MUSE/IQUE Presents RESPECT: The Women Whose Voices Changed Everything in September

MUSE/IQUE continues its yearlong concert series, MUSIC = POWER with RESPECT: The Women Whose Voices Changed Everything, Friday September 8 and Saturday September 9 at 7:30 pm at The Wilshire Ebell Theatre, 4401 W 8th St, in Mid-City.  Joining Artistic and Music Director Rachael Worby and the MUSE/IQUE orchestra onstage as guest performers for these  concerts are Crystal Starr, Mary Bridget Davies, Rachel Gonzalez, Suzanna Guzmán, Michole Briana White and Wendie Malick.
 
This season, we examine the visionary artists who made music that shaped public consciousness and drove meaningful social change. When artists have power, they open our minds to new perspectives and new possibilities. Legions of legendary artists have raised their voices to move humanity forward. From Marian Anderson to Dolly Parton, this show highlights the singers and songwriters who fought for women's rights and recognition of their power and agency through song. The concert salutes Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Celia Cruz, Whitney Houston, Etta James, Barbra Streisand, Judy Garland, Nina Simone, Janis Joplin, Tina Turner, Aretha Franklin, and more.
 
Songs to be performed include “Both Sides Now,” “Guantanamera,” “Jolene,” “I Will Always Love You,” “Don't Rain on My Parade,” “I Put a Spell on You,” “River Deep, Mountain High,” and “Respect.”
 
To learn more about membership and attendance, please visit muse-ique.com/membership.

• MUSE/IQUE membership begins at $225 and MUSE/IQUE members receive complimentary admission to all MUSE/IQUE events. 
• Admission for non-members starts with a trial membership of $100, which includes three consecutive performances.

For information, please visit muse-ique.com.

Two-time Hollywood Music award-winning recording artist Crystal Starr, as The Source Magazine calls her “The Girl with the Golden Voice,” released her new single “Good Times” this July, which hit #3 on the pop charts in the UK. As an artist, she encapsulates the iconic pop stars of the past and present: Jennifer Lopez, Alicia Keys, Tina Turner and Whitney Houston. She has starred on Broadway in the hit musical Baby, It's You! and has been captivating audiences all over the world. She has performed with and opened for acts, such as Ariana Grande, Lady Gaga, Stevie Wonder, Kanye West, John Legend, Paul Stanley, Drake, Lady Gaga, and many, many more.

The acclaimed stage actor and blues rock singer Mary Bridget Davies began her career performing at blues jams in Cleveland. In 2005, she achieved a significant milestone by winning the lead role in the touring production of Love, Janis. Notably, Davies toured Europe with Janis Joplin's original band, Big Brother and the Holding Company. In 2012, she further solidified her reputation by taking over the lead role in A Night with Janis Joplin during its tour. Subsequently, in 2013, she made her Broadway debut, earning a prestigious Tony Award nomination for Best Lead Actress in a Musical and winning the 2014 Theater World Award. Her upcoming live album will be released this September.

LA native singer-songwriter Rachel Gonzalez is a blend of her soul driven melodies & intentionally honest storytelling. Her voice carries her message of healing straight to your heart and is something you can't quite ignore. Growing up singing in church and high school choir sparked her love for music, and her time at Berklee College of Music inspired her to develop her voice and sound as an artist. Now, she is pursuing her love for music as an artist, vocalist, and songwriter creating music of many different facets with so many, amazing musicians.

Two-time Emmy Award winner and 2023 Los Angeles Opera Legacy Ambassador Suzanna Guzmán is known for the title role in Bizet's Carmen. Hailed by TIME magazine as “a fire-eating singing actress!,” she has appeared in many world premieres creating Paula in Daniél Catán's Florencia, and The Duchess in Menotti's Goya, and appearing in Yuval Sharon's Hopscotch and Nicholas Lell Benavides's Caravana de Mujeres. Honors include GRAMMY nod for Best Classical CD with Southwest Chamber Music and Tambuco; Nederlanders Lifetime Achievement Award, 1st Place Western Region Metropolitan Opera, Helen Hayes Award nomination for Best Actress in Amahl and the Night Visitors at the Kennedy Center, honorary DMus from Occidental College, to name a few. Her weekly radio show “Sunday Evening Opera” ran for nearly twenty seasons, and she starred as host of the PBS TV series, “Open Call.” This season includes Abuela Claudia - In the Heights with Rubicon Theatre, Ms. Lynch – Grease, and Mother Abbess -McCoy Rigby's The Sound of Music. Guzman is a company member of The Industry (experimental opera) and a longtime performing artist for the education department of The Music Center.

While savvy television viewers will no doubt recognize prolific small-screen actress Wendie Malick from such popular series as “Baywatch,” “Just Shoot Me,” and HBO's smart and sexy comedy “Dream On,” the late '90s found her feature career warming up in such independent efforts as “Manna From Heaven” (2001) and “Bathroom Boy”(2003). A native of Buffalo, NY, who first found work gracing the catwalks of New York, Paris, and Madrid, it was a small role in the 1978 comedy “How to Pick up Girls” that provided the aspiring actress with her first screen break. In addition to her screen work, Wendie Malick met husband Richard Erickson while building homes for poor families in Mexico, and she also helps the homeless with her work for the Adopt-A-Family organization.
 
Michole Briana White is a seasoned veteran in film, theatre, television and commercials. She currently stars in the STARZ hit series, “Black Mafia Family” and is proud to be in the final season of “Atlanta” Episode 4, “LightSkinned-ed” (FX). She starred in James Wan's film “Malignant,” as well as the Gotham Award winning web series “The Strange Eyes of Dr. Myes” and is co-creator of its upcoming sequel. She was recently seen on Dick Wolf's “FBI International” (CBS), Michael Bay's “Songbird,” and can be seen in the soon to be released “Baby Blue” directed by Adam Mason. White has also recently recurred on Amazon's last season of “Goliath,” Netflix's “Dead to Me,” and Dr. Dre's “Vital Signs.” Michole was a series regular on TV's “100 Center Street,” directed by Sydney Lumet, in the films “25th Hour” and “She Hate Me,” directed by Spike Lee and starred in Ava DuVernay's first feature, “I Will Follow.” Michole's theatrical credits include the original Off-Broadway production of August Wilson's Jitney as well as Radio Golf at The Goodman Theatre and The Kennedy Center, Suzan Lori-Parks' Fu*king A at The NY Public Theatre and the musical When Jazz had the Blues, playing Lena Horne. She has received the Obie, Ovation, NAACP, Audelco and Drama Critics Circle Awards for her work.

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