Lavinia Draper, in fine, fresh voice, made her seasonal debut at the Ice Palace on May 31, two days before her birthday, with Ken Woodhouse making his debut as DJ.
Lavinia dedicated her opening song, “Fly Me to the Moon,” to her late father, and this writer joined her in singing a couple of lines. She followed this with “Route 66” and “All of Me,” with a tap dance interlude. After “Out Here on My Own,” Ken joined Lavinia for a sexy “Suddenly Seymour” and, in “Creep,” Ken strummed the ukulele while Lavinia, on vocals, worked the room. Lavinia’s torchy accounts of “Desperado” and “At Last” came next, then Leelee Heavenly and Lavinia harmonized on a hot impromptu “River Deep, Mountain High.”
Holding us rapt with a riveting “Don’t Cry for Me, Argentina,” Lavinia had the audience sing the familiar chorus with her. She then gave us a cheerier-than-usual “Band of Gold.” She sang “(Night time is) The Right Time” to Lisa and Fire Island Virgin Michelle and did a split. Lavinia insisted, “(If you want a) Do Right (all-day) Woman, (You gotta be a) Do Right (all-night) Man,” and then she and Ken recreated the legendary Judy Garland-Barbra Streisand duet of “Get Happy/Happy Days,” with Ken on the Garland part and Lavinia on the Streisand. Lavinia seduced us with “Killing Me Softly,” “When You’re Good to Mama” from “Chicago,” and “Light My Fire,” and remembered Amy Winehouse with “Valerie” and “Back to Black.” Lavinia will be in a take-off on “A Chorus Line,” with Patty, Al, and Busted, at Cherry’s in July, and here she sang us “What I Did for Love.” In “Mambo Italiano,” she accompanied herself with a brightly-lit tambourine and flirted with some audience members. Lavinia and Ken exchanged intimacies during “I Got You Babe” and Lavinia stripped a guy from the audience during “Honky Tonk Woman.”
With Queen’s “Somebody to Love,” Lavinia worked both bar and room. Her “Edge of Glory,” of Lady Gaga, led into Alicia Keys’ “If I Ain’t Got You.” Lavinia and Ken’s “Paradise by the Dashboard Light” was the grand finale.
Hear Lavinia Draper on Wednesdays at 9 p.m. at the Ice Palace.