Entertainment :: Music
Lea DeLaria by Robert Nesti
EDGE National Arts & Entertainment EditorFriday Dec 12, 2008 "I hate Christmas," explained gay icon Lea DeLaria at the onset of her jazz set Thursday night at the Calderwood Pavilion. "I fuckin’ hate Christmas."
Yet it was Christmas that brought the well-known comedian and lesser-known singer to Boston for a gig sponsored by the Huntington Theatre Company to inaugurate their cabaret space called Deane Hall in their South End complex and a series of concerts in January, entitled "Upstairs at the Calderwood." The room - formerly an upstairs rehearsal space - has been neatly transformed into an intimate performance space with the stage nestled in a corner nook. Despite DeLaria’s churlish quip that it was like performing in a cafeteria, the room makes a splendid space to see and hear a performer.
And DeLaria’s not be missed, especially to those who have no idea that she’s a jazz singer without peer.
She has the kind of voice that could fill a Broadway house without amplification. You could easily see her walking over to the Colonial and taking over the role of the prison matron in "Chicago" without skipping a beat; yet she has the range and subtlety to blend with a small combo. Here they are a pick-up band - two local musicians, bassist Kendall Eddy and the "whitest man in jazz" drummer Austin McMann -- led by DeLaria’s longtime musical director Jeanette Mason, whom DeLaria playfully referred to as the "mistress of the red hair."
Though she has played Broadway, most memorably in a revival of "On the Town" where her bebop version of "I Can Cook Too" proved she could belt with the best of them; it was cool jazz that made up 70-minute set, with a special emphasis on holiday songs. When a single-minded fan repeatedly demanded to hear her version of "The Ballad of Sweeney Todd," she responded with "Shut the fuck up with the Sweeney Todd. This is a holiday show." Mind you, the holidays in no way put the brakes on her notoriously foul mouth.
The jazz tone was set immediately with a crisply sung "Sleigh Ride," followed by one of the few non-holiday songs, a quietly intense "Night and Day." Her fresh approach to such over-familiar material as "Winter Wonderland" and "Jingle Bells" was invigorating ( the latter segueing into a sing-along version of Peggy Lee’s hit "Maņana)." Her upbeat take on "White Christmas," replete with a scat refrain brought to mind great jazz stylists of the 1950s. (Yes, she’s that good.) And there were a pair of lesser-known seasonal-themed songs, "I Want Your Christmas Kisses" and the bluesy "Christmas Time is Here" that had the effect of transporting the listeners back to what we imagine was a Manhattan supper club of a by-gone time.
She punctuated her vocals with raucous commentary that, amazingly, never seemed out-of-place. She joked about her dyke persona ("I’m a top, missy," she said to one patron. "I have ’butch’ tattooed on my arm.") And her fireplug size ("I have one foot slightly forward because that’s slightly slimming. I learned that from Tyra Banks.") She also vilified George Bush ("I hate him so much, I hate his twins... but I’d fuck ’em."); the nearby gay bar the Eagle ("That place looked like that when the Pilgrims landed"); and praised Liza Minnelli, whom she had just seen earlier in the week at the Palace. ("Someday," she said about Liza, "the world is going to be divided between two kinds of people: those who saw Liza at the Palace and those who did not.") The jokes are frequent and hilarious, making the show something of delightful hybrid of smooth jazz and low comedy.
Perhaps because of the upscale nature of the venue, DeLaria seemed tamer than usual. Don’t, though, attend the show if you’re easily offended by ribald humor. "If that’s too much for you, leave now," she said after her very funny comment on Laura Bush (not to be repeated here). Leave? I wanted it to go on all night.
Lea DeLaria performs Friday, December 12 and Saturday, December 13 at Deane Hall, Calderwood Pavilion, Boston Center for the Arts, 527 Tremont Street, Boston, Mass. For more information visit the Huntington Theatre website.
Robert Nesti can be reached at rnesti@edgepublications.com.
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