jacqueline Jonée, gave a really fun performance on Monday evening. I have seen her (and posted, I believe) before, so I knew I was in for a treat. Her entrance outfit this year was all white, including lots of feathers, a showgirl headdress, and a Siegfried & Roy–esque white tiger (stuffed, that is) across her shoulders. Very funny! After the headdress was off and a ’60s-style bouffant wig was on, the music got off to a bang-up start with a delightful When You Wish upon a Star, à la Mozart/Chopin.
After a bit of biographical patter explaining that she grew up on a dairy farm in the wilds of Canada, we heard Swinging on a Star (with a bit of a Gershwin Piano Concerto thrown into the mix), where she likened the animals, mule/pig, to her own on the farm. When she got to, “You could grow up to be a fish,” she deadpanned, “Well, they are farmed now!” Ably assisted by her six-person band, the JouJou Jacquettes Philharmonic Orchestra, we heard I Wonder Who’s Kissing Her Now? in English and en Français.
Returning to more classical roots, we heard Debussy’s Golliwog’s Cakewalk with a little more Gershwin thrown in (perhaps Catfish Row?), and Scott Joplin’s rag Solace. In a nod to the circus, we had a high-wire act—on four wires! This was
Fritz Kreisler’s Liebesfreude, played by Miss Jonée and concertmaster (no relation)
Jim Tsao, violin. More guests arrived in the guise of Ms. Jonée’s real-life sister and niece, Mary Ellen Buckwold and Laura Holmes, who lent their sweet voices to Charlie Chaplin’s Smile. Yes, he was a composer as well as comic/actor/mime/
director, et al. The set finished with an Erik Satie Gymnopédie.
A set piece followed, one I’ve heard before but which is always welcome, a medley of America/Not While I’m Around/There’s a Place for Us, nicely played as always. Back to the circus theme and in the spirit of Liberty, Justice, and Equality—for all!—Ms. Jonée opined that even though we now have gays in the military, it’s not enough. We should have baton-twirling rabbis in the military, too. To that end, Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum, from Congregation Beit Simchat Torah, obliged as a baton-twirling drum major performing to Chopin’s Military Etude.
After changing into gown number two—oh, did I forget to mention that Ms. Jonée does all of her costume changes right onstage(?) (in a discreet three-sided cubicle), ably supported by her long-suffe—oops!—longtime dresser, Anthony “Euphoria” Bullock, Ms. Jonée treated us to Lizst’s Etude in D-flat, followed by a nice rendition of I’ll Be Seeing You. The performance ended with another set piece medley that I never tire of hearing, I Am What I Am/Somewhere over the Rainbow. Can you tell that I had fun?
ConcertMeister
Bonus post: Thanks to BabyBro, I found out about Theater People’s Summer Series. Theater People is a podcast that he listens to with some regularity and told me about. I haven’t listened to any, though I might by visiting their website. Anyhoo, after a missed opportunity earlier, Patrick Hinds (the guru behind the whole shebang) agreed to hold a ticket for me at the door Sunday evening, 6/19/16. This one’s not a freebie, but it is inexpensive. I even splurged on a glass of wine and a raffle ticket. The episode I saw live featured Lindsay Mendez (a performer new to me), who has appeared in Everyday Rapture (by Sherie Rene Scott), Saturday Night (Sondheim), and Nerds, the Musical. Well, sort of. Favorite anecdotes, for me at least, was when Mr. Sondheim gave her a note one time about a certain bit she was doing, then came back the next night and told her that his suggestion didn’t work and she should go back to her way. How cool is that? And Nerds simply … had the plug pulled. Want more? Check out their website, http://www.theaterppl.com/. Enjoy! I may go back in early August.
CM
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