Tina Fabrique as Ella, photo by T. Charles Erickson
Welcome to the beginning of another exciting season at Long Wharf Theatre!
Tonight is a musical tribute to one of 20th century’s greatest pop and jazz singers – Ella Fitzgerald, portrayed by angel voiced Tina Fabrique. This wonderful stage biography follows this remarkably gifted performer from her early days as a jazz singer with the Chick Webb orchestra on through her years as an international pop icon. No one had a cleaner, purer, more perfect sound. And was there anything more exciting than hearing her scat with Duke Ellington or duet with Louis Armstrong? All of us who love the American songbook (can there be anyone who doesn’t?), are in awe of her musical journey through the work of Cole Porter, Rodgers and Hart, Harold Arlen, George Gershwin, and others.
Difficult days these, so it’s all the more glorious to begin the 2010-11 season celebrating the great American musical sounds of the 1930s through the 1960s, telling the story of one of our finest musical artists. Ella is our own homegrown talent, but with a voice so perfect and beautiful that we are tempted to look to the heavens to find an explanation for its existence.
– Gordon Edelstein