STORYBEAT WITH STEVE CUDEN

STEVE CUDEN INTERVIEWS ACTRESS, SINGER, AND IMPRESSIONIST CHRISTINA BIANCO

ANNOUNCER:

This is StoryBeat, storytellers on storytelling. An exploration into how master storytellers and artists develop and build brilliant stories and works of art that people everywhere love and admire. So, join us as we discover how talented creators of all kinds find success in the worlds of imagination and entertainment. Here now is your host, Steve Cuden.

Steve Cuden:

Thanks for joining us on StoryBeat. We’re coming to you from the Steel City, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. If you like this podcast, please take a moment to give us a rating or review on whatever app or platform you’re listening to. Your support helps us bring more great StoryBeat episodes to you.

Well, my guest today is the extraordinary actress, singer and impressionist, Christina Bianco. Her singular voice and comedic charm have brought audiences around the world to their feet. She’s captured international acclaim as a YouTube sensation with her diva impression videos, gaining over 25 million views. Dubbed, the girl of 1,000 voices, Christina has performed on major TV programs such as The Ellen DeGeneres Show, and The Today Show in the US, and the Paul O’Grady Show, and This Morning in the UK.

A two-time Drama Desk Award nominee, Christina made her West End debut starring in the Menier Chocolate Factories, hailed production of Forbidden Broadway. New York credits include The Marvelous Wonderettes, the one-woman, multi-character comedy, Application Pending, which garnered her a Drama Desk Award nomination. Newsical the Musical and Forbidden Broadway Goes to Rehab, for which she received another Drama Desk Award nomination.

Most recently, Christina played the iconic role of Fanny Brice at the Theater Marigny’s celebrated production of Funny Girl in Paris, earning a unanimous rave review from all the critics. Television credits include ITV’s, The Imitation Game, the Pop TV sitcom, Impress Me, Hallmark’s, Signed, Sealed, Delivered and frequent voice work for RuPaul’s Drag Race.

Christina has performed her critically acclaimed concerts to sold out crowds in New York and across the US. In the UK, she’s enjoyed extended runs, headlining at London’s Hippodrome, Royal Albert Hall’s, Elgar Room, Live at Zedel’s, The Charing Cross Theater, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and recently completed her second UK tour titled, First Impressions. She recently made concert debuts in Switzerland, Spain, South Africa and in Australia at the Sydney Opera House.

Christina frequently performs with major US and Canadian symphonies and performs her solo symphony show under the direction of renowned Maestro Jack Everly. Her debut live album, the Life of the Party is available on Apple Music and other major music platforms.

The New York Times said of Christina, “Must we trot out the phrase tour de force? Yes, we must. Bianco’s work is something to see.” For more on Christina, please check out christinabianco.com. So for all those reasons, and because I’m a huge fan myself, it’s a tremendous honor for me to welcome the awesomely talented Christina Bianco to StoryBeat today. Christina, welcome to the show.

Christina Bianco:

Thank you so much. Wow, she sounds crazy.

Steve Cuden:

She sounds like she knows what she’s doing about something.

Christina Bianco:

Thank you. I appreciate it. It’s weird to hear it all said like that.

Steve Cuden:

I know. It’s like your whole life flashes before your eyes.

Christina Bianco:

Yeah. I did that? Oh, I guess it did. Yeah. That sounds pretty cool. Yeah. I know it’s wonderful. Thank you.

Steve Cuden:

Yes, you did, and I just love watching you, what I’ve seen on YouTube. I’ve not seen you live, and one of these days, I would love to do that.

Christina Bianco:

Do.

Steve Cuden:

But the stuff I’ve seen on YouTube, which is … There’s lots of it, it’s really fantastic.

Christina Bianco:

Thank you.

Steve Cuden:

So let’s go back a little bit. You’ve been doing this a little while. When did you first get started treading the boards, as they say? Were you a kid?

Christina Bianco:

Sure. I started performing as early as I could. I was that precocious kid that absolutely knew I wanted to sing and be on stage. And so, my parents saw that and they fostered my young, budding talents at a very young age. My very first play, it was just a children’s show, like for kids by kids. It was the traveling theater in Rockland County, and it was a production of The Wizard of Oz. I was too young. You had to be seven to audition. So, I waited patiently till I was seven. And most of the leading roles went to teenagers, 12, 13, 14 years old.

Steve Cuden:

So, you knew as a little girl, you were going to do this.

Christina Bianco:

Yeah. Then the only reason I’m saying this is because, totally I got hooked right away because I auditioned wanting to be Dorothy. Of course, I was too young. But I sang Somewhere Over the Rainbow at the audition and I happened to have both my two front teeth missing, so it came out Somewhere Over the Rainbow. And I think in part because of that ridiculousness, or I should say, ridiculousness, the director of the show decided to put in a solo at the end. The little munchkin would come out and sing a reprise of Somewhere Over the Rainbow, and he gave me that task. So, that’s it. When you’re in your very first show at age seven, and you get to sing your favorite song as a solo, that was it. I had no choice, but to continue, I was hooked. So, that created a little snob right away.

Steve Cuden:

Were you pretty much on pitch at that age?

Christina Bianco:

Oh, yes, yes. There’s some audio I can send to you and share with you. My parents, I remember my dad holding up a massive camcorder. So, there is audio and video of my performance of that song. It was great and it started me off. I loved doing musicals. But my parents knew what was involved if I wanted to do theater. When I was little, of course, and nowadays, they have so many outlets for kids who want to sing. They have all these easily accessible, even just karaoke tracks, you can download on your phone instantly from iTunes and the like.

We didn’t have that back then. If you wanted the CD of something, if you wanted a tape, cassette tape with karaoke tracks, you had to order in special. So, the only outlet to really sing was live theater. So, I spent a lot of time doing shows, community theater shows, regional theater shows. And then working my first paying job as a performer was at the Westchester Broadway Dinner Theater.

Steve Cuden:

That’s a very famous theater.

Christina Bianco:

Yeah. I think I was 10 or 11 years old. So, from my first paying job at age 11, I’ve never really stopped.

Steve Cuden:

So, you’ve been a pro your whole life, basically.

Christina Bianco:

Well, yeah, I guess. I mean, definitely my entire life. I remember going to school, and then getting driven immediately to a dance class or a voice class, or an acting class or rehearsal for something. So, I was always performing. Then I knew so much that I wanted to perform and only perform, and I should also say, as I got older, my love of just singing in general. It’s hard choose a favorite thing to do. I love playing a role and playing a character and being on stage. But if I had to choose one thing, I would say a singer first and foremost is what I always wanted to do, wanted to be.

So, I then started exploring other ways to perform as a vocalist, singing with jazz trios in college and bar bands and doing voiceovers. Not impression work at that point, but doing lots of voiceovers and character voices, and little non-union commercials and animation things. So, I went to NYU Tisch School of the Arts so I continue, of course, working and getting a performing arts degree. I double majored in journalism with no intention of really using it in a job for journalism, but I knew it would help me with writing and sound bites and all that stuff. I babbled enough already. My goodness. See what you’re getting yourself into. An Italian New Yorker, you have no hope here. I’m just going to keep going.

Steve Cuden:

I love both Italians and New Yorkers. So, you’re in good shape. So, do you think of this as a calling? Do you think it’s something that this is what you’re meant to do? I think it’s clear that it is.

Christina Bianco:

Yeah. It’s funny, because I was talking to somebody about this recently. People always know that when you practice something you improve. And I can practice as much as I can, let’s say to figure skate, or play baseball. But I don’t have a natural ability to do that, so I’m never going to be a great. I’m never going to be able to do either of those things professionally. Height aside, all the other reasons I couldn’t do those things.

So, I was definitely really lucky that I have a natural ability. My mom says, I was singing before I could even form full sentences. I was hitting pitch, and I was trying to sing phonetically along to the music in the car that was playing on the television. So, I always had an ear for it. And I think that the fact that my parents did educate me and throw me into training at a young age just made it easier. There was like I could sing, I wanted to perform. I was comfortable. I never got nervous. And that’s something it’s hard to teach.

