Songs & Confessions of a One-Time Waitress
Linda Lavin, TV’s Alice, comes to Blowing Rock for One-Woman Show

You may know her best as would-be singer Alice Hyatt, a single mom who worked days slinging hash at Mel’s Diner on the popular TV sitcom Alice, but in real life, actress Linda Lavin is a real (and really great) singer who has been pounding the New York pavement since the 1960s, working clubs, off-Broadway and basically anywhere she was allowed to warble a note. Her gumption, courage and focus bred a career that has earned the Portland, Maine, native two Golden Globes and an Emmy for her television work, as well as a Tony (Broadway Bound) and numerous other theatre awards and nominations for sensational turns in such lauded shows as Gypsy, The Diary of Anne Frank, The Tale of the Allergists Wife and Paul Rudnick’s latest play, The New Century, for which Lavin just received the 2008 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play. Currently Lavin is serving up a delectable plateful of personal and professional reminiscences and playful music in her autobiographical concert Songs & Confessions of a One-Time Waitress, playing at the Hayes Performing Arts Center in Blowing Rock for one night only, Sept. 21 at 7:30pm.

While this new girl in town tips her apron to Alice, with its familiar theme song and recollections of those years, it only serves as a mouth-watering appetizer to a full-course menu of songs and anecdotes as Lavin shares warm, touching and hilarious morsels that retrace the ups and downs of her career: early stage credits (from The Mad Show to It’s a Bird…It’s a Plane…It’s Superman), TV roles (from Rhoda to Alice) and show-stopping stage appearances. Accompanied by acclaimed pianist Billy Stritch, bassist John Brown (who will also appear at the Hayes Center on Oct. 5 with his own quintet) and Lavin’s husband Steve Bakunas on drums, Lavin’s a la carte setlist appeals to both showtune-lovin’ fans and those with more farflung tastes. There’s “The Boy From” (the Stephen Sondheim/Mary Rodgers song Lavin originated in 1996’s The Mad Show), a rousing “You’ve Got Possibilities,” and a Gypsy pairing of “Small World and “Together,” as well as 1912’s “So Is Your Old Lady,” a sumptuous “Long Ago and Far Away” and a jazzy “Hey, Look Me Over.”

Critics are unanimous that Lavin, who now makes her home in Wilmington, N.C., where she has renovated the 50-seat Red Barn Studio Theatre, a formerly deserted, decaying filling station, is a pedigreed pro, an elegant and entertaining hostess: “Linda Lavin rules the stage. A splendid actress,” (Ben Brantley, The New York Times). “Bravura performance. She’s spectacular.” (Liz Smith, Newsday). “Impeccable timing...the precision of a soufflé chef.” (Isabel Heblich, Wilmington Star News).

Get your tickets now to what is surely going to be the party of the season.

Linda Lavin: Songs & Confessions of a One-Time Waitress is Sept. 21 at 7:30pm. Tickets are $40 & $32, $26 for students, and are currently available by calling the box office at 828-295-9627. You may pay by credit card or online at www.hayescenter.org. Group and student rates are also available.