Last night David and I saw Divalicious at Barrington Stage. I insisted that David skip his first evening rehearsal at Berkshire Choral Festival to see this and I think he is very glad that he did.
I have heard Amanda sing a number of times. (Once, after a performance when I had a chance to speak to her, I told her that she was one of my two favorite singers. The other being Montserrat Caballe. She loved it!)
She writes many of her own songs in collaboration with Michele Brourman, who was the wonderful pianist last night, and is somehow able to wrench emotion from her own heart and plunge it into yours. One moment you are smiling and then find yourself in tears. This is a remarkable talent, a kind of genius.
Now, don 't get me wrong. Ann Hampton Callaway is a fine cabaret singer in her own right. She endeared herself to me by stating early on that she is the illegitimate daughter of Lionel Hampton and Cab Callaway. That is a line I had already used when I found she would be performing. Great minds! She, too, writes much of her own material and displayed her prowess with 'on the spot' composing by asking the audience to name their favorite things about Pittsfield and Berkshire County. The list included Jacobs Pillow, Tanglewood, bears, mosquitos, Stockbridge Bowl, and several other unlikely places to put together in a love song, but she did it with panache to the delight of the crowd.
But it was Amanda with songs like 'It's still Spring', 'Beautiful Mistake', and 'Arnell Hill', about a fireman who dies fighting the forest fires in California, that reach out and grab you.
Both women have voices with wide ranges, Amanda easily goes from top to bottom (at age 69), Ann has a spot in her medium high range that is very tight and unpretty. She should give me a ring.
But what a night! Barrington Stage should bring Amanda back EVERY year!
