Travel highlight: Branson. An interview with the actors of "Legends in Concert"

All actors were asked the same question: When did you begin your career as an actor and musician, and how did you get into impersonation.

Here are their answers (in alphabetical order by actor’s last name):

Michael St. John & Justin Clark as the Blues Brothers

Justin Clark & Michael St. John (as the Blues Brothers):

Michael: I started doing it professionally when I was 25, and this started as Halloween costume. My friend told me that I looks like one of the Blue Brothers. It become fun to do it at Halloween one year, and I am doing it for 20-some years now.

We started to play it at clubs. So, that is how it started. I am with Legends since 1986, but for Justin it is his second year.

What you see here is just a fraction of what we used to do. We used to do our own show for four hours per night. I will keep doing it as long as my body can do it. Physically, it is very demanding.

Justin: I will do this until Mike quits.

Avelio Falana as Johnny Mathis

Avelio Falana (as Johnny Mathis):

We always performed, with my sister, and I have been in the business since I was a kid. I was always in the business. I met Jonny Mathis some years back. I lived on Maui and I bumped into John Stuart, producer of this show. A friend of mine said that I have the same voice as Johnny Mathis, same accent and voice. "So," he said, "Why not try out for Legends?" John Stuart happened to be there and got me on stage and had me sing. I decided to do this, and that was that. That was in 1994. Everything else from there on was good. It is a good show. It is a very good show, but it a hard show for people to comprehend. But John Stuart has been doing a wonderful job trying to get people to understand what it is. people think we lip-sync, we don’t. People think other People play our instruments; we do not. You must play your own instrument, you must sing in Legends and you must favor the performer, and John’s very particular about that. The audience comes, and they are never disappointed. Because we give 101. If you’re not that good, John will put you out and you’re not in the show.

I’ve always been in the business; that’s the way it is. I have it made, I don’t have to rehearse. My personality is I do something until I don’t like it; as long as I like it I always good. This was good for me, I’m going to do it for a long time.

Ashley Nicole Lewis As Faith Hill

Ashley Nicole Lewis (as Faith Hill):

I started performing at the age of five. I came here in 1990 from Switzerland for six months and did not plan to stay in America, but I met here my husband and stayed here.

Impersonation? It happened by accident. I worked for another show as a dancer. The producer wanted a singing ballet and asked me to try it. Not impersonate, but just singing. He later said: You should impersonate Faith Hill. That’s how it happened.

I have a studio at home. I put her on one channel and me on another and tried to do it like her. It took a long time. Faith Hill looks different every time, and I have to be different. She just cut her hair very short. I don’t know if everybody knows this yet, but maybe I will chop up my hair, too. I have always tried to do my own stuff, but this is a best job in the world.

Joe Passon as Jerry Lee Lewis

Joe Passion (as Jerry Lee Lewis):

I started at fifteen. At nineteen I became a full-time musician. I played keyboard, guitar, bass, and a whole bunch of rock-and-roll instruments. I am in the business a long time. I worked as a musical director and the leader of a band in an "All 50s" cast. One day I decided to mimic Jerry Lee Lewis. I needed a piano that could fall apart and light on fire. It took six months to build it. It was my design. This season I play three characters. I grew up playing boogie-woogie. I put on glasses and a wig and now play John Lennon.

"Hey, you look like Barry Manilow. Lets try it." some time back one of my colleagues said when I came back from Los Vegas where I spent two months. So, I started to play Barry Manilow.

What I am doing requires change of voice, behavior, and mimics. "Were you trained for what you are doing?" some people ask me. "No." is my answer. You teach yourself, and best way to do it is watching video and standing in front of mirror and doing it."

Sherie Rae as Bette Midler

Sherri Rae (as Bette Midler):

My sister use to say that I screamed when I was in the crib. I have not stopped screaming since.

I wanted to perform all my life. I started dancing at the age of six. I danced for 6 years and then I got to acting. I was an actress. I picked up at the age of 12 and started to play and sing my own songs. Later, I had my own band.

Menda Nelson Foster at "Legends" said that I can be a good Bette Midler. So I worked as Bette and Janis Joplin for "Legends" and other companies. I am always doing my own music. It is a part of me. I write songs, I play guitar and piano, and I will always continue to do that. I write a lot of country, folk, rock type stuff. Maybe it is a little bit outdated for this time, but I am going to do it. If I would be the wealthiest person on the planet, I will still do it occasionally. I have to say that I love this cast so much. It is a treat, not a chore, for me.

Tony Roy as Elvis Presley

Tony Roi (as Elvis Presley):

I think I was 8 years old when I decided to become a singer. I think the deciding factor for impersonation was when "Legends" came up somewhere in 1985. I was in Miami doing my own music, contemporary stuff, but I was doing it as I am do it, as you could see on stage. I started doing Elvis in my shows. Elvis was always special to me. He represented America, what American music was. My parents came from the foreign country, from Cuba, when I was a kid. I regularly watched TV. When Presley came on, he was the center of attention. He was one of my heroes. He became more than life when he passed away. I played my own music, but it was John Stuart who created the "Legend" for all of us. My intention is keeping up with the times: I listen to other music and I put this music in the fashion of how Elvis would do it if he would be alive today, because he kept with the times, he listened to other music, he went to other concepts, and when he passed away, music was in trouble. He was a musician. He was a vocalist and a musician in the same time. He is not here, but I am here, and I am doing what I can. It should be good. I want to do it like he did. He loved people; he sang from the heart. He did not sing to be a rich guy. He sang because he loved it. And at "Legends," John Stuart gives us that opportunity, and that is what I love about this man. You know, in the show business you could be popular for a couple days, and after that be nothing. I am with "Legends" for all 17 years.