{"id":28691,"date":"2023-11-18T11:28:06","date_gmt":"2023-11-18T16:28:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/?p=28691"},"modified":"2023-11-18T11:45:49","modified_gmt":"2023-11-18T16:45:49","slug":"through-her-show-rita-hayworth-the-heat-is-on-singer-performer-quinn-lemley-transforms-into-the-legendary-star-see-her-live-on-nov-20th-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/?p=28691","title":{"rendered":"Through Her Show, \u201cRita Hayworth – The Heat is On,\u201d Singer\/Performer Quinn Lemley Transforms Into the Legendary Star \u2014 See Her Live on Nov 20th"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Preview\/Q&A by Brad Balfour

Who:\u00a0Quinn\u00a0Lemley
What: Rita Hayworth:\u00a0The Heat is On!
When: November 20th, 2023
Where: Don\u2019t Tell Mama\u00a0
(343 W 46th St.)
(212)-757-0788
info@donttellmamanyc.com

On Nov 20, the singer\/style queen\u00a0Quinn\u00a0Lemley will present her last NYC performance of \u201cRita Hayworth The Heat Is On!\u201d at Don\u2019t Tell Mama (343 W 46th St.), the long-established cabaret center in midtown Manhattan before going on the road. Hayworth, known as \u201cThe Love Goddess\u201d is iconic for her indelible performance in the film noir classic \u201cGilda\u201d \u2014 performing the sexiest striptease on celluloid, \u201cPut The Blame On Mame.\u201d The hottest sex symbol of the 1940\u2019s, Hayworth’s pin-up on the Atomic Bomb gave her the International title of \u201cThe Atomic Star.\u201d Courted by the world\u2019s most powerful men, Orson Welles, Prince Aly Khan, Howard Hughes she was a legend until she developed early onset Alzheimer which led to her death.

The fire-haired performer brings the star to life in her sold-out shows. Having headlined various performing arts centers and casinos across North America, Lemley received The Bistro Award and Two MAC awards nominations. Lemley\u2019s jazz quintet performs internationally and is “The Iconic Face of the Half Note” in Athens, Greece. The New York Times defines her performances as “Dazzling\u2026with one show stopping number after another!”\u00a0
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Beside this show, Lemley has directed and co-produced \u201cRebel Rebel, The Many Lives of David Bowie,\u201d \u201cPink Floyd\u2019s Dark Side of the Wall\u201d and \u201cThe Ultimate Queen Celebration.\u201d Seen on Good Morning America, Oprah and as a finalist on Shark Tank, Lemley has five CDs available. You can stream her music on\u00a0Spotify\u00a0and\u00a0Apple Music. Lemley is also host of the TV show, \u201cSecrets of the Stage\u201d on MNN.org\u00a0and a monthly virtual concert on Zoom, \u201cUp Close & Personal.\u201d A graduate of NYU Tisch School of the Arts, she is a Distinguished Toastmaster at Toastmasters International and member of National Speakers Association as well as SAG, AFTRA, AEA, DTM, NSA NY, APAP, and IEBA.
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This critically acclaimed concert about the life of Hayworth \u2014 the star that built Columbia Pictures \u2014 is a humorous, heartfelt and heartbreaking look at The Golden Age of Hollywood, Me Too Movement and The Price of Fame \u2014 especially in light of her tumultuous relationship with the head of Columbia, the infamous Harry Cohn. This is a look at the price of fame and a celebration of a remarkable life told with humor, wit and impeccable storytelling woven with The Great American Songbook from The Golden Age Of Hollywood.\u00a0
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Written and directed by Carter Inskeep (\u201cAlways Patsy Cline\u201d), her performance is backed by a quartet or 11 piece big band. The show includes hit songs from the Golden Age of Hollywood\u2019s legendary composers and lyricists such as Irving Berlin, Harold Arlen, and Jerome Kern. Such tunes as \u201cBewitched,\u201d \u201cZip,\u201d and \u201cThe Lady is A Tramp\u201d from such iconic films as\u00a0\u00a0\u201cGilda,\u201d \u201cPal Joey,\u201d \u201cCover Girl\u201d and more fill the evening.\u00a0

The following Q&A was conducted online in advance of this upcoming show.

