James Fabiano's Blurty

Petula Clark in Ft. Myers

Petula Clark at Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Center, Ft. Myers, FL

March 16, 2006

I can't believe it's been just a bit over a week already! Last Thursday I was down in Florida visiting my friend Marty, a part of which included my second Petula concert, this one in Ft. Myers' Barbara B. Mann Center. We wound up getting together with two other fans, Chuck, whom we met the night before the show, and Christine, who came in the night of the concert from New York. We all came up with a plan to each chip in to put together a bouquet for Petula, one with yellow roses (her favorite). Marty and I had quite an adventure finding a good and reasonable florist, but when we did, it more than paid off, as we got a lovely two-dozen bouquet. Funny story, as a local news source did mention yellow roses, but attributed it only to one of us! As an added touch, seeing as St. Patrick's Day was the day after, we added a bit of a "Finian's Rainbow" theme with some shamrock ribbons,a leprechaun teddy bear, and a note I whipped up with rainbow-and-leprechaun designs headed by, "Ft. Myers looked to the rainbow, and found Petula!" ("Look To The Rainbow" being one of Petula's songs from Finian, of course)

Armed with our cameras and proper material for autographs (namely Marty's Live At The Olympia CD...we'd also get a photograph at the Center for her mother, who was to go but wasn’t well at the time, unfortunately), off we went, stopping to pick up the others. Petula 65/66 (CD of her foreign songs) was playing all the way in the car radio. Once at the Center, we actually ran into Petula's manager John, who informed us that she would have a meet-and-greet after the show. Well that would make the gift-giving and autographs and pictures a bit easier. Though for the former, we had something special in mind.

So on with the show. Three of us were right in the orchestra pit, me included. It was fantastic, of course! Thanks to Bonnie from the International Petula Clark Society, I have the song list, which was as follows, along with my notes where appropriate:

Set 1

· Who Am I (like the Atlantic City show I was at 2 years ago, it starts with an instrumental of this, then you hear the vocals, then Petula comes out. A lot of stuff was similar to the AC show, but a lot of new stuff to me as well)

· The Twelfth of Never

(After this or the previous song, a proud moment indeed for me…Petula thanked the audience for their welcome, so I yelled “Thank YOU!” back. She blew me a kiss in return!)

· Don't Sleep in the Subway

· I'm Not Afraid

· This Is My Song (the single funniest and most memorable thing about the night, easily...when we got our party together, Marty said that she planned to wait for this song to do something special...since she loves the French version so much, she wanted to yell out, "Chantez en français, s'il vous plait!" And we all encouraged it. But I had to see it to believe it myself...well sure enough, as the song started, she said it! And Petula asked mid-song to repeat, and Marty said, "Sing in French!” And she did, and a good chunk of the song in fact!)

· I Know a Place

· Look to the Rainbow (with the familiar “I danced with him [Fred Astaire]/I sang with her!” story)

· Colour My World (Marty's chosen cue to present the flowers, by placing them onstage, as she figured they’d go with the mentions of “Sunshine yellow” in the song. Which wasn’t lost on Petula, as she acknowledged the flowers when coming to that lyric)

· Memphis (I just have to hear this song again. Petula sang it while at the piano, and beforehand, she took the flowers with her and made like they were so heavy, she had to lug them all the way over)

· 60's medley (I think she started this with an unnamed [?] song about the 1960s, which, like the previous song, I’d love to hear again. Help needed remembering the songs in the medley…”Call Me” was there, I recall)

· Tell Me It's Not True (from “Blood Brothers,” of course)

Set 2

· Jazz medley
(If I Only Had You /Just me, Just You)

· Starting All Over Again

· Sign of the Times

· Theatre poem (accompanied by the usual story about Petula writing this on the train)

· Losing My Mind

· I Never Do Anything Twice (I was pleased as punch to hear this saucy Sondheim tune sung live again. Ever since I first heard it in AC, I was hooked immediately. I then got the recorded version as part of the “Here For You” album, which has had a lot of playtime on my CD players ever since. I got a copy of HFY for Marty, and I kept talking INDAT up in the car, but when the CD came to it, we’d always be wrapped up in some other thing. Well Petula, never one to disappoint, delivered here too!)

· With One Look (“Sunset Boulevard” song)

· Driven by Emotion

· Love Song medley (“My Love” was part of this, closer to the hit version than I remembered her AC performance, which was a slower version, being. Again, anyone remember the others?)

· Downtown
Encores:

· Here for You

· I Couldn't Live Without Your Love (Petula’s Quiet Please/Put Your Hands Together combo for the end of her shows, so to say. Still perfect to top off the night, as usual!)

Some other notes…while Petula was in fine form, it seemed the microphone at the piano was a little better than the one up front. Petula looked great as always, with a black-and-silvery dress in the first half, then what I believe she calls her “little black dress” in the second. She had her “Blood Brothers” coat and Norma Desmond robe on hand as well.

Well, the fun just continued from there, as now it was time for the meet-and-greet! There was a line and a wait, but of course it was all worth it when Petula came out. There were some slightly stricter rules such as only having one item to autograph per person, and management seemed to want to get the line moving as quick as possible. Nonetheless, meeting Petula was no less a magical moment! Marty got her CD signed and a picture, and I got a picture signed for her mom and a better picture for myself! (I since got a new digital camera that takes smoother, clearer pictures, so I had to update my Pet pic!) Chuck and Christine both got pictures too, and Chuck, the lucky *&$%#, got to kiss Petula TWICE, since I kind of messed up taking the picture of said event the first time. Later on, we even got to suggest a restaurant for Petula’s party (John, Kenny Clayton, et al)…it was a nearby Bennigan’s, which as it turned out, was the only place open at that time. So we all went there to eat too…we saw Petula with her back turned to the window in the front. Our party ended up on the other side of the restaurant, all the better, as we didn’t want to seem like stalkers! Anyway, we had our own St. Patrick’s Day Eve dinner to end what was another magnificent evening with Petula. I dare say that I enjoyed this even more than AC, but with someone like Petula, it can only get better each time!