Deborah Gibson @ Chicago Pride 2009

When I was in elementary school, Debbie Gibson was THE coolest person in the world to me. I’ll never forget the Christmas, not long after my parents divorce, where I made them each a copy of my Christmas list, which contained “Debbie Gibson – Out of the Blue cassette” and somehow randomly Santa brought me two copies.  However, as all bubblegum popstars seem to, Debbie eventually faded – once and a while reappearing on Broadway – but her star had faded. No more stadium tours, no more #1 singles. C’est la vie.

Fortunately, I found a Debbie-fan in Brent’s darling Chris, and when we heard she would be performing at Pride this year, we clearly had to go. So we trekked out into Boystown this past weekend to catch her show. Granted, there was a schedule change and so Debbie (I’m sorry – DEBORAH) took the stage 2 hours later than she was scheduled to, but we waited in the sweltering Chicago June sun. (Happily, the amazing Thelma Houston and some of Chicago’s best female impersonators were onhand to keep us entertained in the meantime.)

Finally, Deborah took the stage – after a rather self-indulgent pre-recorded intro that proclaimed her “America’s original pop princess” – a little fake orange tanned, with two dancer boys, and delighted the crowd with “Shake your love.” For someone who doesn’t want to be judged purely on her past music, she did a lot of her teenage hits – “Foolish Beat,” “Lost in your eyes,” “Electric Youth,” and the big finale of “Only in my dreams.” She only did one original song, which I think was called “Free me,” and then did “Maybe this time” from Cabaret and a long Kander and Ebb medley, clad in an outfit that brought to mind Little Edie Beale.

“Oh, Hi…”

While I appreciate her support of Pride and her willingness to take to the stage on such a hot day, sometimes I think I should leave my childhood heroes, and my visions of how they should be, in my head.

Before she sang “Maybe this time” she talked for a while about how she’d seen NKOTB perform the night before and was so happy for their comeback and “why not me?” There was a lot of “I’m next.. I’m waiting for it..” and talking about how she’d rather be more of an all-around entertainer like Bette Midler, and painting herself as the underdog. It seemed a wee big desperate, as did the Kander and Ebb medley, which seemed like an audition for something. Pretend producers? Our hearts? Her fans continued support?

Oh well, the fans gathered clearly loved her (particularly the two groups of lesbians right in front of me who literally came to blows at one point after one.. cut in front of the other? It was hard to tell what happened, since a pounding speaker was six feet from my ear) and she brought a billion people onstage for the big finale, including Chicago legend Miss Foozy.

Hope everyone had a lovely pride, and that you all get the comebacks you wish for!