Catherine Hughes as ‘Diva in the Rough’ a tour de force

November 19, 2014 · 0 Comments

Catherine Hughes, aka “Diva in the Rough,” performed to a sell-out crowd at Kettleby Parish Hall last Saturday night. Resplendent in emerald green, she took the stage for a two-hour concert that had the audience transfixed from the first note.
The event was a fundraiser for Kettleby’s historic Christ Church Restoration Fund.
Accompanied by the immensely talented pianist and straight-man Don Guinn, the repertoire was predominantly ‘20s, ‘30s and ‘40s music, and she artfully selected a terrific mix of fun songs and torch songs, that had the crowd alternating between laughter and tears all night. In her inimitable style, she managed to mingle hammed-up mime (from actor Jamie Lee Symister) in the melodramatic “Those Wedding Bells Shall Not Ring Out” with the pull-on-my-heart-strings strains of Edith Piaf’s “La Vie En Rose” without missing a beat.
She sang both well-known and more obscure songs from the era, as well as “Miss Ceilie’s Blues” from The Color (sic) Purple, which has become something of an anthem for her. Her beautiful voice and insightful, cutting wit make the audience anticipate her next story almost as much as the next song.
“When the paper told me that we got more hits than the raccoons with distemper in the on-line edition, I knew it would be a special night. And then so many people turned up looking fabulous, dressed as flappers, and that made me realize that making an evening memorable goes both ways. The audience gave me as much as I gave them. Even the lady who didn’t turn her cell-phone off,” said Hughes after the show. “I just wish there was more champagne left by the time I got off stage. Singing your heart out is thirsty work.”
She was introduced with a short period skit done by producers Kathy Cartan, Joanne Duclos and Elaine Kitteridge, in full garb.
Having moved here with her family last year, Hughes plans to bring her show to more audiences in her new home of King. As she and the producers chatted with fans after the show she said: “It was a wonderful night, but let me tell ya, with this here dream team by my side, I can confidently say that you ain’t seen nothin’ yet!”