By Michael Barbieri***What did Therese Lee, a Hollywood entertainment reporter, faced with a run of bad luck, do when she no longer had a way to drive to her assignments in Tinseltown? She created her own musical act and brought it to New York for her cabaret debut! Riding the Bus to the Red Carpet, at The Triad, is a smart, charming offering from this cabaret newcomer .
Lee, a California native and resident of Los Angeles, introduced herself with “If You Knew My Story” (S. Martin, E. Brickell) and between verses, told us how this saga began—exhausted from her work cleaning apartments, she crashed her car, thus robbing her of an Angeleno’s most valuable possession. A singer, actress and self-confessed movie nerd, she ended up working as a reporter for Reel Hollywood, a small entertainment outlet. And yes, she literally rode the bus to her red carpet gigs. This change in fortune, however, inspired this delightful and often moving evening of songs and stories.
Throughout the performance, Lee’s mixed bag of songs illustrated her theme and gave us a window into her life. A personalized rendition of “On the Other Side of the Tracks” (C. Coleman, C. Leigh), with additional lyrics by Lee herself and Jeff Harnar, spoke to her encounters with many of the celebs she’d interviewed. In a humorous story of meeting Carol Channing, Lee told Channing she was depressed about having turned 47; Channing countered with the fact that she herself was in her eighties and had just married the love of her life. This story led into optimistic versions of “Got a Lot of Livin’ to Do” (C. Strouse, L. Adams) and “All of My Laughter” (A. Hague, A. Sherman). About a run-in wit
h George Clooney, Lee brought about a self-effacingly funny delivery of “He Touched Me” (M. Schaefer, I. Levin), wherein she sensually mimed the handshake she had shared with the dreamy star. “C’mon,” she said “it’s George Clooney!”
Lee’s memory of her coverage of the DVD release event for The Wizard of Oz brought on a simple, elegant rendition of “If I Only Had a Brain” (H. Arlen, E.Y. Harburg) and she showed off her vocal dexterity with “What’s Gonna Happen” from David Yazbeck’s Broadway adaptation of Tootsie. Here, Lee transformed this tongue-twister of a song into a fast and funny account of her experiences as an actress auditioning for roles and the many insecurities they brought out.
On a more serous note, Lee gave us a story of a press junket for The Aristocrats, a film where a famously raunchy joke is celebrated by a plethora of comedians who, as is tradition with this particular joke, traditionally try to outdo each other with unrestrained coarseness. Many of the iterations of the joke involved references to rape and incest, which Lee, a survivor of sexual abuse, didn’t find amusing. She expressed her distaste, to the disdain of the comics and their press reps, but stood her ground and left feeling triumphant, knowing she had used her voice in a positive way. This led into her stunning rendition of “Til It Happens to You” (D. Warren, Lady Gaga), a song about the pain of rape and abuse. Lee’s delivery of this blistering song was solemn and straightforward, 
reminding me of Baby Jane Dexter’s “Fifteen Ugly Minutes,” a similar composition. Lee’s version of Warren and Gaga’s song was performed with a bravery and quiet intensity which literally took my breath away.
Two more song notes: as Lee wrapped up the evening, she gave us an inspirational, gospel-tinged “Up to the Mountain” (P. Griffin), during which she varied her vocal dynamics beautifully, showing off her strong, clear mezzo. Additionally, after telling us that movies saved her life—both as a lonely child and later as a nearly homeless adult—she said her encounters with the stars actually saved her during the pandemic; those memories helped keep her creativity alive and were instrumental in shaping this show. This revelation led into her fun, bouncy take on “One Step” (D. Shire, R. Maltby Jr) as a lovely, upbeat closer.
One might think the eclectic nature of Lee’s set list might be a distraction, considering the varied composers and styles, but in fact it was quite the opposite. Her wonderful stories provided a through-line that tied the 
songs together and provided the necessary cohesiveness. And while I thought I detected a hint of hesitancy in Lee’s performance, this wasn’t surprising. Nearly all of her rehearsals with Director Jeff Harnar, had been via Zoom during the Covid lockdown, and it was, after all, her New York cabaret debut! Still, it’s clear that Lee, Harnar and Musical Director Doug Peck have crafted a show that’s fresh, funny and fascinating!
Perhaps we’ll see Therese Lee as a star on the red carpet herself sometime soon—maybe at next year’s MAC Awards! Ya never know!