Steve Cuden:

Well, the hallmark of what I see in your performances, is that you are the definition of fearless.

Christina Bianco:

Oh, if only you knew how not true that was, but that’s great.

Steve Cuden:

Remember the old commercial, don’t ever let them see you sweat? That’s what you’re. I mean, because I’ve seen you where things have happened, like the mic went out in New York.

Christina Bianco:

Oh, yeah.

Steve Cuden:

And you tripped on one point in a performance and you just don’t miss a beat.

Christina Bianco:

I just kept going. Yeah. Yeah. That does take experience, because those first thing they can throw you when you first get started, but I’m with the show and make a beat out of it. I think being a fairly self-deprecating person also helps because you don’t take yourself too seriously. You can roll with the punches. And I find that very important for all people who are in any form of performance and careers listening to this.

Steve Cuden:

You want to get up in front of an audience, you’d better not take yourself too seriously. Though, there are some that do.

Christina Bianco:

I think there’s a difference in having pride and respect in what you do and being prepared and not taking yourself too seriously.

Steve Cuden:

Absolutely. So, all right. I need to know, the word is important. You call yourself an impressionist, not an imitator, correct?

Christina Bianco:

Yeah. I don’t use imitator, only because I don’t usually hear that word too much. The one that I really avoid is impersonator. And that’s typically because impersonator, the correlation is somebody who gets dressed up in an outfit and looks like them, a Cher impersonator. So, an impressionist is someone, it’s just the word that I always heard the most. And so, also as someone as Christina, she’s a female impersonator. It sounds like I’m a man getting dressed up as a woman, female impersonator. So, which is totally cool, but not what I do. So yeah, so impression, it seems to be the term that explains it the most. I can change my voice to sound like other people.

Steve Cuden:

You certainly can like nobody’s business. There aren’t too many women that do what you do. I don’t know of any really, other than you.

Christina Bianco:

Well, I certainly can name a bunch. And one of the greatest impressionists, particularly in the New York theater and cabaret scene is this wonderful, wonderful human being who I’m lucky to call a friend now, Christine Pedi. And Christine Pedi, I first heard, in fact, this goes along with one of the first groups of people I ever heard do any impressions at all, was in the long running show in New York called Forbidden Broadway.

And for listeners that may not know that spoofs and parodies, all of the Broadway shows and their stars, it’s like Saturday Night Live, but for Broadway. And it changes every season with the changing Broadway shows. So, when I was born, that show was already up and running. And so, I genuinely grew up listening to the cast albums, and every season there was a new cast album. It was fantastic. And then we’d go see the shows. And Christine Pedi was in them for quite some time impersonating the likes of Liza Minnelli and Patti LuPone and Julie Andrews.

Steve Cuden:

She was dressing up as them?

Christina Bianco:

Yeah. And in Forbidden Broadway, it’s a little bit different, because in Forbidden Broadway they play so many people at once. It’s as an acting job as well. These people are fantastic actors and singers and musical theater performers. And that was where I saw females sing and do impressions. But we’ve seen Pedi was the big one that influenced me, who then I got to work with in musical later on in my career. But the thing is for me, most of the people I saw doing impressions were standup comics and they were just doing mostly speaking impressions.

Steve Cuden:

Sure, not singing.

Christina Bianco:

And then my father reminded me a couple of years ago, but it was him, he takes the credit, of course, he was playing this fantastic Sammy Davis Jr album. And Sammy famously did great impressions of his contemporaries. And it was one of his live concerts and I was little and I didn’t quite understand. I was like, “Wait, did you just change CD or does he have a guest?” My father was like, “No, that’s Sammy, he’s changing his voice to sound like all those other people.” And he was the first person I ever heard do multiple voices on one song. This is something that then Christine Pedi, as a cabaret performer in New York, a concert performer was doing. And I had seen her do that. So, I mean, I’m not the first person to do that. I’m just the person who was the first to become popular doing it on YouTube.

Steve Cuden:

So, is your father that had you doing impression or did he-

Christina Bianco:

No, my father always and mother, my father worked in radio, so he had access and knowledge to a lot of music and many, many different genres. Which is one of the reasons I’m so comfortable singing different genres of music, is I genuinely grew up singing country and jazz and rock and Broadway. I just was always playing in the house. So, as a singer in my own right, I like singing those genres. But it helps with impressions as well, when you know how to do the Drew McIntyre twang, it makes it easier to apply.

Steve Cuden:

Well, yeah, because you’ve got to do… The thing that’s really great about what you do is you don’t just get the sense of who the people are. You get their vocal, intonation and quality just down pat.

Christina Bianco:

thank you.

Steve Cuden:

You can turn away from the screen and you’re still hearing that character.

Christina Bianco:

Oh, thanks. Well, because again, because I’m four feet, 11. So, when I impersonate someone like Celine Dion, it’s about the voice. But if people are not just listening to me, if they’re watching me, then I have to take it a step further. And I find the impressionists that are most successful are the ones where even if they look at their core, nothing like the person that they’re impersonating. That you can take on mannerisms and physicality to try your best to embody that person. And that’s, I think also having acting training and theatrical training of that.

Steve Cuden:

So, who was your first impression?

Christina Bianco:

My first impression, my parents tell me that they remember was Judy Garland, because they listened to me singing to the Wizard of Oz, like I mentioned my favorite. And they would always hear me sing it. And then occasionally, they said they would hear me sing along and take on her tone and style. And I don’t know what I sounded like at age three, but I would start singing it in my own voice. And then they’d hear me change the color of my voice and make it sound a little darker. And so, they think that was my first impression.

The first impression that I remember doing that got a response from somebody else, meaning I never did impressions like, “Hey, look at me, I’m going to do this impression for you now.” I just had a natural ability to change my voice. And it was Celine Dion. And Celine Dion, and you may be asking me this question later, but is my favorite impression to do, because she is so colorful. She has so many isms, right? She has a funny way of speaking. It is particular, her pronunciation for emphasis, it is precise. And she makes crazy facial expressions. And her, of course her actual vocal ability is astounding.

Steve Cuden:

Astounding.

Christina Bianco:

And she has a lot of phrases and rifts and runs and little isms that she does in a few of her songs. So, she gives me the complete package. But the real reason I think I love impressing her so much is because I genuinely grew up listening to her. And I know her so well. I listened to her albums in French, not knowing what she was saying before her big US albums came out. And I genuinely think I’m a nerd enough to know her voice and what she does enough as a songstress like in the way she interprets a song. That I think now, that I could approximate how she would sing Total Eclipse to the Heart or how she would sing, Mary Had a Little Lamb.

And that’s what makes her so much fun for me, it’s my knowledge of her plus her great voice and isms. It comes together. But I stumbled upon the impression pretty much accidentally. I was singing along to, I believe that the Celine Dion song, That’s the Way It Is, or she says it, “That’s the way it is.” That’s the Way It Is. And in that song she says, “Just remember, because you can win in this thing called love.” Love. And I remember thinking that was hilarious that she said laugh. And then I went back and I listened to her sing, “The power of love. Because you love me.” And a little R every time she says the word love.

And so, I was doing this around the house. And then I was at this party and I was singing along, and just quietly. And the person next to me heard me do it. And they’re like, “Wait a minute, wait, wait, wait, do that again. Could you do that again? What was that? Oh my gosh, she sings like Celine Dion. Come here, come here, Christina sounds like Celine Dion.” And that was the first time I realized like, “Oh, I do actually sound like her. This is what an impression is. This is like those people I’ve heard do it in Forbidden Broadway.” And it sparked something in me because I didn’t know it was something, one that I could actually pull off, but two that other people couldn’t do easily.

Steve Cuden:

So, it was just natural. This was not something that you had to strain to figure out, you just did it.

Christina Bianco:

No, no. I mean, a lot of impressions I’ve worked my butt off and still don’t think I do a great job. You have to practice and try and stretch yourself. But yeah, when I was younger, I always say I had a natural ear for mimicry. Because teachers in acting class whenever, if they’d say, “Okay, now who wants to read.” There’s an old lady in the scene, and I’ll put on a character voice. “Who’s a little kid in this.” “I could get a little kid, I could do that.” And I would volunteer and do that.

