Singer
Michelle Berting Brett commemorates dynamic repertoire of top-selling
seventies band
“We've
Only Just Begun: Carpenters Remembered,”
a celebration of the Carpenters’ legacy in words and music, is set for
a one-night-only performance at Chastain
Park Amphitheatre on Saturday, July 15, at 8 p.m. as
part of the 2017 Delta Live Nation Concert Series.
Led by singer Michelle Berting Brett
and accompanied by a live, seven-piece Nashville band directed by Harry
Sharpe, the show recreates the Carpenters' original sound, presenting
an intimate behind-the-scenes portrait of one of the most successful
recording acts of all time.
“We've Only Just Begun: Carpenters Remembered” is a
tribute in the truest sense to the music and lives of the seminal
brother-and-sister duo that defined an era. The show includes
performances of the Carpenters' most memorable songs, among them "Close to You,"
"Yesterday Once More," "Rainy Days & Mondays,"
"Superstar," and, of course, "We've Only Just
Begun." The Atlanta engagement will mark the 81st
performance of the show, which has played in 23 states to date.
The Carpenter family, including then 16-year-old Richard
and 13-year-old Karen, moved to Downey, California, from New Haven,
Connecticut, in 1963. Both siblings attended Downey High School where
Richard, an already accomplished pianist, came to the attention of the
school’s band director, and Karen played glockenspiel in the marching
band to get out of gym class. She later switched to the drums and began
singing with a jazz trio formed with her brother and a school friend. By 1969, the Carpenters were signed to A&M Records and would become
one of the most successful acts of the 1970s.
“We've Only Just Begun: Carpenters Remembered,” is a
product of an idea by Berting Brett, a farm girl from a musical family
in Saskatchewan, conceived after being told repeatedly that she sounded
like Karen Carpenter. Berting Brett, studied opera and musical theatre
and then toured the world in musicals, show bands, and her own cabaret
shows while based in Toronto. She was encouraged by her now-husband,
producer Mark Brett, to create a one-woman show based around the
Carpenters' music. The show played a small club in Toronto with Berting
Brett accompanied only by a pianist. That was 2009, and now with this
husband and wife team at the helm, the little SRO cabaret show has
evolved into a touring production that has played major venues in the
United States since 2013, including four sold-out engagements in Las
Vegas. In August 2016, the show played to an SRO audience at the
800-seat Downey Theatre near Los Angeles where The Carpenters, who have
sold more than 100 million records worldwide, grew up.
A CD of “We’ve
Only Just Begun: Carpenters Remembered,” recorded in
Nashville in 2015, includes performances of the Carpenters’ most
memorable songs, among them "Close to You," "Yesterday
Once More," "Rainy Days & Mondays," “Goodbye to
Love,” and, of course, “We’ve Only Just Begun.” The CD is
available for purchase at each show and online at CD Baby, iTunes, and
Amazon.
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