This past weekend she performed at Upstairs at Vitello’s and this weekend she has three performances at Don’t Tell Mama NYC (Fri-Sun.) She returns to Southern California for a show at the Copa in Palm Springs on March 3rd. I asked Alcorn, via e-mail, about her interest in Midler and the history of the show.

When do you first remember seeing Bette Midler and was there something that resonated with you immediately and/or did you feel an instant connection to who she was and what she was doing?

I’ll never forget it, ya know! (Sorry. Had to.) I was ten years old and it was at the cinema seeing Beaches, of course! I grew up on the classics, the MGM musicals, etc., but there was something more vibrant and energizing about this artist I was watching on the big screen that really struck me. I couldn’t take my eyes off her. She could do it all. She sang, she was hysterical and in the next second could have you balling your eyes out. She’s such an incredible dramatic actress. She was robbed of the Oscar for her performance in The Rose. Robbed!

Your show began in 2009 as a one-off. How does the show you are doing now mirror the show you did nearly 9 years ago?

That’s right! I put together this piece as a showcase to launch me back into the industry after living overseas for a number of years. I invited a bunch of agents who never came, but the general public did and before you knew it we were selling out every month for a year. From there the show has toured nationally, played every major festival in Australia and now has its US debut. To think that our first show was at the Wagga Wagga Country Club in 2009, and this week we will play New York City. It’s incredible.

[Does it strike anyone reading this how ironic it is that Alcorn started at at club that sounds like the kind of venue Delores De Lago would have appeared in?]

The show has definitely evolved. In the early days we were a four-piece doing a 70-minute cabaret show. Now we change up the setlist from show to show, improvise musically and have expanded to a 7-piece for the Australian tours where we play houses of up to 900 seats.

How much did your time with Steve Ostrow inform the show you do? What did you learn from him that surprised you about Bette Midler? [Steve Ostrow opened the Continental Baths in New York in 1968. This is where Bette Midler made her mark as a performer with Barry Manilow accompanying her on the piano.]

My time and training with Steve has been so special. He has never trained me to sound like Bette. We trained classically.

My favorite story he told me was how Bette used to rehearse with the band every week before her bathhouse shows. Steve said she’d rehearse with them every night of the week before her Friday night performance. She’d run and run the songs and get the band exactly where she wanted them. Then on the night she’d get up and do it all differently!

Bette is such a larger-than-life figure on stage. How much do you try to mimic what she does versus put your own spin on it and the material?

I call what I do in this show “channelling” and I love how much freedom that gives me on stage. The foundation of the show is based on Bette and her 70s concerts, but within that larger-than-life character I improvise a lot and use my own material. It’s loosely scripted. I call them more “anchors of ideas.” This role has helped me discover my comedy chops, which has been the most exciting discovery of all. It has forced me to exercise and rely on my improv skills, and now that’s the most thrilling part of it for me. Every show is different based on our audiences. They’re in control more than they realize. Don’t tell them!

Bette Midler has a strong connection with Australia vis-á-vis her friendship with the late Peter Allen. Do you think Bette Midler means or represents something unique in Australia that is different than how she is perceived in the US?

She’s adored everywhere and that translates. But I think the reason we connect so well is because we can laugh at ourselves and we love a dirty joke!

This is your first appearance in America. If you could put yourself in Bette Midler’s show as she was embarking on her first Australian tour, what do you think she told herself in advance of that tour that would be great advice for you as you embark on yours here?

Fuck ’em if they can’t take a joke! But seriously, but be you and do what you do. You’re enough.

Bette Midler on stage is very different than Bette off. In fact, she claims to be quite shy and a little bit retiring. What’s the flip side of Catherine Alcon when not in Bette mode or Christine McVie mode? [Alcorn also does a show “channelling” the Fleetwood Mac singer.]

Amy Schumer describes the introvert/extrovert personality in her book perfectly. “Being an introvert doesn’t mean you’re shy. It means you enjoy being alone. Not just enjoy it – you need it.”

There are many facets to my personality and I need quiet time and the opportunity to switch off. It’s imperative to my health. You give so much of yourself on stage and at work, so having that downtime gives you that chance to just be quiet and reconnect with your family and friends.

