Admittedly, I raised an eyebrow upon learning that PCPA’s summer season finale at Solvang Festival Theater was a one-person show. It’s risky to saddle a single performer with a grand culmination, especially following the big-cast/big-energy extravaganzas of Waitress, Holmes and Watson, and Something Rotten. However, after experiencing the show, I can confidently report that Songs for Nobodies is exquisite, with bring-down-the-house energy — a perfect send-off to summer theater. Impressive singing and acting merge with sleek stagecraft in five storytelling monologues, each about an iconic vocalist, each with musical interludes in the style of the scene’s subject.
Star Bethany Thomas’s powerful performance earned her a much-deserved ovation. Her nuanced physicality and chameleon-like vocals create impressive illusions of legendary performers Judy Garland, Patsy Cline, Edith Piaf, Billie Holiday, and Maria Callas. In each scene, a “nobody” tells their story of crossing paths with one of these divas as though it’s the most meaningful anecdote of their lives. A restroom attendant fixes Judy Garland’s hem, an usher changes a lightbulb in Patsy Cline’s dressing room, and a writer looking for a break snags a Billie Holiday feature. A nanny aboard the Onassis yacht spies the wealthy playing games of romance, and a French resistance fighter in a concentration camp is saved by an Edith Piaf concert. It’s a moving production that shares the power of these performers’ musical influence in a satisfying proxy of the “real thing.”
The production is a striking package, with staging and lighting design that provide a perfect undercurrent of emphasis to support the many moods of the piece. Don’t miss Songs for Nobodies, running in Solvang through September 7. Click here for tickets.
