Christine Pedi
The Pedi Party
The Green Room 42, NYC, February 20, 2022
Reviewed by Bart Greenberg
Happy news indeed: the multi-talented Christine Pedi will be doing a once-a-month program at The Green Room 42; each appearance will be a unique, off-the-cuff, seat-of-your-pants show. To kick the series off, the diva offered up an evening of songs that were introduced by such legends as Carol Burnett, Susan Johnson, Barbara Baxley, Roz Russell, Vivian Blaine, Lisa Kirk and, of course, Ethel Merman. In doing this, she also paid tribute to the songwriters who provided the material: Frank Loesser, Sheldon Harnick/Jerry Bock, Betty Comden/Adolph Green/Leonard Bernstein, Irving Berlin, and John Kander/Fred Ebb. In other words, she chose the cream of the crop and delivered on every choice.
Pedi, in addition to being a wonderful singer, is a terrific character actress. She grouped together three songs about books, which became the autobiographies of three distinct women: the frustrated Miss Adelaide offering her lament; the too knowing and slightly jaded Ruth Sherwood offering examples from her book 100 Ways to Lose a Man; and the innocent Ilona Ritter finding an unlikely route to romance with “A Trip to the Library.” Each persona was specific, humorous in a different way, and filled with life.
Showing a great deal of versatility, Pedi belted with the best of them on “I’m Shy” and swung through “If I Were a Bell,” with a strong assist from the electric guitar of Sean McCann (he doubled on bass). She torched her way through “Make It Another Old Fashioned, Please,” and took it nice and easy on “Moonshine Lullaby.” Music director Matthew Martin Ward provided a terrific arrangement of “When You’re Good to Mama” (Pedi has played Mama Morten in Chicago on Broadway). It combined a Peggy Lee-style vocal with a piano accompaniment that featured quotes from “My Heart Belongs to Daddy,” which surprisingly worked quite well.
Of course, no evening with Pedi would be compete without visits from some of the divas she knows intimately; in fact, they seem to inhabit her body as she moves smoothly from one guest to another. On this particular occasion, she presented Judy Garland, Joan Rivers, Carol Channing, and Julie Andrews, among others, as they interpreted “And I Tell You I’m Not Going” with a wide variety of interpretations and approaches. This really is a highly theatrical type of entertainment that very few performers can bring off.
As previously noted, Pedi promises that each monthly show will be unique and unpredictable. One thing that can be depended upon is that it will be delightful and surprising, all thanks to the star.
