A Wonderful Woman

I started this past weekend a little pissed off. I got an email update from Live Nation with the subject line Annie Lennox. I was so ecstatic that the last true diva I have yet to see before I die is finally coming back to Chicago (I tried unsuccessfully to get tickets to her 2002 solo show at the Schubert which sold out in about 30 seconds and opted to skip her subsequent shared headlining tour with Sting because I didn't want to die of boredom before she came on), but when I opened the email, I discovered that her show is on October 19, the day I'm leaving for Europe. I'll be somewhere over Greenland when she takes the stage. As if that wasn't bad enough, Kelly Clarkson will be at the Chicago Theatre the day after I get back, on November 1, and there is no way I will be awake at 8:00 pm. I'll be lucky to make it through work and not fall asleep behind the wheel on the way home. But, I was still looking forward to Lynda. My friend picked us up and we drove down there, and things looked up as we got a parking spot right in front of the Apollo, saving $9.25 right off the bat (the meter only ran us $.75 for the night as opposed to $10 parking in the Apollo's lot). I had received an email from Playbill earlier in the week with an ad from a nearby bar/restaurant called The Grammercy, and after perusing its website, we had decided to give it a try since it was just down the street. Well, we got there, and found the door locked with some guy washing the windows from the inside, a construction permit still taped to the window, and nothing going on inside at about 6:30 at night. So, we turned around and hiked it up to Maza, which is normally a really good restaurant, and while the food was good and my friend really liked it (this was his first time there while my companion and I have been there a few times), the service was awful. They were nice, but phenomenally slow. It took us almost half an hour just to order our entrees (the owner and apparently sole waiter kept dashing off as we would order drinks and appetizers) and then almost another 20 minutes before they arrived, and then he did get a little shitty when we couldn't stay for desert. We got out of there with 10 minutes to get to the theatre and just made it. Fortunately, it was all fantastic from there on out. We got our drinks and took our seats at our cabaret table. It was a nice setup, there were about 6 tables lined up in front of the stage and then a seating area that stretched around the three walls. The main section was pretty full, as were the tables, but the side sections were a little sparse, which was too bad, but their loss. There was one other guy sitting at our table, I guess to fill it, and he was with a group two tables down that were complete wackos, although I think they may have been with Lynda's management or the Apollo's PR company or something because they were so inordinately obssessed with her, much more than would seem normal for the occasion. This insane woman was talking with the guy at our table and said she had rented a limo for the event and he was welcome to ride back home with them afterwards (and sure enough, their limo was double parked next to my friend's car when we got out, but there was no one in front of him so he was able to pull up and get out). Finally she went back to her table, and he tried talking to us, but we weren't having it, and then this big queen at the next table who carried in bouquets of flowers tried chatting me up, but that wasn't happening either, I'm not really looking to make new friends (unless your name happens to be Cheyenne, Max, Lance, Jonathan, Chad, or Josh and then I'll make real nice). Anyways, Lynda came in through the back, walking right past our table and up onto the stage, and stayed no more than 10 feet away all night. It was about an hour and a half and went by way too fast. She really is a great singer and did a whole range of stuff, the highlight being a phenomenal rendition of "Fever." She had a great band (including a really hot drummer), and while she did some standards and torch-ish songs, they really stayed away from a full-on jazz feel. She started a little more light hearted and somewhat self-aware/camp, and openly acknowledged that she owes her career to Wonder Woman (unlike Rita Moreno's cabaret gig at Ravinia where she not once mentioned West Side Story). She was very gracious and had a terrific stage presence. As the show went on, she moved into more serious fare, turning it into full-blown cabaret, expertly moving from giving the audience what it came for to giving us what she really wanted to do, and making us love it. It was a fantastic evening, and to cap it, she looks phenomenal at 56. She said this was an audition for herself to see if she could make a go of her cabaret act, with her next stop being Feinstein's in New York, and based on this, she should be a huge success. She did play Matron Mama Morton in the London production of Chicago (and shame on B&N's editorial staff dissing her contribution to the 10th anniversary Chicago CD), and I would love to see her do something on Broadway. I'm sure with the right vehicle she could be a huge draw. It really is too bad that Grey Gardens closed, she could easily have replaced Christine when she goes to London, and she also would have made a great Mrs. Lovett were Sweeney Todd still around. Given the current shows on Broadway, I'm thinking possibly Fantine, more likely Madame Giry even though that part doesn't really have any solos or featured vocals, but that could make it a great introductory role for her, or, ideally, Donna Sheridan. She had mentioned something about CD's when she was briefly talking about what she's been able to do post-Wonder Woman, but a search on Amazon, B&N, and half.com only pulls up the aforementioned Chicago 10th Anniversary package. I'll have to do some more digging, anything by her would be worth having.