Q: When did you know you wanted to be a performer?

QL: I came out of the womb entertaining. I\u2019ve always known that I wanted to perform. Singing and acting have always been my passion. Even as a young girl from Indiana I was always producing puppet shows, carnivals and musicals for our neighborhood.\u00a0Luckily, my parents were incredibly supportive and made sure I took lessons and classes. I\u2019m so grateful today!\u00a0

Q: Talk about the first time you performed \u2014 can you describe the moment?

QL: My first show was when I was in fifth grade. I played a Far Out Foxy Lady from \u201cA Foreign Land in Whitecloud and the Seven Dwarfs.\u201d I guess I was bound to be a glamour gal from the get go!

Q: Have you focused on cabaret because of the intimacy of the experience?

QL: I love cabaret. I love its intimacy. It\u2019s taught me to connect to each and every person in the room. It provides an opportunity to try things out and to take a chance, to take risks.\u00a0Although it\u2019s been a big part of my life, I haven\u2019t focused on cabaret. My late husband, producer , manager and best friend, Paul Horton expanded my shows by putting them with 9-12 piece big bands and opening up the scope of our shows. For the past 15 years I\u2019ve been headlining casinos and performing arts centers like The Kravis Center, Naples Philharmonic, Thousand Oaks Civic Center and BB Kings in NYC. After Covid, Paul suggested I go back to the club where I started my career, Don\u2019t Tell Mama in NYC before going back on the road in theaters. We won the Bistro Award, MAC Nomination, rave reviews and have enjoyed a 17 month residency. I am grateful Paul booked these dates leading up to going back to theaters starting in North Carolina at the Tryon Center Nov 4, The Pheasantry in London Feb 16 & 17th, a week run at The Cape May Playhouse in July. We have our last NYC date Monday Nob 20 @DontTellMama It\u2019s given me a chance to heal and put myself into the performance on another level.\u00a0

Q: How do you choose the songs you do?

QL: First, it\u2019s the lyrics. What am I trying to say? How do I want to say it? Where does it fit in the show? Secondly, it\u2019s the melody and the structure. How does the melody make me and the audience feel? How do I want it arranged to tell the story? Finally, does it fit me as an artist? I love all kinds of music, but like clothing, not everything fits with my voice, personality or belongs in the arc of the story that I\u2019m telling. I have to try the songs out and see how they feel and sound in my voice.\u00a0

Q: how did you develop this show?

QL: \u201cRita Hayworth – The Heat Is On!\u201d Has had three stages of development. The first stage was when I got out of NYU, I was starring in a show off Broadway. A reviewer saw me and said, \u201cYou look like Rita Hayworth \u2014 you should meet Carter Inskeep and do the story of her life.\u201d That was pre-internet, so we read every biography, watched her films on tape and went to the library. Read every article we could find on microfiche. The question that we kept asking was \u201cWho is Rita Hayworth — the public personae, but more importantly, who was Margarita Cansino? The girl who has hopes and dreams and just wanted to be loved?\u201d Just like me, like all of us. We had tremendous success, got rave reviews,\u00a0were\u00a0on Oprah, Geraldo, Good Morning America. I was in my mid 20s then. In my 30s, I met my manager, producer, best friend and husband, Paul Horton. He changed my life. He had us rewrite the show, use the songs from the Great American Songbook during the Golden Age of Hollywood to help tell the story instead of limiting it to songs from Rita\u2019s films. He had it orchestrated for a big band and for a quartet so we can play intimate and large theaters like The Kravis Center, Naples Philharmonic and BB Kings. We toured throughout North America. During Covid, Carter rewrote the book to make the story about resilience and accepting our choices. He had us go back to Don’t Tell Mama\u2019s in NYC where we started the show after Covid, before going back on tour in theaters. Our residency was so successful we got extended from 4 to 17 months, got rave reviews, won the Bistro Award and a MAC Nomination. Besides this one performance left in NYC Monday Nov 20, I am going to London in February at The Pheasantry. I am so grateful he put this in motion. It’s been a lifesaver since Paul unexpectedly passed in March. It was his vision to do this residency. The story is so rich, deep, funny and moving. I\u2019ve been able to tap into her story on a deeper level than I ever could have when I was younger. I have been able to put myself into the role in a way that \u00a0I never dreamed was possible. The audiences are responding.\u00a0

