Christine Pedi at The Metropolitan Room: Funny Lady

I can't imagine any cabaret lover not having an absolutely wonderful time so long as Christine Pedi has a microphone in her hand.  Known mostly for her hilarious mimicry of Liza Minelli, Bernadette Peters, Judi Dench and other notable stars through numerous editions of Gerard Alessandrini's Forbidden Broadway and Forbidden Hollywood, her new show at The Metropolitan Room, Great Dames, contains much of the familiar material that has made her every Broadway diva's worst nightmare.  But what makes it work so beautifully is the range of artistry she shows as a song interpreter when the masks are lowered and it's just Christine Pedi up there.  It's not the first cabaret show where she's sung "as herself," but her latest stint shows she's truly coming into her own in matters of showing maturity, vulnerability and sex appeal.

"I haven't worn false eyelashes in six months.  It's not like riding a bicycle," she cracks on opening night, the evening after her long-term gig on Broadway as several on-the-air voices in Talk Radio came to an end.  "What should I do the next day?  Nurse a hangover?  Nooooooo."

From the Alessandrini songbook, she wows 'em with a wildly frenetic impersonation of Rosie Perez (if you only know this one from the recording you must see it live) and classic spoofs of Les Miserables and the short-lived Anna Karenina musical.  But beyond the Forbidden collection she puts her mimicry to uproarious use in spoofs of Patti LuPone (as Eliza Doolittle), Liza Minnelli (doing an ABBA medley that includes a power ballad interpretation of "Waterloo") and a Barbra Streisand rendition of "Take Me Out To The Ballgame" that should be played during the 7^th inning stretch at next week's all-star game.

A standard routine of hers is to sing a classic diva song in a medley of voices.  This time it's "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" interpreted by the likes of Ethel Merman, Julie Andrews and Christine Ebersole as Little Edie, with Bernadette Peters hitting the big money notes.

Pedi credits music director/accompanist Matthew Ward for "50% of everything that's funny here."  Listen closely to his arrangements for clever musical quotes such as "The Party's Over" peppering her cerebral and deliberately-paced rendering of "If", the best version of the song I've heard since Betty Comden's.  Comical tension between Ward and Pedi is added to "When You're Good To Mama," as the pianist keeps creeping in bits of "My Heart Belongs To Daddy," but the number, arranged with a tantalizingly slow Roxie-ish vamp, is delivered with such vixen-y poise that by the time she purrs out an infinitely suggestive "she'll put out for you" the singer has the room completely steaming.

A jaunty arrangement of "A Spoonful Of Sugar" has Christine Pedi sipping a cocktail in a most delightful way, with a devilishly satisfied gleam in her eye.  Unrequited love is presented in a beautiful contrast between an exquisitely tortured torching of "Funny Girl" and a sweet and wistful "The Boy Next Door" done with a light, girlish touch that also serves "Mama, A Rainbow" very well.  She salutes her own personal romantic ventures as a single woman looking for a guy in the world of cabaret with a knowing "I'm Unlucky At Gambling."

Great Dames plays its final performances July 1^st and 2^nd at 7PM.  Soon after, Christine Pedi will be taking a cruise ship to Russia.  Lucky Russians.

 

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