Interview: Isabel Rose Reveals Details on Her 54 Below Show!

On Thursday, May 30, 54 Below will welcome Isabel Rose for a one-night-only performance at 7pm. With arrangements that match Michael Bublé's for their lush, imaginative interpretation of standards and contemporary fare alike, Isabel Rose delivers a high-energy, toe-tapping evening of crowd-pleasing favorites. Compared to Ann-Margret by Jazz Times, Isabel is more Vegas than cabaret, though her roots lie squarely in the Great American Songbook. 60′s favorites like Reflections and Peter Gunn share the bill with That's All and This Could Be The Start of Something Big.

Rose recently chatted with BroadwayWorld about the upcoming show, and revealed details on what will be included in the line-up. Check out what she had to say below:

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What can audiences expect from your 54 Below show?

Fun! It's a Vegas-y, cheeky show. The emphasis is on enjoying the fun arrangements and my backup boys and my horn section. I am closely related to Michael Buble in terms of my style- a little bit campier probably. It's very much like an Ann-Margaret review from the 60's.

Can you reveal anything that's in your set list?

Of course! "This Could Be the Start of Something Big." That has been covered by tons of people- Ella Fitzgerald and Steve and Eydie, "More and More of Your Amor"- that one is a mostly unknown Nat King Cole song. And I'm going to have a special guest- Julian Fleisher. He is a star of the downtown nightclub scene. He is the best there is. I'm going to be doing a duet with him- that one is top secret. But he'll be doing a solo as well.

54 Below is an amazing new venue, are you excited to get to perform in the new space?

I cannot wait! First of all, it's wonderful to bring the show to midtown. I play downtown mostly, and sometimes when you say 'downtown' you get the idea that it's very edgy. I have very, very accessible music. And my presentation is an emphasis on EVERYONE having a good time. You don't have to be in the know about a downtown-anything. It's something that tourists would love, people who love swing music, really any age could enjoy it. It's very user-friendly music. You don't have to be able to follow a story line. There's no plot- it's just a sassy, fun time.

It seems like your shows are traditionally a ton of fun...is that what you want audiences to take away?

Joy is the takeaway. You have a smile on your face and you want an encore or another encore and you can't wait to bring your friends to the next one. You just feel better. For the 60-75 minutes that I'm entertaining you, we are forgetting about the earthquake, and the tornado, and the rainstorm and the traffic, and the disappointments. I think that swing music came about during the war as a distraction, and then it just kind of blew up. This is all about feeling fantastic. I want for people to feel an enormous connection, community and uplift.

How did this all get started for you? When did you realize that this was something you wanted to do?

I wrote a movie called "Anything but Love" and in the movie I played a cabaret singer. So in order to promote that film I started singing in nightclubs. I realized that I like instruments too much to be a traditional cabaret singer. I like bongos and horns. No one is ever going to weep over my voice. My voice is very accessible- it's not hard to listen to. It's very user-friendly. So I realized that I'm suited to this form, one that emphasizes personality and style and taste so that the emphasis isn't just on the voice. It's on the whole gestalt- what I'm wearing and how I'm moving and what I'm saying. All of it. It all started out of that movie.

Do you have any other upcoming shows?

People should definitely check in on my website. I post all about my upcoming shows there and I'm just solidifying my July and August shows now. And people can follow me on Facebook, I have a very active following there. And I'm very interactive, I always write back!

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Designed by Tony Award winner John Lee Beatty and architect Richard Lewis, lit by Tony Award winner Ken Billington, and with sound by Tony Award nominee Peter Hylenski, 54 BELOW features an in-your-living-room intimate relationship between its performers and audiences. Tony Award winner Scott Wittman serves as Creative Consultant and MAC Award Winner Phil Geoffrey Bond serves as Director of Programming.

54 BELOW is owned and operated by Tony Award winning producers Tom Viertel, Marc Routh, Richard Frankel, and Steven Baruch. 54 BELOW features up to three shows nightly and has audio and video recording capabilities. The cover charge ranges from $15-$115.

54 BELOW is located at 254 West 54th Street. Tickets and information are available at www.54Below.com.

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