Singer-actress Lisa McClowry, staging her Cher production \u201cThe Beat Goes On\u201d at Bethlehem\u2019s Wind Creek Event Center on Thursday, will take fans on a journey through the icon\u2019s storied life and career.<\/p>\n
The show, featuring first-person storytelling and Cher video footage, tells the empowering icon\u2019s story, from her early life and years with Sonny Bono to her solo career, films, fashion and cultural impact.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Beat Goes On,\u201d named after Sonny & Cher\u2019s same-titled 1967 hit single, may sound like a tribute show, though McClowry, who emulates the Goddess of Pop\u2019s contralto sound, begs to differ.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t look at it as a tribute show; that\u2019s too broad a label,\u201d said McClowry, who despite winning Tribute Artist of the Year at the 2023 Josie Music Awards does not grasp the term \u201ctribute artists.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rather, the classically trained soprano calls the 90-minute, first-person multimedia show \u201ca theatrical concert experience. I don\u2019t see myself as an impersonator. This is another great role.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Beat Goes On\u201d includes eight costume changes, wigs, and Bob Mackie replicas or Mackie-style fashion. The setlist includes the title song, \u201cI Got You Babe,\u201d \u201cGypsies, Tramps & Thieves,\u201d \u201cHalf-Breed,\u201d \u201cIf I Could Turn Back Time,\u201d \u201cThe Shoop Shoop Song (It\u2019s In His Kiss)\u201d and \u201cBelieve.\u201d<\/p>\n
McClowry, who has staged \u201cThe Beat Goes On\u201d in 46 states and strives to do 75 shows a year, admires the Oscar winner\u2019s self-awareness, boldness, confidence, humor, vulnerability and authenticity.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe audience sees the heartbreak, resilience, joy, because she\u2019s lived it in public without apologies. She proved longevity comes from substance and spectacle. It\u2019s powerful.\u201d<\/p>\n
During \u201cBonding Moments,\u201d McClowry \u2014 quoted in AARP\u2019s May\/June magazine article celebrating Cher\u2019s 80th birthday \u2014 breaks the fourth wall and interacts with the crowd members. She hopes audience members, a select number of which she invites on stage, see themselves in the performance<\/p>\n
Born in Chicago, McClowry started playing piano, auditorily, at age 7. Music influences included Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday and Sarah Vaughan, with the artist performing songs by rockers Pat Benatar, Patty Smyth and Heart\u2019s Ann Wilson in her first band, Mischief, which she joined at age 15.<\/p>\n
McClowry, a Columbia College Chicago graduate, has made a full-time living as a performer since around 1992. For 20 years, she honed her craft at Chicago\u2019s Redhead Piano Bar.<\/p>\n
Collaborators through the years include longtime musical partner Thomas Linsk, plus Jim Peterik, founder of rock band Survivor, and The Buckinghams\u2019 Carl Giammares.<\/p>\n
McClowry, a 2011 International Vocalist of the Year nominee at Canada\u2019s smooth jazz Wave Awards, has explored various genres across four 2001-2012 studio albums, an EP and miscellaneous projects.<\/p>\n
In 2000, two animated films featured McClowry\u2019s voice. Ballad \u201cThrough the Eyes of a Child\u201d played in \u201cThe Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle,\u201d while in \u201cRugrats in Paris,\u201d she voiced a princess.<\/p>\n
McClowry, an abstract and multimedia artist, also has played lead roles in theater productions and appeared in \u201cVampire\u2019s Dance,\u201d a 2013 segment in filmmaker Tom Holland\u2019s \u201cTwisted Tales\u201d series.<\/p>\n
During McClowry\u2019s \u201cRock the \u201980s\u201d show, which debuted in 2015 and included Cher among the artists she emulated, fans would ask her if she considered work as a Cher tribute artist. The singer-songwriter, unfamiliar with the concept, took a gradual path to developing a Cher-centric show.<\/p>\n
The Chicago resident, after performing as Cher for a corporate client, sent her husband\u2019s iPad-recorded video to the Legends in Concert live tribute-artist production. The company called her two hours later.<\/p>\n
LIC took the entertainer to locations such as Canada, Australia and Las Vegas, Nevada, the latter where she had multi-month contracts in 2017 and 2022. One aspect of Cher, though, challenged McClowry.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought I got her singing style down pretty well, her mannerisms, movements, but the speaking voice was the most challenging.\u201d<\/p>\n
During her first Vegas gig, McClowry intensely watched Cher interviews to learn her cadence. During her time with LIC, the performer \u201cstarted to see how much interest there was in Cher. I wanted to delve deep into her story. She\u2019s so fascinating; reinvention, hope, overcoming. Those things were exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n
McClowry, who saw Cher perform in Vegas, proceeded to create \u201cThe Beat Goes On.\u201d The production, debuting with two shows in early 2020 before the start of the pandemic, kicked into gear in 2022.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe show is so much improv,\u201d said the singer, trained in comedy and improv. \u201cAs Cher started living inside of me, the actor, it was easier to have the bravery to speak as Cher.\u201d<\/p>\n
A meeting with the icon, thus far, has eluded McClowry. She has reached out to the singer, and, having played with Cher\u2019s guitarist years prior, thought she would meet her when they played across the street from each other in New Jersey. Alas, a meeting did not materialize.<\/p>\n
McClowry, who prides herself in staging a show where she looks and sounds like Cher, also created the show \u201cA Very Cher-y Christmas\u201d and would entertain recording Cher songs in her own voice.<\/p>\n
As to whether the Cher persona rears its head when McClowry\u2019s not performing, \u201cmy husband says that happens quite a bit. Weekly, he will even point it out, \u2018There\u2019s Cher.\u2019 It\u2019s when I\u2019m asserting myself. She and I have similar humor, as well. That\u2019s what he sees.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lisa McClowry portrays Cher during Nostalgia Live on Aug 11. She comes to Bethlehem\u2019s Wind Creek Event Center on Thursday. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Singer-actress Lisa McClowry, staging her Cher production \u201cThe Beat Goes On\u201d at Bethlehem\u2019s Wind Creek Event Center on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":311281,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[153,155,154],"class_list":["post-311280","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem-headlines","tag-bethlehem-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311280","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=311280"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311280\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/311281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=311280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=311280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=311280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}