Never mind that she’s best known as a dramatic TV actress — dubbed “the First Lady of Knots Landing” for her portrayal as Karen on that long-running prime-time CBS soap from the ’80s — Michele Lee styles herself as a funny lady.
“I wish I could be half-comedian, but I’m probably 10-percent comedian,” Lee cracks during a phone interview from New York, one she wishes could have been face-to-face, over lunch — or better yet, cocktails. “Oh yeah, let’s go to cocktails,” she says. “Forget that lunch thing.”
Lee is a hoot, an all-around, honest-to-goodness entertainer, the likes of which you don’t often see these days. Born Michele Lee Dusick, Lee got her start on Broadway at the age of 19 with small roles in plays and musicals, including How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. She recently returned to Broadway, as Madame Morrible in the long-running Wicked.
This Friday, Nov. 6, Lee performs a one-woman show as part of Barbara Cook’s Spotlight cabaret series at the Kennedy Center. The focus is on the music of Broadway composer Cy Coleman, whose 1973 musical See Saw earned Lee her first Tony nod. “Cy Coleman was an incredible artist,” she says. “The songs that I’ve chosen tell just a wonderful story about all his music…and my personal stories with him.”
Lee was going to perform a cabaret focused more on her varied career, but the brand-new Coleman show got such “fabulous reviews in New York,” she opted to go with it instead. Lee says she’d be delighted to come back to the Kennedy Center to perform her more personal cabaret, which includes a salute to Knots Landing. Asked if that cabaret also includes reference to another role in particular, from the hit 1968 Disney movie featuring a cognizant car, Lee just laughs. “There’s no song in The Love Bug that I would sing. But I do tell some funny stories about it.”
Michele Lee performsFriday, Nov. 6, at 7 p.m., at the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater. Tickets are $50. Call 202-467-4600 or visit kennedy-center.org.
Little by little, year after year, from one season to the next, there have been some subtle yet certain shifts in programming among local classical music organizations -- in both good and not-so-good ways, depending on whether you like, say, holiday sing-alongs come Christmastime. If you do, well, good for you, but boo hoo for the rest of us, because that's definitely on the uptick this season, as in previous years. Similarly, if Halloween is more your jam, you're also in luck, because there's also been a slight increase in the number of eerily inspired, scary-themed shows.
There's also more diversity all around, and in multiple senses of the term -- from slightly more female composers with works being performed around town, to more genre- and boundary-pushing works and programs overall, to seemingly more out, LGBTQ-identified people in this particular genre.
Metro Weekly magazine was barely a year and a half old when, in 1995, we were offered the chance to interview — and photograph — Broadway legend Carol Channing, then appearing at the Kennedy Center in Hello, Dolly! that fall. Two moments from that experience stand out, the first at the photo shoot with Annie Adjchavanich.
We'd set up a black velvet backdrop in the Hall of States and were waiting for Miss Channing to arrive. When she finally swept in, she looked radiant. Except… she refused to remove her enormous sunglasses. Indoors.
I begged her to take them off, but she firmly declined. "I don't have my eyelashes on," she said. "You are not seeing me without my eyelashes!" And that was that — sunglasses it would be. The result was a cover that was both thrilling (Carol Channing!) and oddly surreal (Carol Channing in giant sunglasses!).
The fall looks primed to be a strong season of concerts by -- and appealing to -- the LGBTQ community. Among the highlights in the category of the well-known, consider Andy Bell (Lincoln), Jane Lynch (Strathmore), Renee Rapp (Merriweather), DOECHII (Anthem), and of course All Things Go (Merriweather). In the category of merely appealing, not gay per se, consider The Queens (Capital One Arena), Deborah Cox (Bethesda Theater), and Judith Hill (The Hamilton).
That barely scratches the surface. There's a lot of new -- or perhaps new to you -- queer artists out there, just waiting for you get into them including Katie Pruitt (Union Station, Rams Head), Rio Romeo (Songbyrd), Aaron Lee Tasjan (Jammin Java), Dixon Dallas (Union Stage).
These are challenging times for news organizations. And yet it’s crucial we stay active and provide vital resources and information to both our local readers and the world. So won’t you please take a moment and consider supporting Metro Weekly with a membership? For as little as $5 a month, you can help ensure Metro Weekly magazine and MetroWeekly.com remain free, viable resources as we provide the best, most diverse, culturally-resonant LGBTQ coverage in both the D.C. region and around the world. Memberships come with exclusive perks and discounts, your own personal digital delivery of each week’s magazine (and an archive), access to our Member's Lounge when it launches this fall, and exclusive members-only items like Metro Weekly Membership Mugs and Tote Bags! Check out all our membership levels here and please join us today!
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