Loud and clear for nearly 20 years

By Jerry Fink (contact)

Friday, Jan. 4, 2008 | midnight

Ethel Merman was a favorite of composers such as Cole Porter and Irving Berlin. She's remembered for her booming voice, which one person said could cut through an orchestra “like a big brass horn,” and for the many songs that etched her into the memories of theater fans -- “I Got Rhythm,” “Anything Goes,” “It's De-Lovely,” “I Get a Kick Out of You.”

As the 100th anniversary of the birth of the belter of Broadway approaches -- she was born Jan. 16, 1908, in Astoria, N.Y. -- there has been a resurgence of interest in Merman, who was as colorful as the characters she portrayed onstage. Merman died in 1984 at the age of 76.

Two books were released last year, “Brass Diva” by Caryl Flinn and “Ethel Merman: A Life” by Brian Kellow.

And Rita McKenzie begins her 20th year traveling the country performing a one-woman show about Merman. She started it on Merman's birthday in 1988.

McKenzie's “Ethel Merman's Broadway” will be at the Suncoast this weekend.

“It's a fun evening. You gotta have fun. You leave the theater humming,” McKenzie said from her home in Los Angeles.

The production tells Merman's story, but not in a linear fashion.

“It's a train-of-thought thing,” McKenzie said. “It moves along at a clip.”

She will perform more than 20 of the songs made famous by Merman in such musicals as “Annie Get Your Gun” and “Gypsy.”

McKenzie was never fond of Merman until she started doing research for the production.

“That's when I started to like her,” McKenzie said. “I found out she was actually very shy. And she was a good daughter, who took care of her parents. And she was a good mother, who took care of her children.”

Those things are also important to McKenzie, but they and the voice are about all she has in common with Merman.

“We're not similar in background or personalities,” McKenzie said. “She was shy and I'm very outgoing.”

Merman was 22 when she stunned audiences by singing “I Got Rhythm” in “Girl Crazy,” which starred Ginger Rogers.

“Ethel was second banana but when she sang that song she got something like 12 or 13 standing ovations,” McKenzie said. “She stopped the show cold.”

McKenzie and Christopher Powich wrote the tribute to Merman. They were motivated by the legendary performer and because McKenzie sounds so much like her.

She says she has performed the show more than a thousand times.

“It's a wonderful show,” McKenzie said. “People can listen to and also get to know the woman.

“Ethel is timeless. She was one of a kind. The Queen of Broadway for many, many years.”

Jerry Fink can be reached at 259-4058 or at jerry@lasvegassun.com.