Q: Do you try to make your shows thematic or sometimes just a simple revue?

QL: All of my shows are thematic. Rita Hayworth is about Rita and The Golden Age of Hollywood. Burlesque to Broadway is about the women who went from Burlesque to Broadway and Beyond.As a director and producer, I’ve done these shows: “The Ultimate Queen Celebration,” “Rebel Rebel, The Many Lives of David Bowie” and “Pink Floyd\u2019s Dark Side of the Wall.” My TV Talk show on MNN, “Secrets of the Stage” is where I pull back the curtains and explore the creative process. My speaking keynote is about resilience thru the lens of my relationship with my shows Rita and Burlesque to Broadway.

Q: You did have a burlesque moment \u2014 did it feel liberating, powerful or what?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

QL: I did a show called Burlesque To Broadway.\u00a0 It was so liberating. I was onstage with four beautiful and talented women who celebrated their talent, beauty and humor.\u00a0It was powerful to claim and own my femininity and fun to tease. As the great poet Mel Brooks said, \u201cWhen You Got It, Flaunt It\u201d. Every woman should step into her power and \u201cBe\u201d!\u00a0

Q: Besides the songs you’re already playing, what are your benchmark songs and who are your heroes?

QL: My heroine is Julia Child. I got to have lunch with her at her house in Cambridge with her husband Paul. Her spirit was incredible. She was a woman who took massive action and didn\u2019t let anyone or anything stop her. Other icons of mine are Cher, Ann-Margret, Lady GaGa and Diana Ross. My benchmark songs\u2026 I\u2019m putting a list of songs from ’70s and ’80s rock — “The Show Must Go On,” “You Take My Breath Away,” “Rock and Roll Suicide” —\u00a0 Queen and Bowie plus others to celebrate my late husband, Paul Horton\u2019s genius and talent. Plus, \u201cDon\u2019t Fret World\u201d from his Rock Opera which was his anthem.

Q: Who would you like to perform with or show to be in?

QL: My dream is to work with the French artist, arranger and producer Benjamin Biolay.\u00a0 And of course I\u2019d love to work with David Foster.

Q: What goals do you have for this show and for yourself?

QL: We are going back on the road in theaters. I\u2019m on a plane now headed to Tryon Arts Center in NC. Going to London. I\u2019m hoping to find producers and promoters who will help us tour and produce a run on the West End of London. I\u2019d like to do a national tour. Also we would like to do a NetFlick special filming the show for broadcast. Paul was my agent as well as producer, so I need to find an agent that can help me internationally. I am also looking to get my TV Show, Secrets of the Stage, picked up by a major network with sponsorship. As a director, producer, I\u2019m working on our tour of The Ultimate Queen Celebration with Yvan Pedneault and MiG Ayessa, both endorsed by Queen. It is the best Queen tribute band on the market. We will be at The Egg in Albany, May 11th, and are routing around that. The audiences are on their feet. It’s a Queen party. Starting next month, I\u2019m working on a new show with \u201970\u2019s – \u201880s rock that is a tribute to Paul and our incredible 20 year journey together through music.\u00a0And I\u2019m grateful to have so many talented colleagues with me on my journey.\u00a0

For more info go to:\u00a0www.QuinnLemley.com<\/p>\n

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