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Tomorrow night a dream comes true as I finally get to hear Betty Buckley sing live again – a first since the mid-1990’s for me, as I always seemed unable to coordinate enough to get to one of her shows. This time Andy is joining me in New York for her Saturday night performance at Joe’s Pub, and we are super-excited. Having been a fan since her triumphant reign as Norma Desmond in ‘Sunset Boulevard’, I’ve enjoyed every album she’s made, as well as her turns on the big and little screens. Yet I’ve always felt her greatest way of reaching people has been through live performance.

She’ll get to wow audiences across the nation when she takes the helm of ‘Hello, Dolly!’ later this year and I’m already plotting out how many cities we might visit to catch her in the title role. Though some of her work is decidedly (and deliciously) macabre (check out ‘Carrie’ and the upcoming ‘Preacher’), I have a sneaking suspicion she’ll make a grand comedienne – and she certainly has the vocal prowess to stun the largest theater into gleeful submission.

As for her performance at Joe’s Pub, I’ve already reserved a special spot on this blog for a write-up before we take our summer hiatus, so stay tuned for that. When you have the chance to hear an angel sigh, you must listen. For so many reasons Ms. Buckley has been that vocal angel for me, and tomorrow we’ll get to hear her take flight.

Here’s the blurb from Joe’s Pub:

Betty Buckley — the Tony Award winning Broadway legend — will return to Joe’s Pub at the Public to celebrate  Palmetto Records release of her inspirational new album Hope, recorded live at Joe’s last Fall. This exclusive four-concert engagement coincides with her debut as Madame L’Angelle in the  AMC hit television show “Preacher”.  The third season begins June 25.  The four concerts at Joe’s also preface her rehearsals this summer as she begins work for her starring role in the first National Tour of the smash Tony-winning revival of Hello, Dolly! 

Highlights at Joe’s Pub will include the album’s inspiring title song by Jason Robert Brown, selections from the seminal jazz rock fusion group, Steely Dan; Buckley’s favorite singer/songwriters Paul Simon, T Bone Burnett, Joni Mitchell and Mary Chapin Carpenter and classic pop standards. Hope, Buckley’s eighteenth album, features her quartet of musicians including the renowned multi-Grammy-nominated Christian Jacob, Buckley’s long-term Pianist, Arranger and Music Director, and guitarist Oz Noy on guitar, Tony Marino on bass and Dan Rieser on drums.

Hope will first be available for sale at Buckley’s concerts. The in-store and online release date is June 8. Pre order for the album is available here.