Divas join for annual song and gown fest

“Divas: Simply Singing” returned for its 13th annual installment Saturday night at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre. And the gowns, the glitter and the wigs were out in force as 15 attitude-laden divas displayed their wares on a stage filled with enough plants and trees to serve as the set for a “George of the Jungle” movie.

Once again, the diva of all divas was Sheryl Lee Ralph, who founded and created the production, which donates proceeds to Project Angel Food and the Black AIDS Institute.

Working her way through a blinding array of gown changes, introducing many of the acts, doing her own featured number at the climax of the first act, she came close to transforming the show into a Ralph vanity production.

Any possibility of that happening, however, instantly disappeared with the arrival of her longtime friend, singer-actress Jenifer Lewis, whose bawdy, humorous complaints about Ralph’s frequent stage appearances brought much-needed context to the evening. Lewis went on to offer one of the evening’s most entertaining segments -- a number in which she brilliantly combined words and phrases from dozens of tunes.

The headline diva, however, was former Spice Girl Geri Halliwell. Wearing a pink gown accessorized with a white boa and a profuse array of diamonds, she strutted from “My Heart Belongs to Daddy” to “Cabaret,” doing a high camp simulation of Marilyn Monroe along the way. More compelling musically: Loretta Devine’s subtle blend of soul singing and storytelling; Nnenna Freelon’s touching “The Tears of a Clown”; E.G. Daily’s unusual combination “And the World Goes Around” and “Smile.”

Other divas included Misha Henson, Trenyce, Jean Louisa Kelly, Linda Clifford, Jackee, Rae Thornton, Joanna, Nikki Crawford and Moe Daniels.