Christina Bianco:

So, I have this vocal flexibility. And then yeah, my parents did see that, and they’re not performers themselves, but they’ve always loved music and the arts. And so, they knew that I needed to be trained. And so, I think because of that education, I was able to… just the awareness that I could do something with it, was there. Whereas if I was just in… Forget it. You speak.

Steve Cuden:

You can’t go to school anywhere that I know of to learn to be an impressionist. There’s no class in it. Is there?

Christina Bianco:

No. And now there are some programs, because people have asked me to do little masterclasses recently about impressions, because they’ve become so popular on the internet. And again, when I was little, there was no YouTube. So, there was no way I could Google Christine Pedi doing her fabulous one woman sings as 50 voices, rendition of I Will Survive. Which once YouTube happened, I watched the heck out of that video. And apparently people around the world were watching the heck out of mine. So, it was very, very funny. But because there was no outlet for it. No, I didn’t know. I certainly didn’t think, even when I was getting asked to do character voices or people were, I finally realized I could do a few impressions.

In college, Kristin Chenoweth was very popular. And I would say, “Oh my gosh, I love her voice so much.” I just went right into it. And somebody was like, “Oh my God, that’s hilarious. You sound like you’re on helium. You sound like Kristin Chenoweth.” And that was one that I just did as a silly little voice. And I remember thinking, “Okay, well, I can do that. I can do that.”

Again, I never thought I can make a career out of it. I never thought there’d be any work for me apart from maybe one day auditioning for Forbidden Broadway, which I did. And then I got the job and changed my life. But that was it. Like I said, because most people that did impressions were in dressed up in Vegas as Cher before doing it in standup comedy. And I wasn’t going to do either of those.

Steve Cuden:

To you it was a bit of a goof as a kid.

Christina Bianco:

Exactly.

Steve Cuden:

And then it became something when you realized you could do more than one or two. I started to count, I lost track at 47 different. I’m sure there is more.

Christina Bianco:

Well, I mean, it’s funny. Because people in publications call you the girl of 1000 voices. They think you dab yourself these things. I do not do that. But you go with it when somebody does. With Ellen and Queen Latifah say things like that, you go with it. I do not do 1000 to my own knowledge. I definitely do over 200 if you count. Because I have to count any change in the voice. So, I do all these little cartoon characters and the Disney sidekicks, and I can do that. So, if I can give it a character name I count it or a celebrity name.

Steve Cuden:

I know you know I’ve got 90 credits in teleplays, all in animation. You would wipe the floor as a voiceover actor.

Christina Bianco:

And yet I never broke into it. I wasn’t part of the click. And I think because I don’t just do that because I’m always busy traveling.

Steve Cuden:

You’re also not in Los Angeles.

Christina Bianco:

That’s it. I got to tell you something, not being in Los Angeles, I have these great meetings with Disney. It’s the heartbreak of my life, this great meetings with Disney. They reached out to me and they’re like, “Great. Well, when you’re here, let us know.”

Steve Cuden:

Exactly.

Christina Bianco:

And it’s like, “In this day and age, well, I can talk to you now from a… Come on.” But they really want you there, which is great. They want you in the space. They want you to take direction. And I’m not about to move to California anytime soon. So, temporarily my Disney dreams are not happening. But yeah, it’s funny. It’s a blessing and a curse in my life that I have done… This is another topic for another conversation. But I said blessing and a curse that I’ve been able to do so many things under the umbrella of the performing arts.

I get to sing with symphonies mostly in my own voice, but also with impressions. I get to do voiceovers. I get to perform my own concerts. I get cast in shows like Funny Girl. I’m hired as a straight actor. I make the YouTube video. I mean, there are so many different aspects of what I do in a year to pay the bills as Christina Bianco. And I love all of it. But people really do, still expect you in this day and age to focus on one thing. Like, “Is she YouTube, Christina Bianco?” Well, I’m not a YouTuber. I’m not an influencer. And only a few times have I made content specifically for YouTube. In fact, all my videos that have gone viral have been live performances, not videos I filmed for YouTube.

Steve Cuden:

What I think you need, and I think it will come your way is my feeling about it is, is you need your own show.

Christina Bianco:

Well, let’s just make that happen. And people have talked about it, but no one’s actually come through yet.

Steve Cuden:

Well, I mean, really that’s when it will happen is when somebody figures out how to… Well, I’ll sit around. I’ll think about it.

Christina Bianco:

Yeah. Well, no, it’s fun. Sorry to interrupt. Go ahead.

Steve Cuden:

No, no, no, no. I was going to say that I just think that once you have that, then everything else will open the other way. Because yes, you’re correct. The worst part about the industry is people pigeon hole people.

Christina Bianco:

Yeah. And it becomes even more difficult, I will say… And I’m so tired of saying it, but I have to because people don’t believe me. It gets even more difficult when you’re as short as I am, particularly as somebody who wanted to work mostly and started out, particularly trying to become a musical theater.

Steve Cuden:

Why?

Christina Bianco:

Because in TV and film, height doesn’t matter as much because of camera angles, you could stand in a box. Tom Cruise famously stands on a box with his female costars all the time. But onstage, and again, you would not really believe it unless I told you all the examples, many roles for Broadway shows have height requirements, period.

Steve Cuden:

Wow.

Christina Bianco:

So there you go.

Steve Cuden:

I didn’t know that.

Christina Bianco:

I am too short to audition for roles I think would be great for. And so, when they have too many people for a job or multiple people that could apply for the job or audition for the job, or if you have the agents strong enough to get you seen, then they say, “Okay, but are they X, Y, and Z.” And one of those things is height. I am considered exceptionally short. I’m not petite. I’m under five foot. So, I am too “short.” And so, typically that makes me a character actress. I have to be. And typically character actresses are dance tracks. So, those little things happen in that way. But so it’s been something that I’ve struggled with quite a bit.

Christina Bianco:

I was talking to my girlfriend, Tammy, about this. We were told the same thing. I’ve been told, “Can you stand over here on the stage? No. Could you stand over there? No, go over there. You just ruined the picture.”

Steve Cuden:

God.

Christina Bianco:

But that’s the thing. But if everybody’s uniform, and let’s say as I get older, I’d like to play a mom. Are you going to cast me as the mom, if I’m shorter than the person playing my child? No. But chances are, I am shorter than the person playing my child, so I won’t get the part.

Steve Cuden:

How has Kristin Chenoweth done it?

Christina Bianco:

Well, that’s it. See, Kristin Chenoweth is one of the people that I so admire, because there were parts that absolutely suited her and her size, the two parts that at her Broadway debut in Steel Pier. One, nobody could sing it like her. And she had to fight for that audition. She crashed the audition, if I’m not mistaken. She didn’t even go through an agent. She crashed the audition. It was just better than everybody else. God bless her. She deserved it. But that is a little miss something. I mean, she’s supposed to be a petite role. And then her big Tony Award, it was for You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown, playing the littlest, not just the child, the smallest and youngest child. So again, it suited her perfectly. But and I might get in trouble for saying this. But I’m not going to get in trouble. I’m telling you the truth. There is a height requirement for Glinda in Wicked and it’s taller than Kristin Chenoweth’s height, currently. I can’t even audition, again.

Steve Cuden:

That’s interesting. Well, here’s the thing. You definitely have the vocal chops for it. That’s for sure.

Christina Bianco:

Well, so many people have the vocal chops for so many roles and there were so many reasons why people do or do not get them. I have always said, I would just like to get seen. I would just like to have the opportunity to be seen. And the only time I get really upset is when I don’t have that opportunity. And it’s no secret.

One of the reasons I spend so much time working abroad and traveling abroad is because I don’t get a lot of the opportunities I wish I got in New York. And a lot of that is in great part due to my height. I can’t put everything on that. My goodness, I’m not saying it’s the only reason. There are multitudes of reasons why I don’t get seen. But it certainly hasn’t helped. And so, I think I’ve used that… I don’t want to say negative thing, but it’s been a hindrance to me. It really has. But I’ve taken that and I’ve made it my own. And the first person to make a height joke about myself will definitely be me. And I’ve found ways to work that don’t involve my height.

