Photos: Laurie Roldan Encores A SONG FOR YOU: THE MUSIC OF KAREN CARPENTER at 54 Below

On November 11th, West Coaster Laurie Roldan returned to the NYC cabaret scene with an encore of her cabaret show A SONG FOR YOU: THE MUSIC OF Karen Carpenter.  The San Francisco vocalist premiered the entertainment in May at The Green Room 42 and returned to The Big Apple with a cast of musicians and singers that included her daughter, Bridgette Kinsella.  For her program, the ebullient and excited Roldan presented an evening that was one part tribute show and one part memoir, sharing with the audience the resonance that Karen Carpenter has always had in her life, and hanging the legendary pop singer’s music on a framework built on Roldan’s own journey.  Among the topics discussed during the seventy-five minute concert were the family into which Roldan was born, the family that she has made, the ever-turbulent teenage years, the bullying that came with those times, and the value in faith-based tenacity that aided in a resilient insistence upon following her dreams of life upon the wicked stage.  With positivity energy, optimism, and an unshakably sunny disposition, Ms. Roldan told her triumphant story while weaving it around the music of her idol, with whom she shares some surprising vocal similarities.  Roldan has a pleasant singing voice with a lovely lower register that glides nicely through some of Karen Carpenter’s iconic performances, sometimes with strong resemblance to the recordings fans of THE CARPENTERS know by heart.

Among the songs of the late music star presented on November 11th were the smash hits “Close to You,” “Rainy Days and Mondays,” “Sing,” “Top of The World,” “We’ve Only Just Begun,” and “It’s Going To Take Some Time,” as well as lesser-known tracks from the discography like “Bless The Beasts and the Children,” “Those Good Old Dreams,” and “I Need to Be in Love.”   Roldan was backed by an industrious band made up of drummer Mitch Bowers, bassist Magda Kress and Musical Director Nicolas Perez, all of whom did a fine job recreating the original Carpenters arrangements to which the affable Roldan stuck, mostly, occasionally layering in her own vocal stylings in a sort of Karen Carpenter/Laurie Roldan collaboration.  Where the creative team chose to show a little different flavoring was with the background singers, Taylor Noll, Christopher Boccard (who dueted with Rolden), and Ms. Kinsella, who also did a duet with her mom in a sweetly touching and uplifting moment.  Splitting center stage with their headliner, the three background singers chimed in now and then with some of the famous harmonies created by Richard Carpenter for he and his sister, while, other times, opting out Mr. Carpenter’s treatments in favor of different vocals altogether, or silence, so that the weight of Roldan’s performance could remain in the center spotlight.  Roldan’s message throughout is clear: this is her time to sing, whatever the naysayers throughout her life have said, and she intends to keep raising her voice in joyful song, appropriate because joy is what Karen Carpenter brought to many people through her work, and, looking around the room at 54 Below and seeing the number of people singing along (which Roldan encouraged), Roldan’s A SONG FOR YOU: THE MUSIC OF Karen Carpenter appears to be a joyful night of cabaret, as well.

BroadwayWorld Cabaret invites you to see Laurie Roldan in action in this exclusive photo essay.

Find great shows to see on the 54 Below website HERE.

Laurie Roldan has a website HERE.

Photos by Stephen Mosher