photo by Bruce-Michael Gelbert
Lavinia Draper
...........................................................................................

I caught my first Lavinia Draper Happy Hour or Early Bird Show at the Ice Palace on June 6 and she took us on quite a journey. Referring to her performance as “half a pool show,” she sang to people in the room, people by the pool, and more. DJ Chuck McTague was responsible for music, lights, and sound.
Saluting the season and the state, she paired “Summertime,” from “Porgy and Bess,” with “New York State of Mind,” then bade us “(Get your kicks on) Route 66.” In “Mack the Knife,” from “Threepenny Opera,” she interpolated a list of STDs from which the individuals mentioned suffered.
“Nowadays” from “Chicago,” “Out Here on My Own,” and “Let’s Stay Together” followed. The madcap diva sang “Killing Me Softly” from atop the pool table, “(You gotta have) Friends” to people in and out of their rooms at Grove Hotel, and “Fly Me to the Moon” to this writer.
She pointed out celebrities present including Porsche, Brandon Cutrell, Marissa Pontecorvo, Kenny Holcomb, Coastal Roots’ Todd Erickson, and Sonny Shores (Ken Woodhouse), who brought her a wheel of brie. Lavinia and Sonny joined forces for “Don’t Go Breakin’ My Heart” and “I Got You, Babe.” Somehow a “big schlong” got mentioned as part of the latter song. And Lavinia and Kenny maintained that “The Lady Is a Tramp.”
After “Dancing in the Streets,” Lavinia, perched on the bar, led the audience in singing Elvis’ “Falling in Love with You.” “The Best Is Yet to Come” came next. Lavinia sang “Happy Birthday” to Maria, her sister Gemini, and plied her with cheese. Lavinia sang some of the torchy lyrics of “Band of Gold,” also sometimes known as “Lonely Room,” while stretched out on the floor. She augmented “All of Me” with some tap dancing and, during “Will You (Still) Love Me Tomorrow?,” called our attention to the sunset. “Do You Wanna Dance?,” “I Go out Walkin’ after Midnight,” and “Don Juan, Your Money’s Gone” were other songs I heard before another commitment took me from the festivities.
See Lavinia Draper on Fridays at 7 p.m., Wednesdays at 8 p.m., and in a special autobiographical show, “Five Minutes, Miss Draper,” on June 29.