Steve Cuden:

So, I’m going to tell you the interesting thing. Until you brought all this up today, because I’ve only seen you on YouTube. It’s the only place where I’ve actually… And I’ve seen you on The Today Show and that kind of thing. I had no idea you’re at this height that you’re talking about, not a clue.

Christina Bianco:

Yeah. Very few people standing next to me in the videos you’ve seen, and I have been wearing platforms, but yes. Even next to Ellen, I was like, “However taller shoes I could wear and be comfortable?” Yeah. But that’s good to know.

Steve Cuden:

We’re just going to have to get you a longer pair of legs, that’s all.

Christina Bianco:

I know I’ve tried a stretcher, but it’s not worked out so far.

Steve Cuden:

All right. Let’s talk about your process just a little bit as to how you do things. One of just the most incredible things to watch is the rapid fire changes you make in voices on stage.

Christina Bianco:

Oh thank you.

Steve Cuden:

I mean, it’s instantaneous. Is that when it’s called out to you. I know you have times when you’re performing and someone’s calling out a change. Are they calling it out and trying to trip you up or is it already planned?

Christina Bianco:

It varies. One of the most popular YouTube videos, the one that went the most viral was that Total Eclipse of the Heart video. And I always am very honest about the fact that that was half planned. Half planned, meaning I gave the host of the evening, Susie Mosher. I gave her a list of names for each section of the song. And within that section, she could call out different names, meaning I had to give some structure as it was a performance. It was in front of an audience. I couldn’t be full test. I couldn’t have her call out Julie Andrews at the lowest part of the song and Cher at the highest part of the song, because their voices don’t go there. So, within vocal framework I gave the list of suggestions.

And I find that those moments are more fun for the audience. Like on Ellen, when Ellen was shouting out those names, the show did choose the impressions they thought were best. And within that, I said, “Okay, now if you want great television, you have to at least give me an ending. Yet you can’t make me end it on somebody whose voice doesn’t fit the end of the song. So, can you let me set the last two?” And they said, yes. Because the thing is, if it’s all to chance, it might be fun for the audience to watch me on the spots, which can get nervous, but it also might not necessarily lead to great content.

So, I try to put both methods into my live shows and my videos. Meaning there is an art… It sound so obnoxious to say, but there is an art to finding a song that sounds good with impressions. And then what line to put what vocalists on. And that’s a big process. And it takes a lot of work. And the fact that some people just think I can just, they can throw out a name, it’s going to sound as interesting, is infuriating to me, but if they understood it, then everybody would do it, I guess.

Steve Cuden:

So, that was the question which you’ve now answered, which I think is fascinating. Yes, you have to actually seek a song that works for all those things.

Christina Bianco:

Oh yeah. People always say, I remember, and this is not a negative story, because I had a fantastic, fantastic time, and was treated like gold and on the Queen Latifah Show. But I didn’t know what I was singing on that show until the morning of the performance. And I almost said, washed my hands a bit and said, “I’ll pay for my own flight home. I’m not going to go on TV and embarrass myself.” And it was because of music rights. They weren’t trying to be difficult, it’s because the network wasn’t sure which songs they could clear. And very often those things happen in the last minute basis.

So, here I was with this great opportunity to sing on national television. And I didn’t know what I was singing. And they’re like, “Here are your options.” And I knew my options and I spent all night going over like four songs and trying to put the right person on the right part of the song. You only get one shot at it.

And then that next morning, the morning of the taping like, “Okay, we have this big catalog of these songs. Why don’t you just choose one of these?” And I was like, there wasn’t one song that worked.

And somebody from the show asked me, “Why doesn’t it work?” And I said, for the general public to, one, think what I’m doing is interesting, they have to know the song very well. It can’t be a mildly popular song, it has to be a very popular song. It also has to be a song where certain significant phrases are repeated multiple times. So, then you can better hear the switch between how I change it for each voice each time I do it. It also has to be a song that I say it has to have a bill. It has to have a bridge. It has to have an A, B and C, where a lot of songs don’t. A lot of songs just have a verse and a chorus, and verse and a chorus, and it’s done. And they’re not as interesting as a song with a bridge. Because with impressions, you’re essentially telling a story a little more than you would be otherwise.

Steve Cuden:

It’s even better when it rises in some way and softens in another place.

Christina Bianco:

And the other part of it is the song can’t have one note. It has to have a wide range. Because the wider the vocal range in the song, the more impressions I can apply. And then the last bit of that is, and this just happened a couple of days ago. Someone’s like, “Oh, can you sing this song?” And I went, “Oh no.” There were too many long held notes. The song was a lot of la, la-la la. I said, no, no. To get the impressions that clearly you need to hear words. Because some of the people, if it’s, let’s say Liza Minnelli. So, Liza Minnelli, we knew that her S’s are ridiculous, right? And her Ts and her Ds. So, I’m not going to give Liza Minnelli something without an S. I’m not going to give her a line without an S.

And if you’ve got somebody who has a really fast vibrato, like Edith Piaf, right? Why would I give her a song that’s all patter and no long-held notes when you can’t hear the vibrato that identifies her. So, even within one song, I’ll give the chatty section to somebody who has lots of ticks of Rs and Ss, and Ts and Ds. And I’ll give the long-held phrase of the song to a Celine Dion, who’s known for her big power ballads, where she’s holding long notes all the time. So, it’s a bit of a puzzle. I take the impressions that are topical, the impressions I’m wanting to work on or improve. And then I look at the lyrics. And then I look at the range of the song and I put those puzzle pieces together.

Steve Cuden:

So, what’s interesting to me is that you actually program the song.

Christina Bianco:

100%. That’s why it’s a little nerve wracking when adjust is up to chance. It’s fun for about five seconds for me. And then I’m like, “Okay. Nope.” I do it, though. I do it to challenge myself. And because I know the audience likes it.

Steve Cuden:

So, it’s important that each voice fits a certain thing.

Christina Bianco:

Yeah, it is. And I think again, Julie Andrews, I always give this example. We always think of Julie Andrews, no matter what she has sung in her life, I always say she could be singing Guns ‘n Roses, it will sound like a lullaby, because those round tunes, ooze, is what we think of. It’s that warmth. So, I always find the greatest contrast is to have her sing something she totally shouldn’t. Right?

Steve Cuden:

Yes.

Christina Bianco:

I mean, it’s a suggestion. In all of my live concerts, I’m now doing something that it’s an extension of what we’re talking about right now. I try to have me and my musician and which is a huge challenge for them, take a suggestion on the spot. Sometimes they give it some confines like, “Okay, here are these four TV theme songs.” This is what I did in my last UK tour. Here are four popular TV theme songs. Here are six impressions or eight or 10 impressions. And we change them all the time. And we’d have them pick out of a hat. What’s the song, what’s the impression? And we put it together on the spot. And sometimes there are no parameters to this and we just go with the flow. And sometimes the outcome is fantastic.

I was doing a gig in Blackpool and my accompanist and I were like, “Let’s just have fun because this audience is always rowdy. Let’s just go nuts.” He wanted to challenge himself. And I wanted to challenge myself. And it was the very first time someone suggested, Don’t Stop Believing. I thought was a great song. Great suggestion, has a wide range. Everybody knows it. Great suggestion. And they said, Idina Menzel.

Steve Cuden:

You mean Adele Dazeem?

Christina Bianco:

Adele Dezeem. So, how do you have Adele Dazeem sing Don’t Stop believing? And I went over the piano. I said, “Okay. Well, okay, now everyone knows Idina Menzel from Wicked and Let It Go. So, let’s make it sound a little bit like that. Let’s make it sound overly dramatic. And we have to give it a big loud belty ending like her songs and an incredibly high notes.” And so, we put it together on the spot. And there’s some video of this on YouTube. I didn’t post it. Somebody in the audience did. In fact, don’t look for it because I don’t like it. But I did see it myself. And I went, “That was a great suggestion.” I had written it down and I went, “Oh gosh, the video is up.” How horrifying and also wonderful because now I get to see what we did, and what was good and what wasn’t.

