'Tales of the Sissy' is a play on words related to Armistead Maupin's novel 'Tales of the City' which chronicles the daily lives of several seemingly unrelated people. Since my blog chronicles my daily life and I am gay (hence the stereotype 'sissy'), I decided to call my blog 'Tales of the Sissy'.
Last week I had the pleasure of spending an evening with Babs. Yep, that's correct... Simply Barbra. Steven Brinberg is the man behind Simply Barbra, an entertaining impersonation of Barbra Streisand. If this seems familiar to you its because this is not my first time enjoying Simply Barbra. You can read my previous post from 2015 here. As expected, this year's show wasn't the same as the one in 2015 so we were treated to lots of new songs and dialog between them. I must say that while Brinberg is a man, he has an uncanny ability to sing in his falsetto and impersonate Babs. And not only did he impersonate her voice, but also much of her signature body language and occasional 'surprise eyes'.
I thoroughly enjoyed the show and was amazed that 90 minutes had passed when she performed her final song and encore. After the show she kindly posed for a photo with me.
Whether you're a Babs fan or simply one who appreciates talent, I highly recommend checking out Simply Barbra if you can. Look for her tour schedule here.
Last night I went to see the uber-talented vocal impressionist Jimmy James at the Blue Moon. I saw his show there 3 years ago too, which was fabulous. But this was a new show. If you're not familiar with Jimmy, do a YouTube search. Seriously, he's been around for 30 years, first gaining popularity from his expert Marilyn Monroe impersonations. Since then he's expanded his vocal impersonations to include all the stars and divas: Cher, Eartha Kitt, Mae West, Bette Davis, Barbra Streisand, Adele, Patsy Cline, Judy Garland, Tina Turner, Billie Holliday, and more.
Of course there's no shortage of celebrity impersonators in our (GLBT) community. There are Cher impersonators, Brittney impersonators, Barbra impersonators, and so on. But what's so amazing to me about Jimmy James is that he is able to seamlessly transition from 1 celebrity to another in seconds! My favorite part of his shows is Jimmy's "8 Divas", where he sings "I've Got It Bad And That Ain't Good" as 8 different people. Check it out:
Extrordinary!!! Another part of his show this time included a bit where he proudly displays Bette Davis' album (yes, she produced an album!) and sings a song as Bette Davis.
Hilarious!!! He also told a funny story about seeing Culture Club in concert recently, and hanging with Boy George. And he did a duet with Elvis and Barbra Streisand!
As usual, Jimmy James was absolutely fantastic and I would encourage everyone to go see him whenever possible. He'll be in NYC Aug 21 in Lady Bunny's Wigstock, and Aug 22 at the historic Stonewall Inn. You can follow him on Facebook for other upcoming tour dates.
Last night my friend Joe P and I went to see "Simply Barbra" at the Blue Moon. Steve Brinberg is the man behind the one woman show which incorporates remarkably recognizable vocal inflections as well as signature body language. Its not easy for a man to sing in a woman's register for 90 minutes, but to do so AND sound so much like Babs was really commendable. Included in the favorites performed were "Papa Can You Hear Me?", "The Way We Were", "Evergreen", "Send In The Clowns", "Happy Days Are Here Again", "Tomorrow", "You Don't Bring Me Flowers", and of course "Rain On My Parade".
'Barbra' introduced each song with a little background story, most of which were likely clever fabrications but humorous none-the-less, and also lovingly poked fun at some of her own personality traits.
It is easy to over-do it when impersonating celebrities but "Simply Barbra" was simply divine!
