<\/p>One of the most fun and rewarding parts of my job at The Pierre continues to be working with the Broadway community. Their talent, generosity and grace never cease to amaze me\u2013as it did last Monday at Kevin Smith Kirkwood\u2019s Classic Whitney: Alive!\u00a0<\/a><\/strong>\n

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Whitney as channeled by Kevin!<\/p><\/div>\n
Our satisfying meal was the perfect preamble to Kevin\u2019s dazzling show. From the moment the lights go down and he enters the room wearing angel wings and declaring, \u201cWhitney is in the building!\u201d you are transported to another time. A time when Whitney was deservedly the queen of pop.<\/p>\n
After opening with a rousing rendition of \u201cJoy To The World\u201d (from the movie, The Preacher\u2019s Wife), Kevin dons a patriotic track suit as he belts out \u201cOne Moment in Time,\u201d Whitney\u2019s majestic anthem for the 1988 Summer Olympics. Then, slipping into a sparkly one-piece jumpsuit, he raises the roof with classic hits like \u201cSaving All My Love For You,\u201d \u201cI Have Nothing,\u201d \u201cIt\u2019s Not Right But It\u2019s Okay\u201d and \u201cExhale (Shoop, Shoop).\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n
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Kevin rocked this one-piece Whitney-esque jumpsuit<\/p><\/div>\n
That Kevin not only loved the late, great Miss Houston but has studied her most memorable performances is apparent throughout his 90-minute set. He infuses his soulful singing with Whitney\u2019s distinctive mannerisms and on-stage banter telling her story. Having had the great good fortune of seeing Whitney<\/a> at the height of her career in 1993, I can honestly say that Kevin becomes the very essence of her during the show.\u00a0With his powerful pipes and glamorous fits-like-a-glove costume changes\u2014and brilliant support from Musical Director Drew Wutke\u2013 Kevin transcends impersonation and makes you forget you\u2019re not actually watching Whitney.<\/p>\n
Some of the night\u2019s best numbers are when Kevin is paired with <\/span>backup singers playing key people in Whitney\u2019s life (including mother Cissy and brother Gary). One showstopping duet\u2014\u201cWhen You Believe,\u201d as performed by Whitney and Mariah Carey at the 1999 Grammys. The gal portraying Mariah nailed the diva\u2019s vocal trills and melodramatic gestures.<\/p>\n
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Encore, Encore! The grand finale (photo credit: Neal Bennington).<\/p><\/div>\n
The evening ended with \u201cI Will Always Love You\u201d and an encore of \u201cI\u2019m Every Woman.\u201d Kevin pulled out all the stops for both songs, garnering a well-deserved standing ovation.<\/p>\n
Afterward, Lori and I had the pleasure of congratulating Kevin and Drew. They both spoke of how Classic Whitney: Alive! was created with love to be a joyful celebration of the beautiful music and memories she gave us.<\/p>\n
Mission accomplished.<\/p>\n
For more info about Kevin\u2019s upcoming shows, visit his website<\/a>. Future Whitney dates are in the works!<\/p>\n<\/body>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
One of the most fun and rewarding parts of my job at The Pierre continues to be working with the Broadway community. Their talent, generosity and grace never cease to amaze me\u2013as it did last Monday at Kevin… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"New Blog Post: Kevin Smith Kirkwood's Dazzling Homage to Whitney","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[48,13,80,186,202],"tags":[215,216,217],"class_list":["post-770","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-broadway-shows","category-concerts","category-pop-artists","category-the-pierre","category-the-pierre-hotel","tag-joes-pub","tag-kevin-smith-kirkwood","tag-whitney-houston"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"cc_featured_image_caption":{"caption_text":false,"source_text":false,"source_url":false},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4J0fq-cq","jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.newyorkcitygal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/770","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.newyorkcitygal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.newyorkcitygal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.newyorkcitygal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.newyorkcitygal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=770"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/www.newyorkcitygal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/770\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":779,"href":"http:\/\/www.newyorkcitygal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/770\/revisions\/779"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.newyorkcitygal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.newyorkcitygal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.newyorkcitygal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}