Billy Porter's Ghetto Superstar
Billy Porter's Ghetto Superstar
Billy Porter's Ghetto Superstar#0
Posted: 2/19/05 at 2:55pm
Went to go see this last night with MadeofGold at Joe's Pub and was totally blown away by Mr. Porter's life story and his performance. I have no idea how someone can cut open a (emotional) vein and bleed themselves all over the stage like that for all the world to see, much less night after night. His voice is one of the finest instruments I've ever had the pleasure of hearing and truly he could have sat and sang Mary Had a Little Lamb and I still would have been engrossed. Any grown man who can reel me in while pretending to be 4 years old and singing "Jesus Loves Me", then moving on and singing "Maniac" while shaking his arse has pretty much made me a fan for life.
Though I appreciated all of the comedic moments (of which there were plenty - there has to be in a one man show about, as his first song, co-written with Stephen Oremus, is titled "Black Broadway Bitch") the music that stands out the most in my mind are the songs that uses as a vessel for his "connection to God" to describe it in a way that makes the most sense. Now I'm not a church-goer and I don't even know if I believe in a God but I do believe that Billy Porter was put on earth to sing, be it by God, the devil, or simply the universe picking him up and spitting him out onto the stage. The power of music is its ability to move you, there's a reason they call it the soundtrack of our lives and that's what this show is. The music selections all pertain to different points of his life and sum up where his head was at and what was going on around him. When he cried, I cried. I don't even care if he was acting and I'll never know if its so and don't even want to know for that matter because he made me believe that in that moment he was experiencing those feelings all over again. That's a gift in and of itself.
I feel like I'm a schill but I was just profoundly moved by him and blown away by the power of his voice. Though I have to admit at one point when he mentioned that he'd lost his voice for seven months a few years ago due to, as the doctors diagnose him, severe acid reflux disease I got whipped out of the moment because all I could think of was Ashlee Simpson doing her jig on Saturday Night Live. Please don't make me take that girl seriously, Mr. Porter. Thanks!
On backup vocals he had his two "Black-Up Singers" Sasha Allen and Brandi Chavonne Massey who function well in that they don't overwhelm him but keep the story moving when necessary. Whomever dressed them gets a big thumbs up too. They both looked smashing.
Speaking of, that boy can move in some high heels. I can't even move in high heels the way he can. I think he should do a little Learning Annex course on how to be a diva because I think I discovered for the first time, there's not a bit of diva in me. I want to be fierce. I accept I never will be, but I want to be! 
Afterwards we picked up his newest CD which I haven't had the chance to listen to because I was too busy looping the music off his website http://www.billyporter.com all night long.
As I understand it the show moves to Pennsylvania after it's NY run, if you have the opportunity to see it, don't pass it up.
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/3/04
re: Billy Porter's Ghetto Superstar#2
Posted: 2/19/05 at 5:31pmimho, the best male vocalist riffing today.
re: Billy Porter's Ghetto Superstar#3
Posted: 2/27/05 at 9:35pm
Just got back from this. I was profoundly moved as well. What an honest, touching piece! Billy Porter has been developing it for months now and performing it for weeks, and it still felt SO fresh... and during one of the more emotional parts, he got overly choked up, and almost started crying. What an incredible man. What an incredible story. What an incredible voice. What an incredible piece of art!
Go see this if you can!
(I'm not a shill.)
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