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REYNOLDS
ENTERTAINS WITH GUSTO
Enduring
Actress Bridges Glamorous Past
With
Contemporary Edginess
By
Dave Tianen
2001
It's a question
that had crossed my mind, and the star herself posed it early in
the evening - "Debbie Reynolds, what's she going to do?
Probably sing "Tammy" all night long."
Wednesday night
at Potawatomi Bingo Casino's Northern Lights Theater, a better
question might have been, "What's she not going to
do?"
Over the course
of the evening, Reynolds sang along with clips from her old
movies, did impersonations of Bette Davis, Crystal
Gayle, Barbra Streisand and Zsa Zsa Gabor,
sang "You Made Me Love You" to old movies of Clark
Gable, told naughty jokes, reminisced about her marital
misadventures and growing up poor in Texas, showed bloopers from
old movies, introduced herself as Princess Leia's mother, talked
about hanging out with Willie Nelson, and at the very,
very end she sang "Tammy."
In her long ago
movie heyday, Debbie Reynolds' cute girl-next-door innocence
made her a star. At 69, girl-next-door innocence is a bit tough
to pull off, so now Reynolds charms a crowd with old-style movie
star glamour and showbiz pizzazz.
She came on
stage in a glittery red gown slit to the hip ("I just let
the one leg stick out because everything else is shot") and
a blond wig that looked like it could stand up to a hit from a
cruise missile.
All these years
later, she can laugh about being on the losing end of the
triangle with Eddie Fisher and Liz Taylor and then
finding out her much older and very rich second husband was a
chronic gambler who eventually blew both their fortunes.
Singing along
with Sinatra to a clip from "The Tender Trap"
she quipped: "He was a good kisser. I definitely married
the wrong singer."
Reynolds is a
link to the glamorous old Hollywood of the '40s and '50s. I
don't think most people would count her among the 5,000 best
singers on the planet, but she has so much vitality and good
humor that technical shortcomings don't much matter.
At the end she
finally got around to "Tammy." As an expression of
puppy love it doesn't really fit a grandma, but again Reynolds'
charm put it over.
"This is
my one big hit," she said to the sellout crowd, "and
it'll only take a minute."
How can you not
like a lady like that?
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