By Ron Fassler . . .
I recently had the pleasure of chatting with Linda Purl, an actress and singer with decades in the business. Her resume includes starring in over 45 made-for-TV movies as well as recurring roles on such treasured shows as Happy Days, Matlock (the original) and The Office. Her theatre credits range from off Broadway to on, to regional houses across the country and the world, including London and Japan. She’s also a serious jazz singer, the subject of our talk as she is returning to New York City with a new show titled “Tunes and Tales,” which will be performed one-night only in the theatre district, November 10th at 7pm at Green Room 42. Here are some highlights of our conversation condensed and edited for clarity:
Ron Fassler: You seem to work with the same people when you put together your act. What is the process with like for you with what I assume is the shorthand involved?
Linda Purl: Our process, which is with Deborah Grace Winer and Tedd Firth and myself, is one of my most favorite things in life to do. And it’s a process of several months, really. I’ll come up with some scheme for a given show of something I’ve been pondering in my life, or some observation about where we are in the world together, and then I’ll have some feels of songs. Not necessarily songs themselves but feels that I’ve heard of other recordings from various eras; a percussion track or just a feel and then a beginning list, a baby list of songs I want to try. So, I throw all that out in an email and then they roll their eyes, I’m sure. Then we do our first confab, the three of us, and over those beginning sessions we probably go through 80-100 songs, and we just take our time. Each session runs 2-3 hours, and we’ll try some songs; we’ll fall in love with some songs; we have definite rejects . . . but then in the course of that comes “what about that song?” So, it’s a very layered team effort and because the three of us have been working in that manner for 16 or 17 years there’s a patina. We know each other. Eventually, we arrive at the song list and then out of Deb’s and my long sort of girlie sessions curled up on the sofa about what the theme is, we go back and forth and arrive eventually at what the patter wants to be. I love them both so much and each, in their own facet, carries the Great American Songbook in their brains. They are Google, they are Chat GBT resource!
RF: Sounds amazing. Tell me more about Tedd Firth and what he brings to the table as your musical director and pianist.
LP: I met Tedd about 17 years ago now. I was invited by Rex Reed to do one of Deborah Grace Winer’s wonderful 92nd Street Y shows, but was told I was going to have to use their music director. And at that point, I’d been attached at the hip to my musical director for 20 or so years, but I was greedy for the job, so I said, “Okay.” And I came into rehearsal that first day and there was this lovely young man . . . but I just knew it was not going to go well. And then Tedd Firth puts his hands to the keys and my life changed. That was it! And we are about to go into the studio for our fifth album together. I mean, he works with so many wonderful people . .
RF: Sure, Marilyn Maye, Melissa Errico, Christine Ebersole . . .
LP: Yes. I feel incredibly lucky to be on that roster of people who work with him.
RF: I watch him a lot when onstage while listening to people of your caliber and the way he invests himself in the songs is very special.
LP: I asked him at some point what is his process? Of course, performing with him it’s never the same twice, it’s only better just when you think it couldn’t possibly be better. It’s so fresh and he plays for me, anyway, what sounds like the subtext of the lyric. And Tedd says he goes with the breath. When accompanying a singer, he can feel when they are about to breathe and, ergo, when they’re breathing in that moment, they don’t have anything to say, so it’s up to him. And in an instant, he has myriad choices. Does he presage what’s about to come? Does he echo the sentiment just planted? Does he harken to some earlier thought in the lyric? He does all this with utmost intelligence and pace and total lack of ego.
RF: You said the word intelligence and that’s what comes through so clearly. And I’m guessing the same goes for Deborah Grace Winer.
LP: Yes, she certainly shapes all of it. This show is “Tunes and Tales: Adventures in Survival.”
RF: So, you’ll be telling personal stories and matching songs to tell them.
LP: Yes, exactly. Loosely, yeah. Life is the great adventure and sometimes survival is more prescient on our minds. I think that’s sort of a word that we’re all sort of dealing with. The world has its challenges right now, certainly more than I’ve been aware of in the past decades.
RF: Especially for young people.
LP: Yes, my son is thirty and I see that with him.
RF: Well, I’m glad there’ll be the acknowledgement of all that in the show. I mean, you have to recognize the moment. You can put on a happy face (you can even sing that song, if you like)! Are there any specific challenges you’re looking forward to upon returning to the New York cabaret stage?
LP: We’re so lucky that there are venues like Green Room 42, a space that I love, to perform in these days. And for the show, besides Tedd Firth on piano, we have Ray Marchica on drums and David Finck on bass and all three of them have worked with me on so many permutations over the years, including a few albums. I just love singing on that magic carpet ride that those guys do individually, amplified by the fact that they love each other as musical brothers. It is a real treat, boost and privilege.
RF: Lastly, I wanted to ask you a bit about Duffy’s Dough, which you and your partner Patrick Duffy are involved with.
LP: Yes, we started it a few years ago in my garage so it’s been a huge learning curve for us. Kroger took us over, so we sell sourdough take and bake loaves and 100% of all the profits go to food scarcity. The rollout nationwide is happening slowly over the next several months. We’re in Ohio right now and we’re coming into Texas and Southern California soon. Doing this feels right at this stage in life and giving back. It’s important.
For information on Duffy’s Dough, please click here.
Linda Purl will be at Green Room 42 with “Tunes and Tales” on November 10th at 7pm, located in the YOTEL Hotel, 570 Tenth Avenue NYC. For ticket information, please click here.