Steve Cuden:

Right.

Christina Bianco:

And that sparked the idea for me to do this with little bit of structure, like to make sure the band may be known as the songs I’m suggesting would be great. So, it would be like, “You guys have a general awareness of, I Think We’re Alone Now?” And if they said, yes, I’d say, “Okay. Well, then let’s do that.” So, how would Edith Piaf sing, I Think We’re Alone Now? Well, let’s go for a stereotype. She’s got like, ba-da-ba-da-ba-dum, those marches. So, let’s turn it into a march. And then, so that spawned this thing in my show is where I don’t know what I’m doing until the audience tells me. We give it a few parameters, just so we don’t waste your time. You’re paying for a ticket. You’re choosing to sit down. You don’t want to see something totally unpolished or something didn’t totally fall apart.

But I think seeing something that’s less polished and seeing something that’s a little off the cuff is really exciting for the audience, because then they also can appreciate the rest of the show. And they can better understand the work that goes into choosing those songs and those voices and the arrangements. Because what I get pop that they’re doing on YouTube is 19 to 20 people singing Total Eclipse of the Heart with the original arrangement of Total Eclipse of the Heart.

Steve Cuden:

Right.

Christina Bianco:

But now what I love to do and what’s on my album, we got to explore quite a bit with that particular song, was every time I change the voice, the style of accompaniment, the style of music changes to match that artist. So, it’s incredibly difficult for musicians, for my music directors and my rangers, and then for the musicians to play. I mean, one song like that takes three times as long to rehearse. So, we were just playing the regular chart. But it makes it more exciting and dynamic for me and my audience.

Steve Cuden:

So, my question that just blows my mind is how do you keep them straight in your head? I mean-

Christina Bianco:

The only thing is practice.

Steve Cuden:

… have you ever screwed them up?

Christina Bianco:

Yes, absolutely. The only thing is practice. I sometimes I go for an impression and I accidentally do one that’s similar, or if it changes it right quick. But usually I’m good at it because I practice. And I do have to practice those changes. Like any muscle, it becomes easier the more you do it.

Steve Cuden:

Sure, of course.

Christina Bianco:

But it is pretty funny because there have been times where I’ve listened to it. In fact, I did this on my live album and I’m not going to tell you where, where someone’s calling out names and I know the name that’s coming. So, as I’m holding the note of the artist before, as I’m holding the note, I shift into the voice of the next person before they’ve said it.

Steve Cuden:

Wow.

Christina Bianco:

So, that’s funny. I’m ahead of myself because I’m so nervous about like, I’m anticipating the switch so much, I do it early.

Steve Cuden:

So, your proof, and I’ve had other guests and we’ve had this conversation, which is really great. You’r eproof that it isn’t just pure talent. There’s a lot of work that goes into it. And it’s like Astaire. I use Astaire as the example. Everybody thinks Astaire just did it. And it was effortless. It looked effortless. But it was 1000 hours of dancing on that number to make it look effortless.

Christina Bianco:

And artists in particular, dancers, musicians, singers, they don’t get the credit they deserve for that time. And I think singers are treated the most poorly in this regard. And it doesn’t help that there are TV shows out there where it’s like, “We found you singing in a trailer park, and now you’re going to be on this… You’re going to be a star.” And there are people that have natural ability like that and can do great things with it. But there are so many of us that worked so hard for so long to sing various styles of music, and not just for one song, but to have a whole show with stamina and sing a concert with variety. And it takes a lot of craft and people.

It always makes me a little bit angry when people are like, “I never had one voice lesson.” It’s like, “Well, good for you. Good for you. That’s fun, you never had a voice lesson.” But those voice lessons could take your natural ability and probably make it even better if you would work a little bit. So, it makes me a little upset. I had natural ability that I would never trade my lessons. I would never say I didn’t need my lessons to help me become a better performer.

Steve Cuden:

The audience never cares about what it took to get there. They just want whatever the result is. Right?

Christina Bianco:

Yeah.

Steve Cuden:

So, the fact that you have to bust your butt to make it as effortless as you make it seem, because when you do it, it looks effortless. You do not look like you’re trying hard to do it.

Christina Bianco:

Yeah. Thank you. Well, and again, gosh, it sounds like I’m just complaining. I’m not. But since we’re talking and being honest, that’s I find two things incredibly frustrating. It’s that I’m so grateful, I should say to start off with, that I get to sing in my own voice as much, if not more than I do impressions in my life and my career.

Steve Cuden:

Well, you’re a great singer, so you should.

Christina Bianco:

Thank you. And it’s lovely. No one has been like, “Shut up and do the impressions.” In fact, sometimes people say, “You should do more of your own voice to balance out the impressions.” And so, that’s lovely. And I will never lose that. I think starting off as a performer that didn’t do impressions, of course, I wasn’t known for impressions, of course helps that.

But it is funny when I’m asked to sing at one off events like, “Come sing one number.” They don’t want me to sing as me. They want me to do impressions. So, I make a point to at least bookend the song with my own voice, not just for ego, but so the audience knows what I sound like before I do impressions. And that way they can better appreciate how I’m changing my voice. So, I have to work at that, but they will never suggest that. They just want, I always say, “Dance, monkey dance, do the tricks.”

Steve Cuden:

Well, that’s what you known for.

Christina Bianco:

So, you still have to take that pride and that ownership in yourself a little bit and invest in yourself and be like, “You know what? I know what’s going to land. And if I just start into an impression, they don’t even know what I sound like.” So, that sometimes can be frustrating, but I work around it.

What I find very frustrating, which goes to what we were just talking about is when people just say, “We’ll just do an impression right now on this song.” And you’re like, “It doesn’t work that way. I can’t just do it. I mean, I could, but I wouldn’t be proud of the work that I was currently doing. I wouldn’t want that to represent me.” People on radio do this all the time, “Well, just sing that now, is Brittany Spears.” It drives you nuts. Because they would never say to an opera singer, “Hit that high E right now on the spot.” It’s a little bit of a lack of respect for it, a little bit. But that’s only something that I have felt in the past few years. I think people just expect me to go.

Steve Cuden:

Well, because you’ve created your own monster.

Christina Bianco:

Yeah. I’ve done it to myself, that’s what you’re saying.

Steve Cuden:

You’ve done it to yourself is correct. Because people you do so many of them so fast, they just expect you’re just knocking them out without thinking about it, and you’re not.

Christina Bianco:

I never thought of that.

Steve Cuden:

Well, that’s exactly what’s going on. People just have a high expectation of what you can do.

Christina Bianco:

I feel like I’m letting everybody down.

Steve Cuden:

So, how do you break a new voice? Are you working on any now? I’m not asking you to do it, I’m asking you whether you are working on any now.

Christina Bianco:

Well, there are people that I impersonate a little bit, but I’m not happy with my impression yet. Or I use Ariana Grande as an example. I dabble in a certain quality, not her whole voice, a certain quality of Ariana Grande. And I get laughs when I do it and people appreciate it. But it’s not a well-rounded impression. And I’m not comfortable yet taking her voice and having her sing something she’s never sang. I don’t have a command over it.

Steve Cuden:

Okay, so how do you develop it? What do you do?

Christina Bianco:

Practice.

Steve Cuden:

Practice.

Christina Bianco:

That’s practice.

Steve Cuden:

Are you practicing with her vocal next to you, or are you listening to it at the same time?

Christina Bianco:

At first I listen. And more typically if it’s somebody who, I mean, she’s done quite a lot in her short years. But particularly a lot of these new artists, they’re almost impossible to impersonate because one, they have no canon of music to go back to. There’s one song. And also a lot of this vocalists today, they sound so processed and auto-tuned. And that is style. But even if they don’t need it, it’s the style.

Steve Cuden:

But they are processed?

