The Interview: A Tony, a Trumpet, and a Whole Lot of Attitude – front mezz junkies, Theater News

A Frontmezzjunkies Interview: Debbie Gravitte and her role in Big Band Broadway

Conducted by Michael Raver

If Broadway had a brass section and a martini, it would sound a lot like Debbie Gravitte. From January 29 through February 1, Westport Country Playhouse will swing straight into the golden age of razzmatazz with Big Band Broadway, starring the Tony Award–winning force of nature who calls Redding, CT home—and has spent the rest of her career politely conquering the world. Backed by a sizzling six-piece band, Gravitte delivers Broadway’s greatest hits with the kind of sassy authority that makes you wonder why all major life announcements aren’t sung with trumpet accompaniment.

This is not a polite evening of toe-tapping nostalgia. This is Broadway belting its heart out in high heels, with classics like “I Enjoy Being a Girl,” “You Gotta Have a Gimmick,” and the Tony-winning “Mister Monotony” strutting front and center. Having played everywhere from Birdland to PBS specials, and with a résumé that reads like a love letter to American musical theater, Gravitte brings star power, swing, and just enough wink to remind us that the Big Band era didn’t fade away. It just learned how to steal the spotlight all over again.

FRONT MEZZ: “Big Band Broadway” fuses old-school swing with classic show tunes. What is it about the Big Band sound that still makes Broadway lyrics snap, crackle, and flirt in a way no other style quite can?

Debbie Gravitte: All of the original Big Band songs that came out of that time  (let’s say the 30’s and 40’s ) were classics and the hits of the day. In days of yore, (she said), Broadway was the place where all the standards started and what the public listened to on the radio and in their homes. Most, if not all, Broadway songs have to include the magical ingredients of being hummable and relatable!…So how great to do all that with a Big Band!

FM: You won a Tony Award for singing “Mister Monotony,” a song that skewers sameness with razor-sharp wit. How do you keep material you’ve performed for decades feeling dangerously alive, both for yourself and for today’s audiences?

DG: Mmmm…decades??? I guess you’re right! I will most probably be singing “Mister Monotony” until my final waking hour. I feel so attached to it, and I love to sing it, and I love the fact that Irving Berlin was still alive when I opened on Broadway and sang this song.

FM: From Birdland to PBS to symphony halls around the world, you’ve sung these songs in wildly different spaces. What’s the secret sauce to making a concert feel intimate and personal, even when the music itself is gloriously larger than life?

DG: This is a great question. I think that being a performer essentially means that if someone is standing (or sitting) in front of you, you deliver, so it sort of doesn’t matter where it happens!

FM: You’ve worked with legends, opened for George Burns and Jay Leno, and sung with more than 200 orchestras. What’s one lesson from the greats that still guides you every time you walk onstage?

DG: KEEP YOUR SENSE OF HUMOR ABOUT IT ALL…good or bad!

FM: As a Redding resident performing at Westport Country Playhouse, does performing in your home state change the emotional stakes—and if so, how does that sense of “local pride” sneak into your performance?

DG: I have so much pride in the fact that I can do a show with incredible musicians in a beautiful, historical venue and sleep in my own bed the same night! And by the way, I have spent a lot of time in Connecticut after being raised in California, and I absolutely love everything about the state, so there’s that!

For tickets to see Debbie Gravitte’s Big Band Broadway, visit www.westportplayhouse.org