As in Holiday seasons past, Denver singer extraordinaire returns to Puerto Vallarta, this time with a brand-new production, and the first-ever public performance of her one-woman tribute to Peggy Lee at South Side's Santa Barbara Theater, a performance that promises to be the not-to-be-missed concert this Holiday season.

Definitely a step beyond cabaret, "Is That All There Is" is a new theater piece in the process of being developed. Ryer is no stranger to Peggy Lee's extense repertoire of jazz standards and pop songs, having been an impassioned admirer since the late 80's. A recently published biography intrigued her enough to consider the project, not to mention the fact that, being now in her late 40's put her soul and her instrument in the best possible place to take off with the idea. And take off she did, along with long-time collaborator Melissa Lucero McCall, who is directing the piece. McCall and Ryer go back many years, the former having written a piece about another great woman, Frida Kahlo, in which they worked together.

"Is That All There Is" accounts the life of Peggy Lee as told through her songs from her early years in North Dacota, to her collaborations with Benny Goodman, to acting and singing, not to mention her notorious fight for her rights as she challenged Disney for unpayed royalties for Lady and the Tramp. (Yes, the memorable stray dog known as Peg along with her song "He's a Tramp" were created for Miss Lee.) Originally from Denver, Alex Ryer majored in Musical Theater and shortly after began pursuing work in the Denver area where she started a family. An offer to participate in an off-broadway show led to her being the first Audrey to tour around the United States in "Little Shop of Horrors." A professor of the University of Northern Colorado's prestigious Musical Theater Department, Ryer teaches voice and performance.

Alex Ryer is Peggy Lee in "Is That All There Is" will be performed at Santa Barbara Theater, Olas Altas 351, South Side. Tickets are $220 pesos per person for the 8 PM show, or a $350 dinner theater package starting at 6:30 PM is available. Check our events calendar for performance dates and times, or call (322) 223-2048 for more information.

Interesting Peggy Lee Facts

Of Norwegian and Swedish ancestry, Peggy Lee was born Norma Deloris Egstrom in Jamestown, North Dakota, a farm town on the Great Plains, on May 26, 1920. She was the seventh of eight children born to Marvin Egstrom, a station agent for the Midland Continental Railroad, and Mrs. Egstrom, who died when the child was four years old. Encouraged by the recognition she had received for her singing with the high school glee club, the church choir, and semi-professional college bands, Norma headed for Hollywood after she graduated from high school in 1938. With her she took $18 in cash and a railroad pass she had borrowed from her father. Although she got a brief singing engagement at the Jade Room, a supper club on Hollywood Boulevard, she made little impression on the film capital, and she was reduced to working as a waitress and as a carnival spieler at a Balboa midway.

It was at the Doll House in Palm Springs, California that Peggy Lee first developed the soft and "cool" style that has become her trademark. Unable to shout above the clamor of the Doll House audience, Miss Lee tried to snare its attention by lowering her voice. The softer she sang the quieter the audience became. She has never forgotten the secret, and it has given her style its distinctive combination of the delicate and the driving, the husky and the purringly seductive. One of the members of the Doll House audience was Frank Bering, the owner of Chicago’s Ambassador West Hotel, who invited her to sing in his establishment’s Buttery Room.

Benny Goodman discovered Peggy Lee’s vocalizing in the Buttery Room at a time when he was looking for a replacement for Helen Forrest. Miss Lee joined Goodman’s band in July, 1941, when the band was at the height of its popularity, and for over two years she toured the United States with the most famous swing outfit of the day, playing hotel engagements, college proms, theater dates, and radio programs.

Much of her present success Miss Lee credits to her apprenticeship with the big bands. "I learned more about music from the men I worked with in bands than I’ve learned anywhere else," she has said. "They taught me discipline and the value of rehearsing and even how to train…. Band singing taught us the importance of interplay with musicians. And we had to work close to the arrangement." In July, 1942, Peggy Lee recorded her first smash hit, "Why Don’t You Do Right?" It sold over 1,000,000 copies and made her famous.

Peggy Lee has not only appeared in motion pictures but she has also written music and lyrics for them. She wrote the theme music for "Johnny Guitar" (Republic, 1954) and for "About Mrs. Leslie" (Paramount, 1954). She contributed the musical score to two George Pal cartoon features, "Tom Thumb" (MGM, 1958) and "The Time Machine" (MGM, 1960), and wrote the lyrics and supplied several voices for the Walt Disney full-length animated cartoon "Lady and the Tramp" (Buena Vista, 1955). For "Anatomy of a Murder" (Columbia, 1959) she wrote the lyrics for "I’m Gonna Go Fishin’" to music by Duke Ellington.