Monday, February 11, 2008

Marilyn are you still with us?

It is official: I am the latest comer to the impersonator field and Houston's newest Marilyn Monroe.*

Image and video hosting by TinyPic

Yes, that is me in pink and platinum.

Wait till you see the pro photos taken by one of the 7 or 8 professional photographers who were at this HUGE party.

The event was at Mosaic on Almeda, a new high rise apartment building dedicated to living the life of luxury on the extreme level.
Only one of the two towers is completed but here is what it will look like when all is said and done:


Image and video hosting by TinyPic

The space between the two towers is the 7th floor pool and clubhouse level where the party was:

Image and video hosting by TinyPic

I could not believe how the guests ate up the whole "Marilyn" bit. Everyone wanted a picture with her or they simply wanted to chat with her, playing along with the game. My favorite line of the night inspired the title of this blog. One flamboyant fellow complete with black crystal beads, sports jacket, boots, and an east Texan accent that could peel paint exclaimed upon seeing me: "Marilyn are you still with us?" This deteriorated into a discussion in relatively poor taste about pills and headaches. But the amazing thing was that EVERYONE wanted to play this little fantasy game. I was flabbergasted.

In all honesty, as I told Jon and Dan, the agents from J&D Entertainment who hired me (and groomed me) for this gig, I thought SURELY the folks in Houston would find the mere idea of an impersonator corny, but nay, twasn't so. I even got the obligatory "I told you so" in an email from Jon this morning. I stand-with-my-backside-sticking-out corrected.

One thing I was NOT prepared for was the way some of the men looked at me. There was a sparkly-eyed look some of them got every time I passed near them. Now, as a fairly good looking lady on an every-day basis, I am used to getting a glance here and there, but I suppose the fact that I was "entertainment" and therefore MEANT to be ogled, combined with the fact that I was dressed as many-a-man's wet dream made things that much more intense.

The gig was three-fold:
1) mingle with the guests in character
2) sing two fave Marilyn songs with a CD track, I wanna be loved by you and of course, Diamonds are a girl's best friend and Happy Birthday Mr. President a cappella
3) sing two tunes of my choosing with the band (It had to be you and Our love is here to stay)

This last part worried me a bit until I learned from the sound guy, Chris, that the band was none other than the fabulous and celebrated David Caceres Band.* No worries there. The only concern for me was that the first time I would sing for David I had to use the breathy quick vibrato Marilyn voice I had (almost) perfected. But in truth, the woman was a terrible singer and cooing like her is hard on the chords. I remedied the problem by singing for David later on that night in my "real" voice, swinging a little to Bye Bye Blackbird. I also had Joel Fulgham (drummer who played with me at Hotel Icon) give me a shameless plug to David...Thanks Joel, your check is in the mail, baby!


My fellow impersonators, Frank and Audrey had similar successes that evening. Frank was actually flown in from Vegas as there is no one in town that does this act. Shocking. Here is the two of us next to the living oscar statue...yum.

Image and video hosting by TinyPic

I found my nerves were absent before this gig, which made me anxious that they would hit at an inopportune moment, so I tried to PRETEND I was nervous to trick my way-too-calm head into getting it over with. This was a common problem (and attempted solution) for me in the classical world. At least I think it was a problem. I was NEVER nervous before a performance. If I was going to walk onto a stage I was simply going home and as I am a pro, (la ti da! Or la ti do, really) I am ALWAYS prepared. My solution: I found a quiet corner of a balcony and jammed out to Incubus in full Marilyn drag. Here was my view:

Image and video hosting by TinyPic


Ah! Love! If only I could get a flat here! But at $180-200k starting price for the 1/1 studio style floor plans, I think it is a bit out of my price range. Maybe if this Marilyn schtick takes off...and someone dies and leaves me a BAZILLION dollars!

*exclusively from J&D Entertainment

*book the David Caceres Band through one of the following agencies:

aMUSE entertainment

No comments: