A Night To Remember

. . . from Out In Hollywood
by Greg Hernandez

A night to remember with Loretta Devine, Lucie Arnaz and more...

Monday was just one of the great nights. I was invited to attend the Actors Fund Musical Mondays, a series of Cabaret events held several times a year in the lobby of the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood. This week was special because instead of just featuring one performer, it was the music of Ron Abel that was sung by a parade of his friends and muses including Lucie Arnaz, Loretta Devine, Valarie Pettiford, Linda Purl, Joely Fisher and others.

The results were awesome with Tony winner Devine really knocking it out of the park on two songs from the forthcoming musical "Bricktop" called "A Place of My Own" and "Queen of the Night." I wish you could have all been there to see what Loretta can do on stage.

I was blown away and can't wait to see this show which, it was announced Monday night, has Whoopi Goldberg on board as a producer. I think Loretta outa make room on her shelf for another Tony based on what I heard at the Pantages. Wow!

Also excellent, and someone I'm so glad to be aware of now, was the amazing Valarie Pettiford, a major talent and Tony nominee for "Fosse." She performed more numbers than anyone else and nailed every single one of them with power and conviction including "Let 'Em Talk," "Where Do I Find Love?" "Same Old Moon," Bye Bye Blackbird" and, in a duet with Joey Gian, "The Way You Look Tonight/Everybody Loves My Baby." She is fantastic!

Lucie Arnaz is Abel's close friend and sometimes professional partner of more than 20years and she came in straight from Hong Kong to dazzle the audience with a pair of numbers. Lucie hopped onto the piano and sang "Until Now" and sounded and looked sensational. Hard to believe that the daughter of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz is in her mid 50s. Lucie dueted with Ron on "Forever's All We Know" and, I swear, I thought she was singing these songs right to me. But actually, she was singing them to her husband, actor Laurence Luckenbill and their very tall son who were sitting just a few feet away.

"Larry was sitting down there and it's an anniversary-type song so I wanted to make sure he knew I was singing it to him!" Lucie told me after the show.

Lucie told the audience that the first time she heard the song was one night in Vegas when her brother, Desi Arnaz Jr., sang it with his then-wife Linda Purl who was wonderful singing "Just to Be Near You" at the event. She is also ageless, looking much like she did in all those TV movies and on "Matlock" with Andy Griffith.

I also give major kudos to Joely was a real hoot. She walks onto the stage and says: "f@*#! I have to follow Valarie Pettiford." Then she did a highly entertaining "All the Good Men Are Gay."

Ain't it the truth!!!

After the show, I gabbed with Ron, Lucie and Linda. I gushed that I was just about speechless after watching the show. "I'm happy that you had such a good time tonight and that the music pleased you because I think he's just a remarkable, gifted artist," Lucie said. "Ron Abel, there isn't anybody else like him....I love standards but I also like to have a new way of doing stuff and Ron's take on songs has just always been unique and classic and fresh. I love singing the stuff he writes but I also love the arrangements that he does. He's fun to be with on stage. He's always listening."

Lucie said she and Linda are "the best of friends. I adore this woman." Her former sister-in-law was standing nearby and I told Miss Purl what a thrill it was to see another side of someone you know from television when they hit the stage. She said: "I felt the same way the first time I saw Jason Alexander. It was like, 'Oh my gosh! Who knew?' Or Hal Linden or Lucie. It's fun. It's a joy and also as a parent - I know for Lucie it's the same thing - you can do your concerts, go out for two or three days then you can come home and get back to doing soccer runs. It's a good balance."