Christina Bianco:

Yeah. So, it’s really hard to know what they sound like. So, then they go, oh, they watch them live. But if that doesn’t sound like what the people are used to hearing on the radio, then why am I doing it? So, it also eliminates a lot of people, which wasn’t quite your question, but yeah. So, I don’t know when you’re airing this, but tomorrow is my very first live stream concert, and I’m debuting a few new impressions. One of them, which I’m not going to do right now, you have to look up the video that I’m going to release. But one of them is I wanted to do Midge Maisel from the marvelous Mrs. Maisel. Everybody loves her. Everybody knows that she has a very specific tone, very specific pattern of speech. So, what I’ve done is I’ve taken her reciting a famous movie monologue, that of course she’s never done. I love mixing and matching. So, that took a lot of work. It took three seasons to get impression down.

Steve Cuden:

How long is it when you’re working on a new voice before you feel comfortable usually to introduce it into it act?

Christina Bianco:

I tend to introduce it before I’m comfortable to smaller audiences or for tester shows. I do this a lot in the UK, because I’ve had a lot of opportunities to play different cities at different times of year in the UK. If I happen to be able for one thing, a venue or producer might say, “Hey, why don’t we just do a concert?” So, it’ll just be myself and a piano. We’ll do some classic material and we’ll test them new stuff. It’s the closest, I mean, I’m not a standup comedian. But a lot of what I do involves comedy. And I need to know timing. I need to write it. And also, an impression in my own apartment or my own hotel room or my own bathroom is very different than an impression in front of people that also… Right there, is right here. An impression on a microphone can sound totally different than an impression without one.

Steve Cuden:

Sure.

Christina Bianco:

So, that’s and how much reverb do I need? The reverb that happens to be on that particular mic at that setting at that point in that song, does it diminish what I’m doing? Does it hide the nuance that I’m trying to incorporate with the impression? So, that’s a great part of it too. I’m a pain in the butt for sound people. I treat them like gold because they could be the end of me. So, it changes. If sometimes, if I’m talking, when I talk to the audience, the mic is dry.

When I’m doing a speaking impression, I like a little bit of wetness on the mic. So, it’s a little heightened and they can hear my nuance. When I’m singing as me, there’s a bit of reverb. When I’m singing big, loud impressions that are known for these big belting songs, like a Shirley Bassey or something, or Barbara Streisand. She never records the ton of reverb. So, you have to have different levels ready to go. Again, you can’t test these things on your own. So, very often I am terrified, that I’ll do something that’s not ready or I’ll say this is a work in progress. And you’re allowed to do that. Big theatrical productions don’t do that. They only have a week of previews. But standup comedians do that all the time. And songwriters say, “Hey, I’m working out in this song. It’s not finished yet, but here’s what I’ve got.” So, that’s what I try to do, because that’s the only way to really know how it’s going to hit in front of a live audience.

Steve Cuden:

Well, clearly you can’t figure it out, just as there are lots of people that do “impressions” in their bathroom or in their kitchen, but they’re not going to take it out on a stage and put it in front of an audience. I mean, it’s going to look at you like you’re insane. You’ve turned it into a thing that people recognize as something that’s worth up time and energy and maybe some money to see. Right?

Christina Bianco:

Yeah. Exactly.

Steve Cuden:

All right. So, the other thing that you do that I find fascinating is you are a true in the term, in the use of the word impressionist. Like an impressionist painter, you do things that are suggestive in this most interesting and very simple way, where you just do certain things with your hands, but just suggest a person in the way they are. I know you flip the hair for Barbra. You just have certain characteristics where you use the hands, the way that… and it’s just suggestive.

Christina Bianco:

Yes, some of them are 90% comedic, because I know the audience is going to-

Steve Cuden:

It sets it up.

Christina Bianco:

Yeah, I was going to say the other part of it is it really does help, particularly when you’re going through impressions quite quickly and switching voices rapidly. It does help with, like I said, the physicality. And Barbara Streisand, always has her long nails and always has her splayed fingers and touches her hair or her face. Judy Garland, famously clutches her arm and her elbow and then touches her chin. Liza Minnelli, famously not just the big dance moves, but she loves to grab the top of her short hair at the top, like her bangs area. She loves to do that.

So, these are things that you just get from watching them. And so, to implement them while I’m doing the impression, of course only makes it better. But yeah, and sometimes you exaggerate it, like the bang pushed for Streisand with a little bit of the cross eye. That’s a Forbidden Broadway staple. They did that. But Marilyn Michaels did that, the great female impressionist.

Steve Cuden:

Oh, Marilyn Michaels?

Christina Bianco:

Yes.

Steve Cuden:

I forgot about her.

Christina Bianco:

She did a lot of that. And again, sometimes you have to play a little bit to the audience. It might be more heightened. It might be more exaggerated than what the person really does. But again, that’s why I keep giving the example of Cher. I think I do a terrible Cher impression. Okay?

Steve Cuden:

Oh no, you don’t.

Christina Bianco:

Some people love it. I think it’s bad because my actual voice is not as deep as hers. So, I find it very hard to, if I can approximate her sound down there, I’m still not flexible with it. I’m not comfortable enough to take on the rest of the color, even with her speaking voice. So, I tend to leave it alone, only put it in for certain bits, but you better do that physicality. So again, it’s also a safety net. I try not to use it as one. But it’s like, you better believe that if my impression isn’t so great, I’m sure I’m going to make the face and do the hair gesture, flip my hair like Cher, because you have to complete the package.

Steve Cuden:

Yes, you do. But that’s what does complete the package. It’s not you standing there stiff as a board singing with the voice, it’s you’ve got just enough move to complete the impression. As you say, it’s not a full bang imitation. It is an impression which is exactly what it is.

Christina Bianco:

Yeah, thanks.

Steve Cuden:

All right. So, do you have any special preparations you have before you go on stage? Do you warm up in some way? Do you have anything special you do?

Christina Bianco:

I’m so boring. Not really.

Steve Cuden:

I don’t think so.

Christina Bianco:

I’m a little bit of a control freak with my shows. So, I’m always checking everything, making sure everything’s set, if I have a prop, if I have cards. So, I’m very tactile. I have to go out and make sure everything’s set properly. I do warm up. If it’s a very big sing of a long show, I don’t warm up that much though, because I don’t want my voice to get too tired. I’ve seen too many people, talented, fantastic vocalists “blow their wine” during a sound check or a rehearsal. So, I’m very cautious of that, particularly because I’m singing in so many different styles.

But that said, because I’m singing in so many different styles, if I don’t warm up at all, it’s just asking for trouble. So, I do some basic warmups that are a little more, I would say they sound, I do a lot of belting, but my impression is that I actually use a lot of soprano. I go quite high.

Steve Cuden:

You got a huge range.

Christina Bianco:

I think I always find it warming up the whole voice, whether it’s soprano or belt, warming up to a higher level than you may have to go, on a lower level than you may have to go, just means you’re stretched and flexible. So, I’ll do a shorter warm up, but definitely a broad range.

Steve Cuden:

And not beat yourself up. You’re just getting warmed up a little bit.

Christina Bianco:

No, I cannot tell you I would not do it. My shows are big things. I’ve also learned sometimes to work the warmup into my show. Don’t start with your loudest biggest thing first, because you have a long way to go. And you also want to build your audience. You want to build excitement for your audience. So, I don’t always believe that you have to come out… Although trust me, I come out and I belt, just listen to the first truck of my album, I definitely come out and belt. But I don’t do the biggest number first for many reasons. I like to build. And I think it’s safer for the voice too. It’s like I have a natural warm up built into the show.

Steve Cuden:

Just like programming the song itself with the different voices, you’re programming the whole show so that it has a build to it too, and it should.

Christina Bianco:

Oh yes.

Steve Cuden:

It should. I mean, that’s what audiences expect that they expect you to build the show to a climax of some kind.

Christina Bianco:

Yeah.

Steve Cuden:

Yeah. So, okay. You’ve clearly been in more than your share of pressure packed situations where things are a little screwed up. You’ve already alluded to a few of them. Do you have a tip or a thought about how you handle pressure?

