(© David Gordon)
What can audiences expect from your 54 Below concert?
I consider it a holiday spa experience. There are some traditional songs, some silly songs, and some inspirational songs. It’s just nice and relaxing. I want it to feel like I’m putting a warm blanket around you.
Define “silly songs.”
There’s “I’m Spending Hanukkah in Santa Monica,” by Tom Lehrer. I love him. There are also a couple things I did on Garrison Keillor’s show a couple of years ago: “Mrs. Fogarty’s Christmas Cake,” and “The First Nouvelle,” which was written for Garrison.
Do you love singing holiday songs?
I sang in a grade school choir at St. Dominic’s, and we sang morose Catholic songs all year. So we got to Christmas, and we got to sing something joyous, and I loved it. Everybody does their obligatory holiday album and I guess I was an elf in another age because I have hundreds of Christmas albums at home, so I approach these songs with a joy and sense of wonder and whimsy and great fun, and not as museum pieces.
Do you have a favorite?
Yes! Mel Tormé was my mentor and we did PBS specials and we toured together and I just adored him. He was the finest singer to grace the planet. And he wrote not only a great Christmas song, but a great song: “The Christmas Song,” (‘Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire’). Do you know the story behind it?
I can’t say that I do…
His lyricist, Bob Wells, lived in the San Fernando Valley. Mel went over to Bob’s house on one of those 115 degree days; Bob was upstairs and said he had to lie down. As Mel was wont to do, he wandered over to the piano where there was a piece of paper that said “Chestnuts roasting on an open fire/Jack Frost nipping at your nose/Yuletide carols being sung by a choir/And folks dressed up like Eskimos.” So when Bob came down, he said, “Bob, what is this?” and Bob said, “It’s so hot that the only way I could cool myself off was to write about something cold.” It was never intended it to be a Christmas song, but 40 minutes later, it was born.
What do you have planned for the New Year?
I’m working on a couple of shows. In January, we make a big announcement about me and some other Broadway divas doing a project together which I’m really, really, really excited about. And I’m working on a memoir. I have a one-woman show that’s a musical memoir called Carry It On and this will be a counterpart to that.
Any upcoming Broadway plans?
Not specifically, but I would love to be back on Broadway. I would love to do Dear World, which I did at Sundance [in 2002]. I think it’s one of Jerry Herman’s best scores. The music is exquisite, and I had a great time being Aurelia.
