Be There, Or Be Square, Girls!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                            Theater Queens across the Eastern seaboard--unite!  I have great news for you!  For one night--unfortunately, one night only (just like in "Dreamgirls," darlings!!!!) one of Musical Theater's most distinguished, and obscure, legends--Pamela Myers!!!!!--is going to be at 54 Below.  That night, loves is January 28, and I am telling you, we have all GOT to go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                             Now, some  new to all this, may rightly ask--Who is Pamela Myers?????

                                             Who is Pamela Myers????????????  Oh, my God!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                             Pamela Myers is the performer who, back in 1970 (when I was still kinda crawling around!!!!!!!!!!) originated the role of Marta in the Stephen Sondheim musical, "Company."  She shared the trio song, "You Could Drive A Person Crazy," with the late Susan Browning, and the Great Donna McKechnie, but it was her solo number, written exclusively for her, that carved out for Pamela a spot in Musical Theater Immortality.

                                                That song was "Another Hundred People (Just Got Off Of The Train)."  No one who has done it has been able to surpass Pamela's piercing tones, which, together with Sondheim's music, so perfectly caught the rhythm of life in New York City, then, and still maintains it now!  I recall reading, in either Gordon Hunt's or Michael Shurtleff's audition books, one of them asked Sondheim whose was the greatest audition he had ever seen.  Without hesitating, Sondheim answered back, "Pamela Myers."

                                                   Back then, Pamela was a fresh faced 20 something ingenue from Hamilton, Ohio, newly graduated from college.  She came to New York, auditioned for the show, and, according to Sondheim, it was not only her delivery, but her judicious selection of material, that got her the part!  According to Sondheim, she sang "Shy!", from the musical, "Once Upon A Mattress," with the kind of gusto she would eventually deliver in Marta's song,  Then she followed up with a soft, melting rendering of "God Didn't Make Little Green Apples."  Sondheim knew then he had to have her in the show, but, at the time, I don't think there was a character, or a song, for her.  He eventually wrote a song just for her.  And it was "Another Hundred People."

                                                   You know me, darlings!!!!  I have been practicing it for years--

                                        "Or they find each other in the crowded streets,
                                             and the guarded parks!
                                           By the rusty fountain, or the dusty trees,
                                              with the battered bark.
                                           Or they walk together, past the poster walls,
                                                with the crude remaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrkkkkksssssssss!"
But, lambs, not even I can match Pamela's piercing tones.

                                                    And this was brought home to me with a vengeance, in a kind of dream come true.  I never saw Pamela in "Company," but, in 2004, at a gala event called "GMHC Show Stoppers," for said organization, Pamela was one of the show stoppers!!!!  She came out, sang that song,
and every queen in the house, especially yours truly, went WILD, because they were seeing and hearing, standing before them, what they had grown up listening to!!!!!!  And the voice was just as clear and piercing as ever!!!!!!!!!!  If you closed your eyes, it was like listening to the Original Cast Album!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                                    Pamela Myers has been working for years, but never with the conspicuousness she had in "Company."  So, for decades, one of the greatest questions, among Theater Queens, was, "What ever happened to Pamela Myers??????"

                                                      She didn't die, girls!!!!!!!!!  She has been out there among us, and we just haven't known it!  I don't know if this appearance signals some kind of renaissance for her, but I am certainly going to make every effort to be there!  You just KNOW she will sing "Another Hundred People," and I know she will sound just as spot-on as back in 1970!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                                       So, watch and learn, darlings!  And for my younger readers, pay close attention to your audition material!!!!  You want to get cast???? None of that "Spring Awakening," or "American Idiot" crap!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I mean, look how Lea Michele has tanked!!!!!!!!!

                                                        Hope to see you on the 28th, dolls!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!