Singer Lailah Lancing, a Fire Island virgin, hailing from Richard Kennedy and Mark Nayden’s Excelsior bar, in Park Slope, Brooklyn, made her Ice Palace debut on August 24, assisted by DJ RDK (Richard), in a full and varied show encompassing Broadway, vintage and contemporary pop, disco, Betty Hutton and Bette Midler, and much more.
A tropical vision in shades of red, Lailah seduced us by lending her clear voice to sultry songs “Sooner or Later,” from “Dick Tracy;” “Big Spender,” from “Sweet Charity;” and “Fever.” She sang and danced a riotous, bilingual “In These Shoes?” and gave us, in “It’s Oh So Quiet,” a fierce love song of dynamic contrasts. She celebrated being busty with a cheerful “Boobs,” from “Boobs! The Musical,” and belted as much as purred “Oops! I did it again.”
La Lansing waxed torchy in “Hopelessly Devoted to You,” from “Grease,” and in “Everybody’s Girl,” from “Steel Pier,” the song that she said most summed her up, issued a lusty invitation to one and all. She went from “We Found Love” to sharing her wish list for love in “Stuff like That There.” She reveled in lust with a “creature of the night” in “Touch-a Touch-a Touch Me,” from “Rocky Horror;” sang “Happy Birthday,” Marilyn Monroe-style, to audience member Andrew; made “What’s Going On?” into an audience sing-along; and followed these with “Ironic.” She tapped into her Kermit voice for an innocent “Rainbow Connection;” took us back to the disco era with “Ring My Bell,” and continued with “Movin’ on Up” and “Dirty Dancing in the Moonlight.”
Catch Lailah at Excelsior and, perhaps, back here next season.