Hello everyone!
Happy Monday! I know it is rainy but we had a wonderful weekend and rain is also part of the beauty of Mother Nature!
Pretty soon the holidays are going to be coming our way BUT.... before we get bombarded with Christmas music everywhere, I wanted to fascinate you with my exclusive interview with Spotlight On YOU's multi-talented featured musical director for November... BOBBY PEACO!
For those of you who don't know Bobby Peaco, I want to start with a little bio:
In an interview with Playbill magazine, Jerry Herman (composer/lyricist of Hello Dolly, Mame, La Cage aux Folles, etc.) called Bobby Peaco “The best show pianist I have ever heard.” Bobby worked closely with Mr. Herman and appeared in his Off-Broadway revue Showtune. At the Helen Hayes Theater in Nyack, NY, he was the onstage pianist/music director for writer/director Blake Edwards’ Big Rosemary. For his work over the years in cabaret and nightclubs, he has received 9 MAC awards and 3 Bistro awards, and has music directed, among many others, Julie Wilson, Dawn Hampton, Terri White, Kristine Zbornik, and Emmy nominee Jackie Hoffman. With Ms. Hoffman, he composes music for her original songs, many of which can be heard on the CD Jackie Hoffman Live at Joe’s Pub.
I don't know Bobby very well but I've seen him perform and his reputation proceeded him! I am eager to have him come join and play with us at the Spotlight!
For this interview, I asked Bobby the following questions:
1) Can you share with us an interesting fact that most people don’t know about you?
I recently found out I can make a mean bifteki. Ask a Greek what that is.
2) What started your passion for music? How did it all began?
In the house I grew up in in Maine we had a broken player piano. The keys worked but not the player mechanism. When I was 7 I asked to take piano lessons, I have no idea what possessed me. After my first lesson, my piano teacher, Mrs. Hazel Grant, told my mother I would last maybe a couple of weeks and quit, because I was fidgety. I didn't quit, but I'm still fidgety.
3) In all your years in music, do you have a particularly interesting story that you'd like to share with the readers?
I have hundreds, and hundreds more I've forgotten. What to choose?
I don't know if this is interesting to anybody, but it was a highlight for me: Two of the earliest movies I remember seeing as a kid were Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music (shows you how old I am).
In '99 I was the onstage pianist/conductor for a show directed by Blake Edwards, and his wife Julie Andrews was like our den mother during rehearsals, bringing us food and being all-around supportive. During one break in rehearsal, I had to hop down from stage to ask Blake a question, and Julie Andrews said, in that perfect accent of hers, "You play brilliantly, Bobby!" Maria Von Trapp/Mary Poppins just told me I play brilliantly! Could've died and gone to heaven.
4) What motivates your creativity and passion for life? What inspires your music? Name three things that never fails to put a smile on your face!
I can't say what motivates or inspires me, I just do what I do and can't imagine doing anything else. 3 things that make me smile? My husband, performing with Jackie Hoffman, and just being in the same room with Kristine Zbornik.
5) Share with us what you have in the pipeline for us to be on the lookout for!
I've done many shows with Jackie Hoffman this year ("Memoircita") at Lincoln Center, Sag Harbor, L.A. and San Francisco. Currently there are no bookings for that, but I hope that changes. Nov. 7 and Jan. 17 will be encore performances of Helane Blumfield's show at the Laurie Beechman ("Tight Pants & Tears of Joy: My Love Affair with Tom Jones & Neil Diamond") There are other things in the works but no specifics I can give yet.
TO FIND OUT MORE AND EXPERIENCE SINGING WITH BOBBY PEACO FOR YOURSELVES, JOIN US NEXT FRIDAY AT THE SPOTLIGHT WITH YOUR FAVORITE TUNE!
UNTIL THEN, WISHING YOU ALL LIGHT AND LOVE AND DON'T FORGET TO VOTE TOMORROW!!!
SEE YOU AT THE SPOTLIGHT NEXT FRIDAY!!