Christine Pedi: Snow Bizness

Christine Pedi

Snow Bizness

Feinstein’s/54 Below, NYC, December 14, 2016

Reviewed by Marilyn Lester for Cabaret Scenes

Now in its ninth year, Snow Bizness with comedienne, impressionist and singer Christine Pedi, has dispensed holiday cheer through song and superb silliness. Tossing out candy treats, Pedi opened the show with a medley of “Winter Wonderland,” “Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!” and the punning “There’s No Business Like Snow Business.” It didn’t take long for comedy to ensue, with impersonations of celebrities singing Christmas carols: Cher, Sarah Palin, Judy Garland, Liza Minnelli, Sophia Vergara and Mae West. Especially hilarious was Bette Davis with “O Holy Night,” as was Billie Holiday tackling “Dreidel, Dreidel, Dreidel” and an uproarious Joan Rivers singing “O Tannenbaum.” For “Taco Bell,” a parody of the Pachelbel “Canon and Gigue in D,” two participants helped Pedi lead the audience in a round of singing “taco salad,” “guacamole” and “fajita.” Hearkening back to her childhood, Pedi and Musical Director/pianist Matthew Martin Ward sang “’Twas the Night Before Christmas” as Fred Waring and the entire chorus of Pennsylvanians.

Not all of Snow Bizness was hilarity. Pedi sang several numbers straight, tearing up on a particularly emotional rendition of “I’ll Be Home for Christmas”/”A Place  Called Home.” As a singer, she has a pleasant voice and delivers her material in a straightforward manner. The phrasing is sound, the modulation balanced, and the result satisfying. Her “Sleigh Ride” was in the slow lane, but the tempo suited a sweet “Count Your Blessings (Instead of Sheep).” She dedicated “Laughing Matters” to the uncertainty and anxiety of the current political climate. But then came the “Twelve Divas,” sung to “The Twelve Days of Christmas,” with Pedi impersonating divas picked randomly from a hat. Thus Eartha Kitt, Suze Orman, Judi Dench, Rosie Perez, Bette Davis, Paula Deen, Ethel Merman, Patti LuPone, Oprah Winfrey, Katharine Hepburn, Barbra Streisand and Elaine Stritch sang uproariously about golden rings, leaping lords, calling birds and all the rest with holiday jollity. The closer was a warm sing-along of the iconic and quite lovely “White Christmas.”

The show returns to Feinstein’s/54 Below on December 28 at 9:30 pm.

Tags: A Place Called Home, American Songbook, Barbra Streisand, Bette Davis, Billie Holiday, Broadway, Broadway Musicals, Cabaret, Cabaret Reviews, Cabaret Scenes, Canon and Gigue in D, CD, Cher, Christine Pedi, Christmas Carols, Clubs, Composers, Count Your Blessings (Instead of Sheep), Dreidel Dreidel Dreidel, Eartha Kitt, Elaine Stritch, Ethel Merman, fajita, Feinstein’s/54 Below, Fred Waring, Great American Songbook, guacamole, I’ll Be Home for Christmas, Jazz, Jazz Singers, Jazz Vocalists, Joan Rivers, Judi Dench, Judy Garland, Katharine Hepburn, Laughing Matters, Let It Snow Let It Snow Let It Snow, Liza Minnelli, lyricists, Mae West, Marilyn Lester, Matthew Martin Ward, Musicals, Musicians, Nightclubs, NYC, O Holy Night, O Tannenbaum, Oprah Winfrey, Pachelbel, Patti LuPone, Paula Deen, Pennsylvanian, Popular Song, Revues, Rosie Perez, Sarah Palin, Show Tunes, Singers, Sleigh Ride, Snow Bizness, Songbook, Sophia Vergara, Standards, Supper Clubs, Suze Orman, Taco Bel, taco salad, The Twelve Days of Christmas, There’s No Business Like Snow Business, Twas the Night Before Christmas, Twelve Divas, Venues, Vocalists, White Christmas, Winter Wonderland

Category: Cabaret Reviews, New York City, New York City Cabaret Reviews, Regional