Interview: Christina Bianco of DIVA MOMENTS at The Alex Theatre

BWW caught up with acclaimed YouTube sensation, Christina Bianco as she prepares to perform her hit solo show DIVA MOMENTS at The Alex Theatre St Kilda and The Hayes Theatre in Sydney. It couldn't be harder to put into words an interview with the effervescent star as she launches into her famous impressions left right and centre but here's what she had to say:

BWW: Welcome to Australia Christina! This is your first time playing down under and we are so excited to have you.

CB: Hi there! I have wanted to come to Australia as a tourist and also as a performer for a very long time! It's amazing to me, when I had these YouTube videos go viral, that so many of the views were from Australia. Everyone was saying "come to Australia!" but unfortunately it just never worked out so now, I thought this is the time! Before everyone forgets about me and the divas! (giggles)

BWW: So as you mentioned, we were introduced to you via your viral videos on YouTube and subsequent appearances on Ellen etc. Did you ever imagine that after posting those clips, the whole world would be watching?

CB: Never in a million years! Like most people, I put videos on YouTube for my friends and family and you just never know who's going to see them. To me it's so funny, the particular videos that took off and that went viral are not my favourite or best performances, in my opinion! So I'm thinking, "Gosh, that one is so sloppy!" or "you can't even hear me and the crowd is rowdy. My hair is in my face and I forgot the words!", but all of those thoughts mean nothing because it's a bit of magic. You can try to make something go viral and the moment you do, everybody knows it's very forced. For me, it was a very happy accident and the fact that it has translated into people coming to see my shows, not just in the US but in the UK and now in Australia, it's a really miraculous thing and I certainly don't take it for granted.

BWW: Were you performing impressions before Forbidden Broadway and those 54 Below performances or was it a new skill for you? When did you realise you had the knack for impressions?

CB: Well I do a whole show about this so I'll keep the answer short! (laughing) The truth is, I was always doing impressions from a very young age but I didn't know I was doing it. I never knowingly said "I'm going to do an impression of Judy Garland" but my mum tells me now that when I was little and I would sing along to The Wizard of Oz, she would hear me taking on the tone and style of Judy Garland. So I do remember my mum saying to me (Bianco says the next bit in a think New Yorker accent) "Honey, don't sing it like the recordings! Sing it like you!" and it wasn't until I was an adult working professionally in theatre, on the Dora the Explorer Live National Tour (proudly), when I realised I got that job, not just because I'm petite, oh no, but because I could mimic a lot of Dora's inflections, tone and sound. I realised that changing my voice was an asset. I used it a lot in straight plays and musical theatre and I rather innocently thought, "Hey, Forbidden Broadway is my favourite thing and I've been waiting for their auditions forever. I'm just going to practice impressions from now up until the audition. I don't think it would be embarrassing for me to go. I can change my voice a little bit". I had NO idea that I was going to get the job, be blessed to get good reviews and a Drama Desk Award nomination, and only then, when I was reviewed as someone who did impressions well, did I take impressions seriously. I was always aware that I could be a vocal mimic but I had never embraced that I could make something of it; that I should own it as a talent and not just a little party trick.

BWW: Well we are SO glad you did! You are brilliant at it and Australia can't wait to see you live on stage.

CB: I can't tell you, it's always so lovely to hear that. People tell me, "Oh you must hear this all the time" and I say "No! I'm not Beyonce!". When I get stopped in an airport and somebody walked up to me and said "You're Christina Bianco! We're from the Philippines, come to the Philippines!"...it's so cool! The internet has changed everything obviously and it's really special for me.

The other reason it's special to me, which ties it back to my show, is that the audience is equally as happy to hear me do impressions as they are to hear me sing in my own voice, and that is wonderful. Even in my YouTube videos, there is an assortment of videos that are my own voice, videos that are just impressions, and then a mix of both. So my shows are about 50/50, in my own voice and impressions. And that's the lovely thing! Some people come to my show and only know my impressions, so then they say afterwards, "We so enjoyed your own voice! You should do more in your own voice!" and then there are others who say, "Well I'm a purist so I really didn't need all those impressions but you made me laugh and I enjoyed it". I pride myself on having a show that is accessible to a wide variety of ages but also for people that want to hear a bit of me and a bit of the divas with a bit of comedy and a bit of sincerity. So it's well rounded for everyone!

