In her “Old School” show, at the Ice Palace, on June 19, Electra, erstwhile Palace Entertainment Manager, before Sal Piro, and resuming that position this season, brought back her Bette Midler, a longtime specialty, assisted by DJ Chuck McTague. As Electra, “Master of Illusions,” reminded us, when Midler asked her, “Are you still doing me?,” Electra responded, “I bought a house and a restaurant doing you!,” which elicited a congratulatory “Atta girl!” from Miss M.
Preceding Electra’s appearance were film clips, including one from a show she did in the Pines in 1991, when she portrayed Selma Diamond (“Hello, Ceil”). A bundle of Divine energy, she then introduced herself, declaring “(You can) Kiss My Brass” and a desire for some “Stuff like that There.”
Electra kibitzed with visiting birthday boy Bruce, from Arizona and Seattle, and his lover and friends, and led us all in singing “Happy Birthday” to him. She called Bella and Panzi, who were present, “my two friends—one of them was here before sand, the other was here before Christ” and, a one-person Andrews Sisters, in perpetual motion, launched into “Bei mir Bist du Schön,” “In the Mood,” and “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy.”
She paid tribute to the sea, gently, moodily, with “Shiver Me Timbers” and, though not in Provincetown, “Old Cape Cod,” adlibbing “Great South Bay.” Electra became a Vegas showgirl before our eyes, lamenting, “Oy, It’s Hot in Here,” punctuated by classic “Soph” jokes, but resolving, “The Showgirl Must Go On!”
Electra made another on-stage costume change—“Beauty on a budget,” she said—to matching silvery hostess pants and jacket, with contrasting pink blouse, to recreate Midler’s salute to Rosemary Clooney, with “Hey There,” from “Pajama Game,” and “In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening.” She got into her Disney Princess gown for “Do You Wanna Dance,” Midler’s first hit; “Wind Beneath My Wings,” to which she got us all swaying; and “Friends,” dedicated to her audience. In closing, she waxed spiritual with “From a Distance.”
See Electra at the Ice Palace on Wednesdays at 9 p.m. and Sundays at 8 p.m.