Lincoln Center's American Songbook Features Lea DeLaria

On February 5, "Orange is the New Black" star Lea DeLaria will wow the tony crowds as part of Lincoln Center's American Songbook series. DeLaria astonishes with her gutsy vocals and superhuman scatting technique in an unforgettably entertaining evening.

"The Appel Room at the Lincoln Center is one of the world's great concert halls," DeLaria told EDGE. "I cannot wait to belt out the likes of Harold Arlen, Richard Rodgers and David Bowie with Columbus Circle and Central Park in the background."

Long admired for her innovative jazz covers of rock staples and a favorite of the city's nightclub scene, DeLaria has been making waves since stepping onstage at "The Arsenio Hall Show" in 1993 as one of television's first openly gay female celebrities.

"Lea has been part of this series as a guest in many shows over the years, but we never had the right opportunity to book her a solo show," said Charles Cermele, producer of Contemporary Programming at Lincoln Center. "All her life, her career has led her to accentuate different areas of her incredible skill set -- to be an openly lesbian comic at a time when that was not a popular idea, and then to go on and reinvent roles on Broadway that had been played by men. She's a remarkable person who has broken walls, pushed envelopes and crashed through glass ceilings through her own personal integrity."

Although DeLaria may have seemed to achieve overnight stardom with her role as Big Boo in the Netflix hit series, "Orange is the New Black," in reality, DeLaria's multi-faceted career as a comedian, actress and jazz musician has spanned decades. She has been in countless TV series ("Awkward," "Californication," "Law and Order SVU," "Will and Grace" and "Friends" to name a few), and movies ("First Wives Club," "Dear Dumb Diary," "Edge of Seventeen.")

She's received Obie and Theater World Awards, and a Drama Desk nomination for her appearance as Hildy in the Public Theatre's revival of "On The Town," an Ovation nomination for "The Boys from Syracuse," and has played both Eddie and Dr. Scott in the gender-bending musical "The Rocky Horror Show."

DeLaria's jazz, alternating between powerful and subtle, focuses on be-bop and swing, and her five records out on the Warner Jazz and Classics label feature unique interpretations of standards ("Night and Day"), Broadway classics ("All That Jazz" and "The Ballad of Sweeney Todd") and Top 40 ("I'm Just a Girl" and "Black Hole Sun").

Lincoln Center's acclaimed American Songbook series runs through March ?and it has several iconic performers that greatly appeal to the LGBT audience, including ?DeLaria, Me'Shell Ndegeocello, Joey Arias and Cheyenne Jackson. But Cermele said it's the quality of an artist's work that they look at.

"We watch people closely for their commitment to concerting, and Lea is one of the people that we've worked with for a long time," said Cermele. "The career arc of her albums and projects has come together to be the perfect storm. It is the absolute right time for this. I hope the Appel Room is completely full of fans, and with people who have recently come to love her because of 'Orange is the New Black' and who had no idea that she's been a great jazz singer for years."

And on Wednesday, February 11, fans can enjoy lesbian singer "Me'Shell Ndegeocello: Pour Une �me Souveraine-A Dedication to Nina Simone." Ndegeocello is a modern day troubadour who straddles the line between spoken word and jazz, skilled at funk, soul, R&B, hip-hop and rock. She will give lauded tribute to civil rights activist, national treasure, and High Priestess of Soul Nina Simone.

"Me'Shell Ndegeocello's take on Nina Simone; there are so many levels of importance about that event, both as a tribute to the most important African-American artist of 20th century and because of the fact that it's so overdue," said Cermele. "How can you do something called the American Songbook without Nina Simone?"

LGBT fans will also appreciate the February 25 show, "Joey Arias: A Centennial Tribute to Billie Holiday." This performance artist and gender-bending chanteuse was signed to Capital Records at the age of 14 with the rock band Purlie, and became shortly thereafter one of the original members of the Groundlings, the famous comedy troupe in LA.
In the '80s, he relocated to New York and was quickly swept up in the burgeoning 1980s downtown scene of artists and musicians including Keith Haring and Ann Magnuson. He developed a cabaret act channeling the vocal style and mannerisms of the legendary Billie Holiday, and in the early 1990s he covered the songs of Lady Day in a show called "Strange Fruit" that ran for over a year. He performed weekly shows at the Bar d'O for a decade and spent six years in Vegas starring as the MC in Cirque du Soleil's "Zumanity." He returned to New York and starred in "Arias with a Twist," a collaboration with puppeteer Basil Twist.

"It's clear that the Billie Holiday centennial only happens each 100 years, so having Joey in this series this year is so right in so many ways," said Cermele.

And on March 11, openly-gay Broadway baby Cheyenne Jackson will perform with Lindsay Mendez and Alexandra Silber in "In Need of Music: The Songs of Ben Toth."

Toth has been hailed as "part of the new American songbook." Considered a singer's composer, Toth has served as musical director and vocal coach for an unparalleled list of Broadway stars, including Kristin Chenoweth, Idina Menzel and Mandy Patinkin.

This intimate showcase will be an evening of premieres: "Marriage" and "Out West," created with Pulitzer Prize and Oscar-winning playwright John Patrick Shanley; a song cycle developed with Tony Award-winning lyricist Michael Korie; and works from Toth's in-development musical with Todd Almond.

"I'm not being coy about the LGBT artists, but in general we work very hard to be inclusive so that 'American Songbook' means just that: it's a series about storytelling through song, and it's immensely important to the Lincoln Center to include everyone's story," said Cermele.

The series will also appeal to younger audiences; a demographic the Lincoln Center would do well to attract. Cermele is a fan of fans of all ages, but he does appreciate how the series could appeal to multigenerational audiences. In the intimate Appel Room, younger people can enjoy shows with their parents, who will remember listening to similar songs when they were in college.

Those ladies who lunch, who heard the material on NPR or who want to see Joey Arias costumes probably won't head to downtown venues to catch it, but would feel welcome at Lincoln Center. And those fans of DeLaria, who may have missed her concerts in the past few years as she was busy shooting films and TV series, can now have access to her musical stylings. This is what Cermele most looks forward to.

"Like all my children, they all seem equal to me; there's something so unique about every event," said Cermele. "But I'm personally looking forward to Lea's show because I'm such a fan, and I know that's one of those shows that even as producer who is worrying about everything, I can just sit back and be transported by the great artistry."

The Lincoln Center American Songbook will be held in the Appel Room at Jazz at Lincoln Center, 60th and Broadway. Tickets are $35.

For information, visit http://americansongbook.org/events