Chatham’s Lisa Jason brings her celebrated cabaret show to WHAT

Throughout high school in Chatham, Lisa Jason sang, danced and dreamed of being a Radio City Rockette. Her ambition was so intense that she raced to graduate a half year early, then immediately moved to New York City to launch her career.

Her dream, however, immediately encountered a roadblock: she had to be at least 5 feet, 4 inches to kick across the Music Hall stage. She was only 5 feet 2.

Years later, sitting in her Chatham living room, Jason can smile about what then was a huge disappointment. She might be diminutive of size, but not of spirit. "That was the moment I decided to focus on my voice and not my legs."

Encouraged by her roommate, who was working for Epic Records at the time, Jason launched a song-writing and singing career that soon had her opening for bands up and down the East Coast. "I bought a pair of Lycra pants and sequined tube top became a rock singer. My style was akin to Pat Benatar and Cyndi Lauper. The audience didn't know how to react when I started singing. How could so big a voice come from such a small person?"

It's a voice that surely belies her size. Her current cabaret showcase - coming to WHAT on Friday, Oct. 28 - features music elements from the British play, "Little Voice," starring another diminutive singer, Jane Horrocks, whose character warmed up by singing impressions of Judy Garland, Shirley Bassey and Ethel Merman.

"I identified entirely with Horrocks," said Jason. "When I was a little girl, I would sit in our living room listening to Garland, Barbara Streisand and Cher, spending hours perfecting their voices and inflections. There was a show in my house every week. It became part of me. When I sang, I felt special, free and connected to these women, whom I watched on television."

Jason retired from the road and returned to Chatham as a single mother to raise two daughters, one now in college and the other at Nauset Regional High School. "The road was no place to raise children," she recalled. "I wanted to have them grow up on the Cape, near my parents and surrounded by the sea." Her father is Richard Sullivan, retired dean of student services at Cape Cod Community College and founder of the Southeastern Massachusetts March of Dimes.

One of Jason's signature songs, "Beautiful Child," has been adopted by the March of Dimes and is constantly played at fundraisers and events such as the National Volunteer Leadership Conference in Washington, D.C - often sung by her personally. "Beautiful Child has reached thousands of families, giving them hope or helping them heal," said Jason. In 2007, she was the Massachusetts March of Dimes Ambassador.

"I wrote Beautiful Child in about five minutes, and it has morphed into a life of its own. It takes people on a journey. It lets me not only sing to people, but interact with them, share feelings."
As her daughters grew older, Jason has begun performing and touring with her one-woman cabaret performance, 'Lisa Jason's Little Voice.' "It's a concept show, a tribute to many legendary female vocalists including Garland, Dionne Warwick, Peggy Lee, Streisand, Marilynn McCoo, Dusty Springfield and Eydie Gorme, among others."

Her act has opened for Huey Lewis, KC and The Sunshine Band and the original Broadway cast of Jersey Boys. Wherever and whenever she performed, people would come up to her and say, "You really touched me. Where did that voice come from?"

"I tell them it is not how I do it. I have to do it. It is part of me. The stage is my second home. I can't wait to sing."

"I may be on the stage at the Julie Harris, but I want the audience to feel like they are in my living room. I tell them stories they can relate to. They listen to the singers they grew up with. It's about memories. Where was I when I first heard that song? I draw them into a journey and the times they have lived through. It's all about sharing."

She is backed by drummer Bart Weisman and bass player Laird Boles, well-known local performers. Her musical director and arranger is Fred Boyle.

Recently, she headlined the Cabaret Fest in Provincetown, receiving strong praise. John Amadeo of EdgeBoston.com had this to say about Jason:

"The truest standout of the entire weekend was Cape Cod's own Lisa Jason, a firebrand of a performer, who packs a powerful belt, a rapier wit, and a big heart into her petit 5'-2" 100 lb. (soaking wet) frame. Her show was packed with 15 gems, each one solidly delivered and set up with stories both humorous and heartfelt."

"From a riveting and fragile 'Where Do You Start,' to a belting 'Zing! Went The Strings of My Heart,' she showed that both lilt and belt are at her command. Her show, a tribute to great ladies of song and stage, included a finger snapping 'Fever' a brassy 'Downtown' (the Petula Clark hit), and a gorgeous 'You Don't Have to Say You Love Me' (Dusty Springfield's standard) with lush all out bel canto vocals. She knocked 'Don't Rain On My Parade' right out of the park, nearly making you forget Barbra sang it first, and brought people to their feet with a brilliant pairing of 'At the Ballet' and 'Music and the Mirror' (both from "A Chorus Line"), sung with total abandon and urgency. Her version of Frank Wildhorn's 'Gold" (from Camille Claudel, recorded by Linda Eder), was sung with such driven emotion, and strident conviction that the audience again leapt to their feet, wiping tears as they cheered. This is another performer we need to see more of."

You can see her on Oct. 28 at WHAT. To purchase tickets, visit www.what.org.

-Glenn Ritt

(photo: SHAREEN DAVIS)