BWW: So when you're choosing divas and celebrities to impersonate, do you have a process? Where do you start?

CB: It's definitely different for each person that I'm choosing to mimic. Some impressions come easily to me because they are voices that I've heard my whole life. For example, the classic divas; the old school ones like Judy Garland, Julie Andrews, and Barbra Streisand. I grew up watching and listening to them, so I'm familiar with their mannerisms, both physical and vocal. A lot of the contemporary artists today, particularly the young pop divas, it's really to hard to get a grasp on what their voices really sound like because there is so much vocal processing and stylisation. Even when they perform "live", they are almost always singing over a track of their own voice so what I have to do is choose a part to extract and lovingly exaggerate so that the audience goes "oh! That's that thing that Lady Gaga always does!" It becomes a lot harder when you're trying to apply that to someone like Demi Lovato because even though I know what her voice sounds like, you could mistake her for somebody else. So I have to work a lot harder with these new divas, and then sometimes it's just as silly as me watching a tv show and just trying to say one word and then it grows and I'm just putting on a voice for my husband. I have a very tolerant husband!

CB and I got lost here on a tangent about The IT Crowd and she did an EXCELLENT impersonation of Jen.

BWW: Do you have a favourite diva or celebrity to mimic?

CB: I have a couple of favourites but it is no secret that my favourite celebrity to do a singing and speaking impression of is Celine Dion. Celine gives me so much to work with. I do believe that she is probably the greatest singer ever. The fact that she can still sing so beautifully, with such range, so consistently for so many years is a testament to what a fantastic vocalist she is. If I were to try and sing something she's sung before, it's a great challenge to do it in her key, with so many riffs and runs so that makes it extra fun for me. She has so many great mannerisms, her physicality is so clear, she has funny ways of moving, and then her speaking voice is very specific as well. (The following is all said in Celine's voice, it's like she's on the phone!) She puts the wrong emphasis on the wrong syllable. She says things like "I am very comFORTable" and she's very funny. She gives me the whole package! Also, because I'm truly and deeply a Celine Dion fan, I feel like I know how she would go about singing a song that she's never sung before. Obviously an assumption on my part but you can see this in the YouTube videos of what I call "unlikely interpretations"; somebody singing something they've never performed before.

I'm definitely going to be asking everybody coming to the show in Melbourne and Sydney which "unlikely interpretations" they might like to hear. I do this for a lot of my live concerts and it's always super fun. I ask the audience to put together a combination of something wacky they'd like to hear. Most of the time people give me Julie Andrews doing some sort of rap or R&B song, so I try to throw one of those in! The accompanist and I spend some time putting the suggestion together and we perform it live and give the audience member a shout out. So everyone in Australia needs to get their suggestions ready!

BWW: In addition to all our favourite divas and some audience contributions, what else can we expect from your show, DIVA MOMENTS?

CB: Well I always do a bit of audience participation so I try to get a couple of people to interact with me, I do songs in my own voice, songs with impressions, songs with lots of wacky and unlikely interpretations, but mostly just a great celebration of some wonderful female vocalists from yesterday and today, from Ariana Grande to Edith Piaf. I really try and celebrate these women who have made an impact on us and for one reason or another, we know that we can call them divas. It's all done with love, that's the most important thing. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, so it's a wonderful celebration and I can't wait to have everybody there to share it with me and join in the fun!

---------

Celebrating the most iconic vocalists of all time, DIVA MOMENTS features songs that made divas out of the women who sang them. Audiences can expect an exciting selection of pop, standard & Broadway tunes, sung in Christina's own voice as well as in the voices of your favourite pop-culture personalities from yesterday and today. From Ariana Grande to Barbra Streisand to Edith Piaf, no celebrity is safe!

With countless impressions, games, sketches and lots of audience participation, Diva Moments is sure to be unlike anything audiences have seen before!

Join Christina for DIVA MOMENTS, honouring the great divas that have stood the test of time.

Music Direction by Michael Lavine

THE ALEX THEATRE - 135 Fitzroy Street, St Kilda
www.alextheatrestk.com
WEDNESDAY 8 TH MARCH 2017 - 8:15PM
Bookings: www.ticketek.com.au

To post a comment, you must register and login.