From Cyndi Lauper to Tom Waits: Helen Welch to play hits of '40s to '90s at Gervasi

Helen Welch's charisma and verve are so palpable on a phone call that it's easy to imagine the energy being carried over to her stage performances.

Whether it was her background in music, Broadway or singing with an orchestra, she spoke with excitement. And she was just as upbeat when discussing Gervasi Vineyards in Canton, where she returns to perform a show Thursday titled, "Helen Welch and Big Wow: Soundtrack of Our Lives."

"Coming out of COVID, I think we need something that makes people feel good," Welch said. "Each song encompasses a time in your life and certain things you were doing."

The concert will be 8 to 9:30 p.m. in Gervasi's pavilion at the vineyard, 1700 55th St. NE. Doors open at 7.

Premium tickets are $55; general tickets are $45. For more information and to purchase tickets, go to www.gervasivineyard.com/event/helen-welch-and-big-wow-soundtrack-of-our-lives/.

Ticket sales will end at 4 p.m. on Monday.

Each guest will receive a dessert trio and glass of wine during the performance.

Pop, folk, blues, jazz in Gervasi show

A native of England, Welch has lived in Northeast Ohio for nearly 20 years.

She's worked in various genres of entertainment.

Welch began her career on television's "Romper Room." Musically, she's headlined with the BBC Big Band, Glenn Miller Europe and Opus One, while performing at famous venues in the UK, including The Ritz, The Savoy and Blenheim Palace, as well as theatres at England's West End.

An internationally acclaimed vocalist, Welch will perform popular songs from the '40s through the '90s in the genres of pop, folk, blues, jazz and swing. An 11-piece ensemble will back Welch.

Welch also has starred in well-known musicals, including "Hello Dolly," "42nd Street," Carousel" and "Oliver Twist."

She's also been the featured vocalist for The Cleveland Orchestra, The Grant Park Symphony Orchestra in Chicago and the Columbus Jazz Orchestra. Additionally, Welch has produced her own shows for Cleveland's Playhouse Square and the Akron Civic Theatre, as well as for theatres and performing arts centers across the country.

A decades-based musical format was born of the pandemic, Welch explained. She had discussed the idea with composer David Morgan.

Morgan had been aware of Welch's experience performing with an orchestra or big band. So he suggested pairing her with a smaller grouping of strings, horns, piano, bass and guitar.

'The '70s golden era of vinyl records'

Each decade conjures musical memories for Welch herself. And she introduces each song while referencing its time period.

"I talk about pop culture and the '70s golden era of vinyl records," Welch said. "Today, parents take away cellphones. When I was a little girl, my mom would take away my record player."

Welch will be accompanied by "an 11-piece chamber orchestra or in your pocket symphony orchestra," Welch said.

And "it has all the pizazz and swing of a Las Vegas show band because it has the horns, the sax and all that, and it has the intimacy of a Manhattan jazz club," she said.

Beatles songs will run the spectrum from the full-on rocker "Come Together" to the gentler "Blackbird."

"I'm taking The Beatles and doing something completely different with them," she said.

"Everybody goes, 'Oh my gosh, chamber orchestra and 'Come Together,'" Welch added. "This is so awesome; the juxtaposition between the two is so great."

The 15-song set list will include Tom Waits' "Temptation," "True Colors" by Cyndi Lauper and Stevie Wonders' "Do I Do." Another classic is, "On the Sunny Side of the Street," which has been performed by Louis Armstrong, Frank Sinatra, Billie Holiday, Willie Nelson and others.

"Wichita Lineman" is also part of the Gervasi setlist. The song's writer, Jimmy Webb, raved about her version after watching a clip on social media. The popular song has been performed by Glen Campbell, Johnny Cash, James Taylor and others.

"He said, 'I must be doing something right that you want to cover the song,'" Welch said.

Welch also promises to make the famous songs her own.

"There's no point in copying," she said, referring to herself as a "song stylist."

Gervasi is a 'little slice of California's Napa Valley'

During the pandemic, Welch gained a new appreciation for live audiences.

"Everybody screamed when we came on, and I said, 'Wow, I missed you guys,'" she recalled. "I really took for granted how important a live audience is to our energy."

The crowd reaction and experience were moving.

"After every song, we were flying," Welch said. "We were just on cloud nine for the whole night, and it was really hot and nobody noticed. It was just an amazing evening."

Welch has become fond of Gervasi as a venue.

"They're friends now ... and I always tell people it's like a little slice of California's Napa Valley in Northeast Ohio," she said. "If you've not been there before, it's hard to describe to people.

"And one of the things I remember (is at a past performance) I started singing and there's swans on the lake," Welch said. "How much better can it get than that beautiful pavilion."

The energy and intimacy of a smaller crowd

Andrea Hartman, marketing director at Gervasi, said Welch's shows appeal to a variety of music lovers in a picturesque outdoor setting.

Paired with her cheeky British banter, Welch's "one-of-a-kind ensemble makes her show extremely entertaining both visually and musically," Hartman said.

Intimacy is one of Gervasi's foremost attributes, Welch noted. The pavilion seats 300 people.

"As an entertainer, it's better to have 15 people in the room and the energy that feeds that performance than 14,000 people that feel a million miles away," she said.

"There's something about that venue that I want to keep coming back."

Reach Ed at 330-580-8315 and ebalint@gannett.com. On Twitter: @ebalintREP

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Helen Welch to sing hits of Beatles, Stevie Wonder at Canton's Gervasi