The foursome brings their mix of music and humor to downtown Springfield.
Four Bitchinâ Babes (from left), Marcy Marxer, Deirdre Flint, Debi Smith and Sally Fingerett.
Sally Fingerett and friends are bringing their vices to the stage.
Fingerett and the rest of the Four Bitchin’ Babes will return to CityStage in Springfield on Saturday, with their all-new show: – “Mid Life Vices: A Guilt Free Musical Revue!”
“We’ve been rehearsing the show for the past nine months with our new member Marci Marxer, and we’ve been on the road with it for only about six weeks now. Marci is a Grammy-winning instrumentalist, a perfect babe who fits the bill perfectly,” said Fingerett.
The new show “lovingly examines our collective mid-life crises and our inherent need for mid-life vices. With songs that wink at our neurosis, passions and misdeeds, once again the Babes take a stab at exhausted perfectionists, organized scatterbrains, boys and their wheels, and of course a universal passion for low lights, Facebook, and cheese.”
Four accomplished and seasoned musician-actress comediennes, the quartet play their own guitars, bass, piano, Irish Bodhran, mandolin, and ukulele, taking turns in the spotlight with their own distinctive stand-up humor.
“The best way I can describe it is when one gal is in the spotlight, she becomes the diamond brooch and the rest of us are the black velvet behind her, providing support by playing instruments and adding harmony,” said Fingerett.
Their estrogen infused mayhem began when Christine Lavin, the original creative force behind the group, had an idea. She had just released a compact disc of winter folk songs by singer-songwriter friends called “On a Winter’s Night.” After the disc’s success, she decided to put together a road show of her best “gal pals.”
She chose Patty Larkin from the Cambridge area, Megon McDonough from Chicago, and Sally Fingerett from Columbus, Ohio ... and off they went starting in Chicago and performing all around the country. By the time they had reached our nation’s capitol, the girls had arranged and polished fabulous harmonies, shared clothing, laughed, and spent a lot of their cash while shopping on the road. Then, Lavin had another idea. For their last show in D.C., why not “make a memory” and record their gig at the Birchmere in Alexandria, Virginia. And on that night, the Babes were born. “Buy Me, Bring Me, Take Me, Don’t Mess My Hair, Life According to Four Bitchin’ Babes Vol. 1” was released soon after in 1990 on the Philo/Rounder label.
Over the years members of the group would come and go, and there were also substitutes when a Babe was on maternity leave or ill, including guests such as Janis Ian, the late Mary Travers and Cheryl Wheeler.
“I think what people enjoy about our shows is the camaraderie. We call ourselves best friends from childhood, even though we didn’t meet until much later,” laughed Fingerett.
Today’s latest incarnation includes longstanding member Fingerett, along with Debi Smith, Deirdre Flint and newest member Marxer.
“Our shows are 85 percent comedy and 15 percent poignant with no politics. The economy is such that when people spend their money on a ticket, they want to be entertained, and we honor that,” said Fingerett.