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| SWISS
MISS |
| Boerum Hill
singer-songwriter Jackie Gordon celebrates
cheese in concert |
 Lady
sings the bleus: Jackie Gordon, a.k.a. Divalicious,
regales audiences with her show, a concert
and tasting combo, at the Laurie Beechman
Theatre in Manhattan. |
| The Brooklyn
Papers / Greg Mango |
By
Tina Barry
for
The Brooklyn Papers |
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| Brooklynite Jackie
"Divalicious" Gordon strides up to the microphone
on the small stage of the Laurie Beechman
Theatre in Manhattan. After a rousing rendition
of Tommy Wolf's "Say Cheese," Gordon rips
off her white lab coat. Under the wrap is
a Billy Holiday-style brown satin gown - adorned
with yellow satin wedges of cheese. |
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| It's safe to say,
no one wears a fake cheese-covered gown like
Gordon. |
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| The tall, striking,
singing chef from Boerum Hill stars in "Say
CHEESE!: A tongue-titillating tasting of artisanal
cheeses, wines and the songs they inspire."
Think of it as the most amusing wine and cheese
party you'll encounter in a lifetime. |
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| In her first one-woman
show in the United States, Gordon performs
90-minutes of song and conversation. While
she sings, photos of her charming the rind
off a fantasy man made from huge wheels of
cheese flash upon a screen. |
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| During the performance,
audience members sample eight international
cheeses from the Artisanal Cheese Center on
37th Street in Manhattan. The cheese is paired
with two red and two white wines from the
Diageo Chateau & Estate Wines Company. |
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| Each of the eight
cheeses is presented with a song that illustrates
its history. For example, the Bayley Hazen
Bleu Cheese from Jasper Hill Farms is introduced
with "Milk Cow Blues." |
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| "If I Could Date
Cheese," "All We Are Saying is Give Cheese
a Chance," and "Don't You Make my Bleu Cheese
Blue" are sung in Gordon's smoky, smooth voice. |
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| Audience members
are asked to rate each of the cheese-and-wine
pairings, which leads to good-humored banter
among those seated and between the audience
and the performer. |
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| Gordon, who has
lived in Boerum Hill "foreva," said she conceived
of the show after an epiphany in the cheese
department of Zabar's, the famous, Upper West
Side food emporium. Rows of creamy goat cheese,
called chevre; smelly, succulent bleus with
their blue-veined centers; and sharp, nutty
sheep cheeses seemed to call to her. But which
of the hundreds of offerings should she select? |
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| If someone like
Gordon, who says she "majored in restaurants"
after graduating from Brooklyn Technical High
School, in Fort Greene, was bamboozled by
the choices, wouldn't a food novice in the
same situation run screaming back to their
Velveeta?, she wondered. Gordon then conceived
of the learn-while-you-eat performance that
would educate the cheese-loving public. |
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| In 2003, she approached
Terrance Brennan, founder of the Artisanal
Cheese Center (ACC) in Chelsea with the concept
for her song-and-sample musical. Brennan,
who had just opened the doors to the center,
loved the idea and became Gordon's sponsor
for the project, supplying the cheese for
all of Gordon's performances. (In addition
to his work at ACC, Brennan is the chef and
proprietor of two Manhattan restaurants, Artisanal
and Picholine.) |
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| If it seems like
a stretch to walk through a food aisle and
then think of turning the experience into
a multimedia, song-and-tasting experience,
it isn't for Gordon. She is an "eatertainer,"
a skilled singer and chef with two successful
"eatertaining" shows to her credit. During
a recent phone conversation, Gordon told GO
Brooklyn how her unique style of entertainment
evolved. |
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| In 1991, she left
Boerum Hill and moved to Melbourne, Australia,
with a friend. Gordon's first one-woman performance,
"Black Pearls and Strange Fruit," was a huge
hit, she said, in the 1998 Fringe Festival
of the Arts in Australia, a performance venue
featuring avant-garde acts. "Black Pearls"
told the history of black women singers and
their struggle for racial equality. |
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| Of that performance
Gordon said, "Black American food came through
in every story." |
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| Her second production,
which debuted in 1999, "The Fried Chicken
Theory According to Jackie Gordon," was a
four-hour extravaganza that she performed
at the Melbourne Food & Wine Festival. Gordon
sang her "History of Soul" music accompanied
by an eight-piece band and 22-member gospel
choir. Two kitchens were erected to produce
a 10-course buffet using Gordon's recipes.
Diners feasted on gumbos, fried chicken, ribs,
turnip greens and macaroni and cheese, followed
by six down-home pies including Gordon's black
bottom banana cream. |
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| Just five days
before Sept. 11, 2001, Gordon resettled in
Boerum Hill. |
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| "I was rushing
to get home. I just sensed something was happening
and I needed to be in Brooklyn," she says.
Since her return, Gordon has started a quarterly
newsletter (information at www.Divalicious.biz),
that offers tips on improving life in New
York. |
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| Looking ahead,
Gordon has "something sweet in mind" after
"Say CHEESE!," but wouldn't elaborate further.
"Say CHEESE!" is an eatertaining opportunity
to see her in action. She is a versatile singer
with a rich, velvety voice, and an appealing
stage personality. |
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| The moniker "Divalicious"
suits her. |
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| Jackie Gordon's
"Say CHEESE!" is performed in the Laurie Beechman
Theater, 407 West 42nd St., Manhattan Plaza,
in the downstairs performance area of The
West Bank Cafe, June 9 and 11. Shows start
at 7:30 pm; doors open at 7 pm. The theater
is wheelchair accessible with prior notice
by calling The West Bank Cafe management (212)
695-6909. Tickets are $60 (includes cheese
and wine samples) and can be purchased through
www.ticketcentral.com. |
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