Performer brings a bit of cabaret to Victoria

Christine Pedi's 'Great Dames' pays tribute to famous stage entertainers

Walking into the Welder Center to see New York-bred performer Christine Pedi in her one-woman show "Great Dames," you instantly feel transported to another time: A time when women were ladies, and great ladies were dames.

By the end of Pedi's first song, with just a few simple phrases casually thrown in between the lyrics, she had already brought to life Mae West, Jessica Rabbit and Norma Desmond.

The simple set - a spotlight, a microphone, a piano and a chandelier - is about as close as you can get to sitting in a smoke-filled, hole-in-the-wall joint that personas such as Pedi's characters thrive in. With a wide repertoire of songs and impersonations, Pedi said her goal is to pay tribute to the great ladies of the stage and screen.

And if that's the case, Pedi must be broke.

One moment you see Pedi telling a story on the stage and as quick as you blink, suddenly there is Ethel Merman before you. By the next song, it's Eliza Doolittle singing "I Could Have Danced all Night." And perhaps one of the biggest highlights is when the one and only Barbra Streisand takes the stage to sing ... "Take Me Out to the Ballgame."

You'll have to see it to believe it. And trust me, it's as fabulous and funny as it sounds.

Dare I say, it's like buttah.

Pedi ultimately proved that she is a good impersonator, a great singer and a fantastic storyteller. The comic timing between Pedi and her pianist and music director, Matthew Ward, is pitch-perfect. And the humor is almost as big of an incentive to see the show as the great music. Some performers use humor as a way to hide the fact that they really aren't that talented. For Pedi, her humor is an added bonus in an already incredible show.