One thing Midler does very well is adapt her shows to be very topical. Even a review of her Twitter account reveals she likes to be on top of what’s going on in the world. Do you update your show to stay topical or is this more of an homage to Bette of days gone by?

Oh God, yes! That’s the best part of my job. I make it my mission to uncover the local gossip in every town we play to tailor bits for the show that night. I then workshop those ideas with two colleagues in Australia: Peter Cox, the show’s creator and fellow artist and Aussie comedy legend Phil Scott, who was one of the writers on the original stage production of Priscilla Queen of the Desert.

Our first stop on this tour was Green Valley, Arizona, just outside of Tucson. Did you know they wife swap and swing in Arizona? Tucson? More like Threescon….

Bette once said, “If Only I’d known my differences would be an asset, then my earlier life would have been much easier.” When did you first realize your “differentness” and when did you realize that it was an asset?

This resonates more than you’ll ever know. One of the reasons I’ve been so excited to play the USA is because I know audiences will get me here. I don’t get cast much in Australia because I don’t fit just one mold. This is what led me to creating and producing my own work.

I’m not mad at i now, but for a little while I was resentful of the fact that I wasn’t getting cast in musicals or TV. I didn’t fit a certain look or sound. I was slogging my away on my own and building my own career. But then I realized the power in that and that my differentness wasn’t going to stop me working.

That realization relived a ton of pressure, so now I just get on with it. Besides, if you look closely you’ll see that everyone is producing their own work now more than ever.

Photo Credit:  John McRae

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“It is not the Broadway production,” Shepperd says. “There’s no way in hell I can replicate what they did on Broadway. I saw it and thought it was great, but I thought a lot of the story was missed. When I picked up the script I went, ‘I don’t remember that. I didn’t remember this.’”

Shepperd says this script is just as important as Allen’s songs (which include “When Everything Old Is New Again,” “I Honestly Love You,” and “(Arthur’s Theme) Best That You Can Do.”) “Let’s face it, it’s a great jukebox musical with a great story about a man who lead this amazing life,” he says. “But when you break it down, it’s all about the love of his mother, the love of his first wife [Liza Minnelli], the love of his last partner [Gregory Connell], and his love of music. If you use those and tell that story, it can fit in any size space.”

Chuck Rowland, a gay-rights pioneer and co-founder of the Mattachine Society, founded Celebration Theatre in 1982. The company has since put on countless LGBTQ-themed productions. According to Shepperd, The Boy From Oz fits right in. “What other musical tackles the subject of AIDS and seeing [the main character’s] lover die?” he asks. “It’s a story about loss and a story of not being able to express your true feelings and emotions because you were raised by someone who said, ‘Don’t cry out loud, just hold it inside.’”

The ambition to tackle such a big show in a small space began as a conversation between Shepperd and Celebration Theatre co-director Michael Matthews. “We order our drinks and we sit down and have our drinking meeting,” Shepperd says. “At the end we have come up with this lavish season and all the stars that are going to do our shows. Wouldn’t it be funny if we got The Boy From Oz and Hugh Jackman came and did this in our theatre? Of course, I send over the letter with everything and I got the phone call four days later.” Alas, Jackman is not part of the deal. Actor Andrew Bongiorno will be playing Peter Allen in this production.

Over the past two years, Celebration Theatre has lost its space on Santa Monica Boulevard, tried a few other venues as their home, and have, at least for now, settled in at the Lex Theatre. When asked, Shepperd admits there are parallels between Peter Allen’s story and Celebration’s recent history.

“Look at the trajectory of Peter Allen’s career: he’s a lounge singer who, by happenstance, is discovered by Judy Garland,” he explains. “She takes him to New York, and he falls in love with this woman. His career is not dead, but it’s not really moving forward. It took this break-up for him to go, ‘Wait, I’m in the worst crisis in my life, and I’m just now finding my artistic soul, and I’m able to create some of the best music ever.’ Do I think that’s synonymous with Celebration and where we’re going? Yes. We were cruising along nicely, and then we hit a horrible speed bump. We were broken. We had to search frantically to pick up all the pieces, and there are still a few pieces missing. But we are able to superglue most of it back together. And now we are going to start producing and creating the best work we’ve ever done.”

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