My Big Fat Life!
My Big Fat Life!
With Seandrea Earls
Spotlight Cabaret at Winter Park Playhouse
June 24, 2011
Winter Park, FL</strong>
Seating at these Spotlight Cabarets is often tight, so I arrived extra early to grab a good view. That’s one of the seats right up by Chris Leavy’s baby grand and if you aim correctly you can get the singer to sit on your lap during the second act. Ms. Earls returns to the Winter Park Playhouse, proudly announcing a significant weight loss and looking exceptional in a tight fuchsia ball gown singing “My Big Fat Life!” Earls’ story parallels many others; she grew up in a house filled with jazz and in a Catholic school filled with Ave Marias and Pater Nosters. At nine she sang on stage for an assembly, her blues influenced “Precious Lord” got the audience clapping, and she was hooked. With a large body and large voice opera loomed, but she was drawn to the blues and show tunes. We get a great sampling of her repertoire in this 90 minute show, much longer than the typical “New York Style Cabaret”. Tunes like “Night and Day”, “Living Without You” and “You Must Have Been A Beautiful Baby” kept the audience clapping and cheering, and soon it was time her to sit on my laps and then dismiss us for more drinks.
We chat, we sip, we strut, and soon Ms. Earls returns in an amazing low cut gold sequined mini dress and regaled us with horror stories of the day jobs she held while seeking fame or at least steady employment in music. “I Might As Well Sing The Blues, I’m Dressed For It” caught my ear, and after she sang “Too Old for the Oldest Profession”, we achieved the pinnacle of the evening – “Fat Daddy.” This blues number celebrates love with larger men, and none of it involving the idea of “shade in the summer” or “warmth in the winter.” The two encores were even better; “One Moment in Time” was followed by a heart breaking “Summertime” from Porgy and Bess. This short run is over, but more exciting shows are on tap for the rest of the year. Guys sit up front, and gals don’t take any of this seriously, it’s only a singer in a sexy dress in an elegant room. Nothing to worry about, just move along, she’s just tipping the audience.
For more information on Winter Park Playhouse, please visit http://www.winterparkplayhouse.org
