Singer Maggie Graham to imitate pop, jazz and Broadway luminaries

Last February, Maggie was featured on the cover of
The Asbury Park Press, Jersey Alive section.
Asbury Park Press February 9, 2007

MAKING A GOOD IMPRESSION
By MARK VOGER

"Were you born a woman?" seems a terribly impolite question. As such, you couldn't blame a girl for abruptly hanging up if asked this during a telephone conversation. But being a Carol Channing imitator, Maggie Graham didn't take it as a slight on her femininity. Instead, she laughed warmly. ""I'm so glad you asked that question," said the Red Bank native, 33, who is bringing her one-woman show "Carol Channeling" to The Starving Artist in Ocean Grove. "I'm not offended by that at all. It's not the first time I've heard that. People have asked that about Carol herself. I am one of the only women who does imitate her. I think that's a fun part of the show ... the mystery of it."

Channing is Graham's flagship impression during her show, but Graham also "channels" such entertainers as Marlene Dietrich, Judy Garland, Ethel Merman, Julie Andrews and Barbra Streisand.

Graham was raised in Monmouth Beach as the youngest of eight children in a family with theatrical ties. Her mother was an opera singer. "I grew up immersed in theater," she says. "All of my siblings studied theater, worked in theater." But this theatrical background wasn't what provided her introduction to Channing. "I can't remember the very first time I saw her; I was so young," Graham says. "I used to watch "Captain Kangaroo' when I was 3; she was on it a few times. But she really sunk in when I was 6 or 7 and she did "The Muppet Show.' She sang "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend.' I became a fan."

Has Graham met her idol? "I haven't yet," she says. "I would love to. I saw her perform once. I saw her one-woman show, "The First 80 Years are the Hardest,' in October of 2005 in New York. She was phenomenal. It was amazing how she still performed with a gusto that many younger performers don't have."

Graham wrote her show in 2005 and began performing it the following year. ""When I first started the show, it was like training for a marathon," she says. ""Now, it just flows. I get onstage, and the performers all join me. I joke that they show up and make their appearances. "There is a set script for those wonderful evenings when that works. But with this show, there is a lot of give and take with the audience. It's so alive, you have to be able to improvise. Things pop up."

Graham says it's accurate to call her show an "homage." "There is definitely humor to it," she says, "but it comes from the sincerity of the performers. I'm not bashing them. That wouldn't be Carol's spirit."

Graham says the gay community has been well represented in the audiences for "Carol Channeling." "Well," she says, "the show is custom-tailored to the musical-theater obsessed, and that would certainly include the gay community. I definitely appreciate it."

Graham has performed "Carol Channeling" at Joe's Pub at the Public Theater and Upstairs at Rose's Turn, both in New York; and previously at The Starving Artist.

The actress, who will be accompanied by pianist Christynn Cardino, has loftier ambitions for the show. "I'd like to do a full-scale run in New York ... not just at a cabaret, but in a theater with a full orchestra," she says. "I would also love to do a tour of the country. That would be such a Carol thing to do. I started this saying I don't know where it will go. But I just had to get it out. " 
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