Christina Bianco:

Pressure? I’m fine walking in front of a room full of hundreds of people or thousands of people. I’m okay doing that.

I get nervous when it’s smaller groups of people or your peers or your friends. So, I don’t know. I would say if you practice in front of small groups, you’re totally going to be fine in front of large groups. Because I think when you can’t see their faces and you don’t know them personally, it’s much easier just to sing out and be in your own world than if you’re up close to somebody. And that’s funny, because I love cabaret as much as I love singing in front of a symphony orchestra. But you have to practice both.

Steve Cuden:

Well, it’s it certainly helps when you have done your homework and you have done the rehearsal and so on, so that you walk out on stage knowing you can do X, Y or Z. If you didn’t have that, you’d probably be a little more nerved out about things if they didn’t go right.

Christina Bianco:

Yeah, I agree.

Steve Cuden:

So, I just want to talk just for a brief moment about acting because you’re clearly a very good actor as well.

Christina Bianco:

Thank you.

Steve Cuden:

So, I want to talk about Fanny Brice. How tempted were you, I know we talked about the Theater Marigny, correct?

Christina Bianco:

Yes.

Steve Cuden:

And how tempted were you to bring Barbra into it?

Christina Bianco:

I was not tempted at all.

Steve Cuden:

Oh good.

Christina Bianco:

This is for a few reasons. One, everybody immediately thinks of her. Right?

Steve Cuden:

Of course.

Christina Bianco:

Because not only did she start it on Broadway, nobody even knows the Broadway cast album. They know the movie, they know the movie soundtrack. That’s what they know. And thankfully the theater production, the play script and music is very different from the movie. Very different. So for me, I was, “Okay, they’re all going to think of Barbara Streisand. So, you have to go out of your way to not say those iconic lines like her.” I mean, a lot of it you’re going to be compared to anyway, because it’s the inflection. If I don’t say a certain line with that Jewish, New York inflection that it was written with, then you’ll ruin the joke. But that’s different than doing an impression. That’s doing something that’s what I call period, a period delivery.

Steve Cuden:

And you’re known for doing her.

Christina Bianco:

Right. But that was the other thing I thought. And then combined that with the fact that I’m known for doing an impression. I immediately was like, “You have to forget that you ever saw Barbra Streisand do it.” Which is very, very, very hard to do. But it was made easier with the script immediately because it was a totally different script. And also, there are so many beautiful songs in the musical, A Funny Girl that are not in the movie. And I didn’t know how Barbara Streisand sung them because like everybody else, like most people I should say, I grew up listening to the movie soundtrack and not the musical soundtrack.

So, when I went and listened to the musical soundtrack, I was like, “Oh, okay. Let’s cut. I’m not going to listen to that song again.” I didn’t even want to know the way she did it. So, I was able to do some songs very fresh.

Steve Cuden:

Well, that’s good.

Christina Bianco:

But I think the difference between singing a song in concert and singing it within the context of the show was important here. People sing People. People sing Don’t Rain on My Parade. People sing I’m The Greatest Star. They sing these songs all the time, particularly Don’t Rain on My Parade in concert. I’ve sung it in concert. There’s video of me online, singing it years ago in concert. I’m singing it fine. But I’m not singing it with the acting behind it that has come with doing the entire act before it, as Fanny Brice singing it, as opposed to Christina singing it.

So, my Fanny Brice acting choices who I decided my Fanny Brice was, absolutely colored the way that I then sing Don’t Rain On My Parade, and People, and I’m The Greatest Star. So, by actually playing the part in its entirety, it was not difficult to make it my own because I had no choice. And in that respect, Barbara wasn’t in the room at all.

Steve Cuden:

Well, I’ve seen only the promo for it.

Christina Bianco:

Everybody loves it. And of course I’m like, “Oh my God, that’s horrendous.” But it’s not what I looked like. Also, they filmed it so early and I didn’t know they were filming it. I’m like, “Why are your eyes closed, open up, what are you’re doing?” But that’s the way it always works in the business.

Steve Cuden:

Well, I get what I get, so that’s all I could find.

Christina Bianco:

But it’s certainly not like Barbara knows, right?

Steve Cuden:

And so, I thought, okay, you’re not even anywhere in the ballpark of Barbra there. So, you’ve clearly made a decision not to go that way.

Christina Bianco:

Yeah. And I’m really glad.

Steve Cuden:

They didn’t hire you for it, I assume. They didn’t hire you to do an impression of Barbra Streisand doing Funny Girl.

Christina Bianco:

No, nobody would do that. That would be asking for, well, one it’d be, I don’t know what performer would want to do that. Ego-wise it’d be terrible. But also I think that it does no good to try to replicate something that is iconic. You can’t.

Steve Cuden:

I agree.

Christina Bianco:

So, you have to find a way to make it your own.

Steve Cuden:

All right. So, what do you find to be the most challenging aspect of creating a character? Because you took that and you went, you’ve have this material, and you went off on your own.

Christina Bianco:

It was actually quite easy for me with Fanny Brice, but it’s difficult with others. It’s finding that piece of the character that is like you. Because if you’re playing some crazy person who’s polar opposite from you, you still have to find something to relate to, that acting 101. It’s like even the serial killer, what in that character can you relate to, what can you pull from in your own life?

Steve Cuden:

True.

Christina Bianco:

Yeah, for me with Fanny Brice, it was very easy. She’s someone who is very talented and very gutsy and just didn’t fit in. No one knew what to do with her. Well, I certainly know about that. So, it worked right for me.

Steve Cuden:

And so, you’ve worked with any number of directors over time?

Christina Bianco:

Yeah. But I’ve been lucky to work with a lot of directors. And I’m particularly doing some straight plays that weren’t just musicals. But the greatest experience definitely was working with Stephen Mear on Funny Girl. Stephen Mear is known for being-

Steve Cuden:

What did you learn from him? What did you take away?

Christina Bianco:

Well, I think a great thing about Stephen and what he gave me, as someone who was performer himself and also he’s known for choreography. So, he’s a well-rounded musical theater performer. He approached the scene work very much like he was watching from the audience’s perspective, as opposed to a lot of directors that really get into the nitty gritty of the mindset of that one character at that particular moment. We’ll talk about that, sure. But then we’ll say, “Great. No, where did we just come from?”

He was more about the full picture of the whole show. Even the people moving the scenery, were doing it in character. So, because it wasn’t just seeing, and let’s just dissect this moment. Again, we did that, but then we put it under the umbrella of how it fit the whole production. And sometimes I think as an actor, particularly someone like me who doesn’t get the opportunity to do a lot of scene work, you tend to be very internal. And think about, “This is my moment to do this. And what about this moment?” And you want to make sure it leads. That he was great about showing me how everything connected with the overarching story. So, I thought that was really important. Because I think a lot of directors tend to forget about that. But his being so well versed in all aspects of a musical performance, musical productions works.

Because sometimes I think, sometimes directors will give you the scene work leading up to the song, but the way that you then act the song doesn’t necessarily correlate to the scene before it. And with what Steven did, it was easy to tie all those aspects together and make it a cohesive a song, scene, and then part of the show.

Steve Cuden:

So, are you able to take what you learned from him and bring it into the way that you do your act? Does it translate in any way?

Christina Bianco:

Absolutely. I always say that every single bit of information you gain working on a stage informs every other stage that you’re on. I think that sometimes I particularly doing my own show, creating my own content, writing it, being the performer on stage, it’s very difficult to look at it as an outsider. And I don’t work with a writing partner, somebody doesn’t travel with me and direct my concerts. So, sometimes I take a step back.

Steve Cuden:

You stage yourself?

Christina Bianco:

Yeah.

Steve Cuden:

You stage yourself.

Christina Bianco:

So, I have to take a step back and think, yeah, exactly. It’s like, “Okay, now that you’ve done the nitty gritty stuff, take a step back, look at it as if you weren’t you and look at the big picture.” And it certainly does help. Yeah. And so, everything that I got from Stephen will certainly be applied to my show as whether I’m doing an impression of that Midler singing theme song to the Golden Girls, or whether I’m emoting singing a beautiful, beautiful Kander and Ebb ballad  in my own voice, there has to be a way to tie it all together. And I’ve done that, but it can only help. Yeah, (as Bette Midler) “Thank you for being a friend.” Works great.

