Classy Caroll

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Diahann Carroll has earned the right to be called a diva.

By Steve Angelucci

Add Comment | Comments: 0 | Posted Feb. 15, 2007

Diahann Carroll, a diva who sings from the heart, is a woman with class and elegance. For five decades, her stately presence has graced stages the world over, and she has sung with such legends as Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr. Not one of the nouveau-standards crowd, Carroll has sung classic songs for years, giving them her inimitable, polished style.

As a multitalented entertainer, she has won a Tony, a Golden Globe and been nominated for the Best Actress Oscar for her role in the movie Claudine. Other acting credits include the lead role in TV's Julia and the characters Dominique Deveraux on Dynasty and Norma Desmond in the Canadian stage production of Sunset Boulevard. Last September, she appeared opposite Richard Roundtree in the TV show Grey's Anatomy.

Carroll, who appears at the Atlantic City Hilton from Feb. 18-22, recently spoke by phone to AC Weekly.

On Christmas Eve, I saw a video on PBS of you and Perry Como singing "Silver Bells." It was great.

I'm delighted. Thank you. I'm trying to remember where we did that, but I do recall doing Perry's show a couple of times, yes.

Your recent tour began at Feinstein's Night Club in New York. What was it like to perform at that club?

You've not seen it? It's a lovely lush kind of setting and it's not very large; the Regency Hotel is quite elegant. It was a joy to be here. I brought a small band -- an eight-piece band and I just enjoyed the intimacy of that kind of performance. The audience is practically onstage with you, which I don't mind at all.

What songs are included in your show and how did you choose them?

I'm always fascinated when I'm asked that question. I mean if I tell you what songs, it sort of takes away a lot -- doesn't it? -- for the person who might want to come to see the show? There's one new -- to me it's new --it's an old song that Joni Mitchell wrote years ago ... it's called "Both Sides Now." It's a wonderful song. I like good, American popular music. [I] always have performed that kind of music and that's what the evening is comprised of. I mean it's Harold Arlen and Richard Rodgers -- wonderful American songwriters.

So I assume they are songs that are meaningful to you.

Yes, absolutely. Some have to do with work that I did with Richard Rodgers when I was working with him on my second musical. It was called, No Strings and it is the only time that Richard Rodgers wrote both lyrics and music. I was a very young, young girl when he decided to write this show for me.

Have you performed in Atlantic City before?

I've been performing there since the '70s.

Have you performed here before casino gambling?

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