BY DAVID NOH | The incandescently ebullient Christine Ebersole has returned to the Café Carlyle with a new show she describes as “radically different from the last one I did at 54 Below, which was more rock-oriented. This one has material that is more classical, lots of standards like ‘After the Ball’ and ‘When I Grow Too Old to Dream.’ Its theme is the ‘Empty Nest Syndrome,’ as I have three kids who are now all in college. So, I’ve gotta work! [Laughs.]”
One thing you can always be sure of with an Ebersole gig is the impeccable song selection, not to mention her glorious, wide-ranging, and silver bell-like voice.
“Marc Shaiman was my accompanist for my very first cabaret show, and I have always relied on [his partner] Scott Wittman to help me with the act, as he’s great with song selection and just knows everything. He’s been so increasingly busy over the years, with everything, that he’s less able to help me, but I always make the effort to run over what I have with him.”
Mama may say she’s gone back to work, but the truth is she never stopped from the day she quit her job waitressing at the Lion’s Rock Restaurant when she first arrived in New York to take the role of Nancy, the surly Cockney maid in “Angel Street,” in the 1975 revival starring Dina Merrill. Ironically, her last Broadway appearance was in 2009’s “Blithe Spirit,” co-starring Angela Lansbury — who, with her magnificently multi-varied character work in film and stage, from “Mame” to “Gypsy” to “Sweeney Todd,” is the greatest living actress. Ironic because Lansbury’s very first film role, for which she received an Academy Award nomination at 18, was as Nancy in “Gaslight,” George Cukor’s classic screen adaptation of “Angel Street.”
Asked what working with Lansbury was like, Ebersole enthused, “Wonderful, and the consummate professional who set the bar very high for the rest of the cast, She never missed a single performance, so, even if I was feeling sick, I would still go on, because Angela surely would.”
Ebersole recently finished a Chicago run of the musical “War Paint,” which was about the highly competitive relationship between two redoubtable cosmetics queens, Elizabeth Arden (Ebersole) and Helena Rubinstein (Patti LuPone). Although praise was heaped on the two formidable divas, the play got decidedly mixed reviews and may or may not reach Broadway. Ebersole thoroughly enjoyed working with LuPone “and my ‘Grey Gardens’ musical team Scott Frankel and Michael Korie. And my Catherine Zuber costumes were fabulous!”
Ebersole may well be reunited with Korie in the upcoming “Flying Over Sunset,” along with writer/ director James Lapine. The premise is a particularly intriguing one, involving Clare Booth Luce, Aldous Huxley, and Cary Grant during their highly publicized psychological experimentation with LSD in the 1950s.
CHRISTINE EBERSOLE | Café Carlyle, 35 E. 76th St. | Oct. 20-21, 8:45 p.m.; Oct. 22, 8:45 & 10:45 p.m. | Cover charge is $70-$150; food & drink minimum is $75 at goo.gl/etaAUV or 212-744-1600
