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Double divas in top form
By COLIN MacLEAN
EDMONTON - In Marion J. Caffey’s 3 Mo’ Divas, a rotating trio of extraordinary female singers perform 400 years of music.
The two casts, diplomatically dubbed Cast A and Cast 1 (there is no B cast in this vocal extravaganza of equals now playing at the Citadel Theatre), sing on alternate nights. The human vocal cord was never designed for the demands of this show and a day’s rest is necessary.
Caffey is the ex-song and dance man turned entrepreneur whose Cookin’ at the Cookery was such a hit at the Citadel last season. Any production that brings the star of that show, vocal powerhouse Gretha Boston, back to an Edmonton stage, is OK with me.Not that any of the five other dynamic divas featured have to take a back seat to the divine Ms. B. All of them have magnificent voices, as well as a notable stage presence. I had the opportunity of taking in both shows and there is not a weak voice or understated personality in the lot. The six also possess a talent rare in classically trained singers – when they deliver pop, jazz or Broadway they don’t have the off-putting “hot potato in the mouth” sound you often hear when classical divas attempt to sing outside their range of expertise. These ladies are just as much at home with Gianni Schicchi as they are with The Little Shop of Horrors. The Divas begin their show deep in the classical repertoire with well-known arias from Carmen to Samson and Delilah. They then move to a Broadway/movie medley that includes Dreamgirls, Big Spender and Let the Sunshine In. Andrea Jones-Sojola (Cast 1) and Jamet Pittman (Cast A) will break your heart with Sarah’s solo Your Daddy’s Son, from Ragtime…. … The six, who sing together (or alone) with a high-voltage electricity, move into jazz/blues after the first act. A standout for me in this section is Strange Fruit. In Cast 1, Laurice Lanier unleashes her warm, enveloping contralto on this anguished lament for lynched African-Americans while Jones-Sojola sings a chilling obligato. In Cast A, Boston and Pittman also make the moment memorable. Gonzalez-Nacer (Cast 1) does a pert and sexy turn channelling Cab Calloway with Minnie the Moocher - complete with a zoot suit…They sure pulled it back in the barn-burning, show-ending gospel section. Lanier/Boston led the group through His Eye Is On the Sparrow and it's hard to believe the venerable old spiritual has ever been sung with more grace, elegance and sheer gut-busting emotion.
…Victor Simonson led a very supportive six-piece band. In the face of such talent there is a tendency on the part of the reviewer, desperate for space, to look for some kind of shorthand – to devolve each of the Divas to a single ability, a stage quirk or vocal trait. These ladies are all gifted in too many ways for such simplification… …This is a show to see, savour and remember. This kind of talent doesn’t come this way very often.
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