KATHLEEN TURNER…Finding My Voice: Show Review by Robin Gorman Newman
(photo credit: Jeremy Daniel)
It’s been some time since I’ve seen screen siren Kathleen Turner in a film but have been a long time fan. So, when I heard she was doing a one night event on December 16th at Town Hall, I seized the opportunity to attend.
Dressed sleekly in black and shifting from high chair to high chair, she performed like a celebrated champ.
Delivering a full two hour cabaret-style show featuring story and song, with intermission, she is clearly much beloved, and in turn gave much love and gusto to her enthusiastic fans. I had the pleasure of sitting almost directly behind her daughter Rachel, and it was fun, at times, to watch the performance through her eyes….especially when Turner called out to her in the audience.
While Turner was in admirable voice, singing is not her forte……though the trademark throaty tone she is known for shone thru strongly.
What was most engaging to me were the stories she shared. The rise of her 42 year career and some family insight including growing up as a diplomat’s daughter… though I felt she might have dug in deeper. What was it like, for example, to work with some of the noted leading men she has starred in films with? Some juicy details would have been appealing….to feel like a bit of a fly on a wall.
She also took on important topics including the Pandemic, women’s rights, and her challenges and breakthrough living with rheumatoid arthritis…though each felt like somewhat of a throwaway.
Some tales she shared were both funny and endearing, including one about an ardent young fan who went so far as to have Turner’s name tattooed on her butt. If that’s not devotion, I don’t know what is! Turner was impressed and stunned at the same time.
Turner is definitely a trooper, both personally and professionally, and kudos to her for adding another notch in her esteemed career belt. She is the epitome of perseverance, and that is an inspiration.
The show featured musical direction, arrangements and accompaniment from Mark Janas, and the production designer is Ed McCarthy.
Band members included Seth Harkness nad Ritt Henn.
Kathleen Turner Finding My Voice was directed by Andy Gale and produced by Ken Davenport, with support from the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant (SVOG). Visit www.KathleenTurnerOnTour.com.
Kathleen Turner is a two-time Tony nominee for her roles in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?. Turner toured in Red Hot Patriot: The Kick-Ass Wit of Molly Ivins and performed Joan Didiion’s The Year of Magical Thinking at Arena Stage in Washington, D.C. She famously supplied the voice of temptress Jessica Rabbit in the film Who Framed Roger Rabbit, was nominated for Golden Globe Awards for Romancing the Stone, Body Heat, War of the Roses and Prizzi’s Honor, Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations for Peggy Sue Got Married. Her recent “electrifying” (Vanity Fair) reunion with longtime collaborator Michael Douglas on the final season of The Kominsky Method (Netflix) has garnered critical acclaim and she has been tapped to play a foul-mouthed lobbyist in HBO’s forthcoming limited series The White House Plumbers (from the team behind Veep.)
Tags: body heat, cabaret, kathleen turner finding my voice, ken davenport, nyc, romancing the stone, theatree, town hall
