Elusive Singer Wiley Celebrated in Why Lee?, 2/6 & 2/13

"Award-winning performers Lois Walden ("Gospel Music from the Church to the Charts"), Barry Kleinbort (book and lyrics, Was), and Paul Greenwood ("Our Sinatra") tell the largely untold story of this acclaimed, notoriously enigmatic American singer and celebrate her enduring musical legacy in 'Why Lee? A Musical Scrapbook About Lee Wiley.'  The show will feature songs from Wiley's repertoire, anecdotes and dramatic scenarios about her life both onstage and off, and personal reminiscences from Walden, Kleinbort, and Greenwood.

The show features many of Wiley's best-known and best-loved hits, including the Gershwins' "I've Got a Crush on You," Harold Arlen's "Down With Love," Johnny Mercer's "Moon River," as well as her signature songs -- Victor Young's "A Woman's Intuition" and "Street of Dreams," and the Victor Young/Bing Crosby/Ned Washington favorite "A Ghost of a Chance." This enchanting musical journey also features a medley of songs from Wiley's songbook albums.

Walden says of her decision to devote an entire show to Wiley, "When I first discovered the work of Lee Wiley, I felt an immediate connection with this singer whose artistry was so powerful and whose public persona was so enigmatic and alluring. As a result, working on "Why Lee?" has been a deeply personal journey for me. Every song in this show has influenced my life, informed the way I listen to music, and profoundly affected the way I sing music."

"One of the foremost interpreters of American popular song during the 1930s, '40s, and '50s, Oklahoma native Lee Wiley was a favorite among upscale nightclub audiences and such celebrated songwriters as George Gershwin, Rodgers and Hart, Cole Porter, and Harold Arlen – whose work she recorded in her groundbreaking songbook albums. Over the course of her career, which spanned four decades, she performed with some of the most renowned jazz musicians in the industry, including Fats Waller, Eddie Condon, and her husband, renowned jazz pianist Jess Stacy.

While Rosemary Clooney, Dinah Shore, Peggy Lee, and other "girl singers" of the era enjoyed soaring careers as the entertainment industry transitioned from radio to film and television, Wiley's career experienced a number of roadblocks – many of them self-imposed. Fiercely independent and principled, she frequently turned down opportunities that could further her career, most notably in 1935 when she departed from a featured role in the top-rated Kraft radio show because its producers refused to give billing to composer Victor Young, her musical partner and lover. Her strong-willed behavior, sensual singing style, enigmatic personality, severe alcohol addiction, and legendary beauty and sophistication, coupled with her premature retirement at age 50 and relatively small discography, have all contributed to her mythic status."