Steve Cuden:

I’ve not seeing that one. That’s hilarious.

Christina Bianco:

That’s been done live. Maybe I’ll film it soon for you.

Steve Cuden:

All right. Well, I’ve been just mesmerized here for the last hour or so. I’ve been talking to the divine Christina Bianco. We’re going to wind this down. I’m just curious in all of your experiences out there, especially in the world of show, the business show as they say, do you have a story that’s either quirky, weird, off-Beat, strange or just plain funny that you can share?

Christina Bianco:

I have so many.

Steve Cuden:

Don’t sweat, just one, one.

Christina Bianco:

Yeah. Okay. One of my favorite stories was when I was in Newsical in New York, a show that’s scoops the news and pop culture, but with music. So, Saturday Night Live with music, put it that way. And because it’s fast and furious and the content changes quickly, the wigs and the costumes sometimes are a little bit rushed. And so, I had a character that was supposed to be coming out, singing something, absolutely ridiculous. But under the guy, they were all perfect, like a little Disney princess, “The world is falling apart, isn’t that great?” Something to that effect.

And I was supposed to be brushing my hair. And I had this wig on, and that wig had not been properly handled, taken care of or brushed before I hit that stage. So, I put my brush in my hair, brushing it while I was singing on the wig. And the brush got so spectacularly stuck in that wig that I could not get it out. So, at first I was singing and I was like, “Oh, it’s stuck.” And there’s luckily a live accompanist who at one point paused because he saw I was trying to get it out. And I was like, “Well, I like it that way.” And I had to sing the entirety of the song spinning around the stage doing the rest of my blocking and choreography with a brush sticking out of my wig. And the audience definitely was not listening to anything I was saying. They were cracking up. Because I couldn’t run off stage. There was no way that they were going to fix it quickly. So, I just had to go with the flow. So, that’s a pretty funny story. Pretty embarrassing.

Steve Cuden:

Did the audience think that was purposeful?

Christina Bianco:

No. They absolutely knew it was stuck in my head. There was no way around it. I could make it look it was honest. It was too spectacular, because I was really shocked.

Another ridiculous story. I was playing Dora, in Dora The Explorer live, the national tour, like Radio City Music Hall and these big gorgeous sets that look feels like Nickelodeon come to life. Everything’s so big and beautiful. And Boots The Monkey in this… I mean, I cannot tell you how many thousands of dollars of cost it was, made for a male actor who could tumble and do amazing things. It’s crazy. Like Lycra, I don’t know, but he had to big tail. And the tail was attached in a way where it could bounce and move. So, it looked real, very expensive.

Boots The Monkey is going down this slide and the slide is in a tunnel. And I’m up at the top of this mountain, ready for him to go down this slide. And down goes Boots. But up stuck in a piece of the set at the top of the mountain remained his tail. So, now I’m thinking all these kids think Boots’ tail has been cut off. And there was a lot of like, “Oh my goodness. Are you okay? Wow. That doesn’t hurt?” “Yeah, it’s lucky.” “Okay. Do you want me to bring your tail?” “We’ll leave it up here for now.” We had to just ad lib. And then we were crying, laughing. And then I get down, I just slide down the slide myself. And then I realized that was left out of Boots, tail from his costume is nothing but a completely sharp piece of wire, metal, it was holding it together.

So, then it was, I had to find a way to get him off stage because he couldn’t see behind him to know. He was like, “Why don’t you go over there? And I’ll tell the boys and girls what to do next.” Oh, it was the most crazy ad-libbing watching a Boots with his tail ripped off with a spear sticking out of him. And this gorgeous show where you can’t say anything wrong for Nickelodeon. We have to say everything right, exactly to book. And it’s all done to a track. So, it has to be precise, but it all went to hell that day.

Steve Cuden:

So, all of the songs and everything are on a track.

Christina Bianco:

Yeah, I had to catch up. I had to skip over. Basically if Dora had to go, first go to the forest, then go to the mountain and the City of Lost Toys. Dora, definitely, it was a murky gray area between how she got one place to the other on that particular show.

Steve Cuden:

All right. So, last question. Do you have a solid piece of advice or a tip for those who are trying to break into the business or maybe they’re in a little bit and trying to get to the next level?

Christina Bianco:

Again, it sounds cliche, but from absolute experience, I can tell you say yes, get in the room. Get in a room, if it’s not a part you want, too bad. Get the experience of being in that show. If you have a chance to do something else in a room to read for auditions, to help, even just for two days when they know they need an assistant to the assistant of the stage manager, get in a room and watch the work. If it’s a musical, you’ll be watching singers, the accompanist. Sometimes there’s a music director conducting and giving notes while a rehearsal accompanist plays. There are so many opportunities to watch how various people in the arts work. And you don’t get it from classes. You don’t get it from college. You don’t get it from watching movies and listening to cast albums. You get certain things from that.

Christina Bianco:

The only way you’re really going to know how the business works and contribute in a room is by being in that room. I know a lot of people that say, “Oh, I don’t want that job. Oh, it doesn’t pay as well.” Well, are you doing anything else? Take it. Go to the audition, have the experience.

And the other part of that. Again, it said all the time that when you’re in that room, you better be a lovely human being to everybody. And particularly the way things happen in this world in this day and age, when work can come and go so very quickly, the person who is, like I said taping the stage outline and the, “This set piece goes here, here’s this purple piece of tape.” The person who’s putting that tape down might be the lead stage manager for the next show you’re doing. So, you better be lovely to everybody. Again, there’s always something to be gained from being in the room and having experience that.

Steve Cuden:

Those are two gigantically wonderful pieces of advice. I always tell my students, when you go for a meeting anywhere, you be nice to the guard at the gate. You be nice to the person who greets you. You be nice to everybody. You don’t know.

Christina Bianco:

Yeah. And there are stories of people who are jerks that work consistently. But you want to know what? I know they’re a jerk and I wouldn’t go out of my way to work with them. And that’s what you got to remember. You can still survive and you can still be successful if you’re not a nice person. There are a lot of people, more people than not who will not work with you if they know that you’re trouble. They’ll always be…

Steve Cuden:

I think most real jerks don’t last long, no matter what their talents are. Although there are exceptions to the rule, obviously. But I think most people who are jerkish and are self-centered and arrogant, they have a tendency not to last all that long, because people will not work with them.

Christina Bianco:

Or that’s their legacy, and nobody wants that either.

Steve Cuden:

Exactly.

Christina Bianco:

At least it’s not what I’m after.

Steve Cuden:

No, no, clearly not.

Christina Bianco:

In general, am not after fame and fortune, but certainly not at the expense of being known as a complete idiot.

Steve Cuden:

Well, Christina Bianco, this has been just a real joy for me.

Christina Bianco:

Thank you so much.

Steve Cuden:

I’m so delighted to have had you on the show. And I think that we’re going to see much, much more out of you.

Christina Bianco:

I hope so. I’m forced to be more creative during this lockdown period-

Steve Cuden:

Like we’re all.

Christina Bianco:

…of course, with the arts coming back very, very slowly. So, I will be forced as I like to say, but happily for us to try lots of new things and new impressions and new multimedia forms of entertaining. So, keep your eyes and ears peeled.

Steve Cuden:

Well, one thing is for sure, I hope someday I get a chance to see you live in performance and doing your thing in front of a bunch of people.

Christina Bianco:

You will, soon, soon, we will make it happen.

Steve Cuden:

Cool. Thank you so much for doing the show.

Christina Bianco:

Thank you for having me.

Steve Cuden:

And so, we’ve come to the end of today’s StoryBeat. If you liked this podcast, please take a moment to give us a rating or review on whatever app or platform you’re listening to. Your support helps us bring more great StoryBeat episodes to you. Until next time, I’m Steve Cuden. And may all your stories be unforgettable.