Rage fuels entertainer Lea DeLaria
Comedian and musician Lea DeLaria, widely known for her years spent behind bars as Big Boo on Netflix’s “Orange Is the New Black,” brings her cabaret act to the Chandler Center for the Arts Nov. 9.
And it’s packed with outrageous observations about what it’s like to be a lesbian “daddy,” music, and, of course, send-ups to the president.
“Any stand-up comic not talking about the Trump administration is a coward and probably not very good at their work,” she says.
The bawdy and bold comic, who hit record books as the first openly gay TV comedian with a 1993 appearance on “The Arsenio Hall Show,” called ahead of her raucous evening of jazz and laughs.
“I’ve never been a strict stand-up act – I’ve always incorporated music,” she says. “The two forms work together really well because I’m very improvisational as a comic and jazz is exactly the same way. It’s always completely different. I know how to get the audience to their feet begging for more.”
Lea DeLaria
“Rage gets things done. These days, it’s not hard to tap into it.”
7:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 9. Chandler Center for the Arts, 250 N. Arizona Ave., Chandler.
$38 to $58. chandlercenter.org. 480-782-2680,
The process was easier than what people realize because all of David Bowie’s music is rooted in rhythm and blues and it’s very easy to translate that into the language of jazz. What was hard about it was finding the 12 songs to do because his oeuvre is ridiculous. We’d get down to 20 and then we’d go — oh we forgot about this! It took a minute to get it down to 12. He was a huge fan and supporter of this record and we announced it on his website. It was unbelievable. It’s my best work without a doubt and I’m really excited for people to see it.