We all have favorite performers we wish we could see live. But sometimes they don’t play close enough to us to catch their act. Or they aren’t touring any more at all. Or worse yet, they’re dead! But a select group of very talented individuals regularly invite us to relive the magic of our favorite acts in what are called tribute shows.
A tribute show is normally performed in a concert format. That’s because a very different set of expensive rights, called “grand rights”, are required to use songs in a dramatic context, like the biographical musicals “Jersey Boys”, “MJ” or “Beautiful” do.
But anyone can stand up in costume and sing the hits of their favorite singer in a venue that has a blanket performance license from the music licensing organizations ASCAP, BMI and/or SESAC.
Laws about the use of a performer’s image or trademark mean that most tribute act use a different but similar name. So a Beatles tribute band goes by the name “American English”, and the Prince tribute show in Las Vegas is called “Purple Reign”. Also, individual performers will almost always advertise “So and so as…” next to the name of the real star, to avoid claims of unauthorized use of that performer’s image. Some years ago, “Saturday Night Live” made wonderful fun of this practice, when Tony Bennett appeared in a skit with Alec Baldwin, who was made up supposedly as the real Tony, and the real Tony called himself “Phony Bennett.”
Lisa McClowery
The Baby Boomers and their elders are blessed with the memories of the greatest songs and singers of the mid to late twentieth century. That has lead to a real boom in tribute performances in theaters and clubs around the country, and in the Midwest, where I live. This summer has featured one tribute artist after another at nearby Muncie, Indiana’s Theater at the Center, including the leading Reba McIntyre tribute artist, Corrie Sachs. Chicago area promoter Ron Onesti has also brought several fine tribute artists to his venues at the suburban Des Plaines and Arcada theaters, including the leading Cher tribute artist, Lisa McClowry.
The best tribute performers in the country are often invited to perform in the “Legends in Concert” tribute shows at one of their several venues around the country, and fans of these artists can see several tributes in a single show.
Jim Bailey as Judy Garland
To do a tribute act to a fine singer, you have to be both a fine mimic and a very good singer in your own right. The very best acts manage to both look and sound like the artist they are evoking, often with the aid of elaborate makeup and costume. Perhaps the most famous such performer in living memory was Jim Bailey, who wowed audiences in the 1970’s doing a tribute show either as Peggy Lee, Barbra Streisand or, most famously, Judy Garland. After intermission, he would then come back out and do another set singing as himself. If you aren’t old enough to have seen him back in the day, be sure to look up his Ed Sullivan show performance on YouTube. He was one of a kind.
When a wig and painted makeup won’t suffice, it’s possible to bring in someone to create three dimensional prosthetics to completely change a performer’s face. A few years ago, Las Vegas based impressionist Bob Anderson hired Academy award winning makeup artist Kazu Hiro Tsuji to turn him into the spitting image of Frank Sinatra with full facial prosthetics. The final illusion was stunning.
Jeffery Lyle Segal as Tony Bennett
Many artists either can’t afford prosthetic makeup, or lack the resources to get it done. However, I have worked professionally both as a theater singer and special effects makeup artist in years past. So now, I’m doing a Tony Bennett tribute show as a singer, in prosthetic makeup which I have created myself. I may be the only person in the country who can both sing that well as Tony, and create his own custom prosthetic makeup.
Zazu Hiro turning Bob Anderson into Frank Sinatra
But only one artist I know goes beyond tribute to what almost seems to be reincarnation. Chicago based Angela Ingersoll has been compared her whole life growing up to Judy Garland. She got the chance to play Judy for the first time in the Midwest premiere of
“End of the Rainbow” by Peter Quilter, a play with music about the last years in the life of Judy Garland, at Porchlight Music Theater in 2016. Her Joseph Jefferson Award winning performance led to invitations to reprise her performance in other productions around the country, and a PBS television special, for which she rightfully received an Emmy nomination. She now tours the country in a concert program she calls “Get Happy: Angela Ingersoll Sings Judy Garland,” in which she is simply fantastic.
Ms. Ingersoll not only seems to channel the very spirit of Judy in performance. She also brings her own utterly charming and magnetic personality to her loving and joyful tribute show. I recently had the chance to see her perform at the Metropolis Performing Arts Center in Arlington Heights, Illinois, just northwest of Chicago, and sat down with her to talk about the evolution of her performance. (See the video which accompanies this article).
A great tribute performance truly honors the talent and spirit of another artist. However, a not-so-great performance may seem exploitative, and often is. Right now, a show called “Tony Bennett and Friends” is running in Las Vegas featuring a lead singer, Andrew Van Slee, who neither looks nor sounds anything like Tony. I have only seen him on a Vegas talk show. But from his performance on that talk show, he’s not what I would call a professional caliber singer. In fact, I bet that even his bar of soap goes running, whenever he sings in the shower! So for him to say this is “Tony Bennett”performing takes a lot of chutzpah…and a pretty gullible audience. Not coincidentally, Mr. Van Slee, who is better known as a music producer, is also the producer of the show. It’s a lot easier to get the work when you can hire yourself, whether you are up to the job or not.
So when it comes to tribute shows, where there are no set standards, it’s often a case of
“buyer beware.” But if you are lucky enough to live in the right city at the right time, a tribute show may let you relive your love for the performer of your choice.
