Singer Alison MacDonald is returning to her hometown of Red Deer to turn the Nickle Studio into Carnegie Hall for a couple of nights.
The Edmonton resident is very excited to be performing a local tribute to Judy Garland, Patsy Cline, Carole King and other iconic singers at a Legends of Carnegie Hall show on Friday and Saturday night, April 28 and 29.
She will be taking the stage with her friends: Red Deer pianist Morgan McKee will accompany MacDonald at the Nickle Studio, upstairs at the Memorial Centre. And singer Mandy McKee, Morgan’s sister, will join them for several numbers.
While the show is a tribute to great female artists, “it’s not an impersonation show… I’ll be singing in cabaret style,” said MacDonald, a graduate of Red Deer College’s theatre program and Lindsay Thurber Comprehensive High School.
The professional musical theatre actor was recently approved by the Patsy Cline Estate to play the legendary country singer in A Closer Walk with Patsy Cline.
In this show, she will be singing songs popularized by six female artists, including Liza Minnelli, Bette Midler and Ella Fitzgerald. MacDonald, who recorded her first album last year with Morgan McKee, looks forward to performing Somewhere Over the Rainbow, You Can’t Take That Away From Me, Walkin’ After Midnight, You Make Me Feel Like a Natural Woman, Glory of Love and other tunes for a Red Deer audience.
She and Morgan had talked for years about doing a show together. “Finally we said,” OK. Let’s do it!”
MacDonald has been performing across the country, including in the award-winning Vancouver show, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. She also made the Top 50 candidates for the role of Maria in The Sound of Music 2008 reality show How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria?
Tickets for her 7:30 p.m. concerts are available from the Black Knight Ticket Centre.