Carol Channeling

It’s a not-so-simple case of identity theft.  Impressionist Maggie Graham opens her show dressed as Carol Channing, singing the star’s trademark song, “Diamonds Are A Girl’s Best Friend,” and then brings forth some of Channing’s “best friends,” a parade of other show business divas.  Before the parade passes by, she’s presented, with varying success, everyone from Marlene Dietrich to Barbra Streisand (who got Channing’s prize role in the Hello, Dolly! movie version).

Her Dietrich is a neat trick, very focused and hilarious, even if you don’t have the reference point in your head as much as present-day stars, who will be taken on, too. Her Streisand is notvery close at all, and it would be wiser to choose another song rather than “How Lucky Can You Get?” Why not do a song Barbra still does in concert, one where she can get closer to the vocalmannerisms and sound?  But it’s clear throughout the show that Maggie Graham has done her homework --- because even if she’s off her mark on the sound, you can see she’s studied the phrasing, movements, and facial expressions. Her Ethel Merman (great strut, by the way!) is an interesting exercise:  sometimes it’s quite close in a generalized way, and then within a chorus, certain notes or phrases ring out with such perfect recreation that it’s startlingly terrific. When she does a combo of Merman and Patti LuPone, both doing the same song, “Anything Goes,” it’s a delicious study in contrasts, and the going back and forth is a double diva delight.

The gimmick of the presentation is suggested by its sort of punny title, Carol Channeling: it’s Carol Channing channeling the other stars because we’re told that somehow, (thanks to dental work gone awry) she can pick up the personae of the other ladies. “Carol” can call upon the dead and living performers, spin around with a goofy grin and glazed eyes of possession and with arms flailing as the lights flash, and in a flash, she sings and talks like someone else. It saves any costume or wig or make-up changes, but that bright red outfit and lipstick and big blonde hair sometimes become distracting.  But of course the idea is that she’s still Carol but the other women are coming through her.  It’s a cute gimmick, but the pace of the act has a relentless episodic feel as it’s one “our next guest” intro after another after another, with similar-lengthsegments.  Some of the dialogue shows she knows even more her ladies’ sounds and attitudes, though the actual lines could be joke-ier and more varied.

Most of the impressions are conservative in their attempts to get inside the characters and their famous songs, meaning they tend towards studied attempts at close re-creation rather than being funny because they are exaggerated to make their point.  So, if you know the originals very well, the element of surprise is not a factor; however, if you only know them from audio versions, some of the entertaining facial expressions and movements add a new layer.

Unlike some impressionists (biologically male or female), Maggie doesn’t really go in for heartless mean-spiritedness to mock her subjects.  She lets their mannerisms and excesses speak (or sing for themselves rather than making them more than a few degrees more extreme.  But she certainly has a flexible and strong vocal instrument at her disposal.  I’d be interested in more creative variations and wish that, as an encore, she’d let us hear her sing as herself to satisfy that curiosity factor.  For that, I had to turn to the internet.  Hear a snippet of her “real” voice at her website, www.maggiegraham.net  and hear generous samples of her impersonations at www.carolchanneling.com and www.myspace.com/carolchanneling with her YouTube performances from Joe’s Pub easily viewed.  Perhaps now that it’s getting close to holiday time, she’ll put in the fun “Twelve Days of Christmas” that can be seen on video there.  It uses 12 of her star voices, and the quick changes with nary a chance to catch her breath.  It’s always more impressive to see how such an artist has absorbed her subjects’ tics and tricks by hearing her try a song the star has not recorded. Thus, “Twelve Days” is a good example of moving beyond the tried and re-tried and true --- or tired and true-ish; many have done Judy Garland’s voice and stage gestures and energy—plenty to draw upon, and it’s not her sharpest Xerox. On the other hand, it’s refreshing to see someone move beyond the usual suspects.  For example, Maggie tries Idina Menzel on for size and does quite well, and Doris Day is on her list, though she didn’t do Day the day I went.

Maggie’s usual trio is Aaron Berk on piano, Steve Leonard on bass, and Uwe Peterson on drums.  They adapt to the very different musical styles quite well.   She’s settled into the Triad Theatre at 158 West 72nd Street for a series of Saturday nights.  Her Broadway broads are not forced out of work by any strike, and quick changes from personality to personality and era to era need no stagehands. But she deserves a hand for much of what she pulls off---and pulls out of her head and Carol’s body.