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If you haven't seen (or heard) the MAC Award-winning singer Karen Saunders, you've got a chance to catch her tonight (Jan.26) and tomorrow (Jan. 27) at 8:30 and 11 p.m. at Arci's Place, 450 Park Ave. South, NYC. She's sung at Carnegie Hall and worked with Joy Behar, Billy Crystal and Jay Leno, to name a few. So what makes her special? Many singers have voices that are "instruments", Karen has an entire orchestra. One minute, she could sound like a mellow cello; the next, she'll explode like a sassy brassy section. Either way, she's got a voice to beat the band. In her newest show, Karen turns Kander & Ebb's "Maybe This Time" into a dynamic musical one-act, packing it with more drama than you see in most plays. As she wrestles with her insecurities from the past, you can feel a flicker of hope build within her and smolder until it becomes a bonfire. At her passionate core, Karen is fired up with emotions. And she brings that same burning intensity to "Some People" from Gypsy (what a memorable Mama Rose she's make.) Karen's also got a delightfully down-to-earth attitude and an earthy sense of humor (think Bette Midler). In the blues tune "Joe's Joint," she lasciviously torches for a restaurateur in Savannah, GA., named lucky Joe, who "had the biggest joint in town." And she closed her act with the funny "You Can Have My Husband, But Please Don't Mess With My Man." By the way, Karen's enthusiastic audience last night included Barry Levitt, head of the Lyrics & Lyricists series at the 92nd St. Y (Karen will sing their Jule Styne salute Feb. 10- 12); Carol Woods, the stellar singer who opens Tuesday at Arci's Place and will soon be seen as Stella in Follies; the legendary Ervin Drake, who wrote the Sinatra classic "It Was a Very Good Year," and cabaret star Tom Andersen, who once featured Karen as his special guest vocalist at the Triad Theater. | |||||||
