Lillias White at Aaron Davis Hall

I first saw Lillias White in The Life, the mid 90's musical about mid-80's Times Square. More specifically, it was about the hookers in Times Square. I went to see it instead of going to my junior prom in high school. How did my mother not know I was gay?! Anyhoo, Lillias played Sonja, a 26-year-old prostitute who had been tricking for ten years and was feeling worn out. Which led to the song "The Oldest Profession," possibly the most legit show stopping moment I've seen next to maybe Patti Lupone's "Rose's Turn."

White is one of thoseperformers that I'll drop everything for. And, as it turns out, go to 137th St. to see. Triple digit streets? That shit's just crazy.

Like a lot of musical theater performers, I tend to think she's best when she's broadest and biggest. She CAN kill it with a slow, simple number, but give the woman a song big enough to encompass her personality, and she goes from merely great to uniquely spectacular. She covered a lot of stuff I've seen her do before and could watch her to forever more. Her ode to loving plus sized men, "Big Fat Daddy" came with plenty of audience interaction and a big-hearted prurience that can't be contained. Covering Michael Jackson's "Man in the Mirror," she really just brought the pain. Because what you always feel is that she's just so present. Which doesn't mean she can do ANYthing. A reggae-tinged cover of Jessie J's "Price Tag" was one of the most baffling things I've ever encountered.

But the whole show really ended up just being a prelude to the encore. Lillias played Effie White in Dreamgirls back in the day, a fact that did not escape the two extremely (and I mean extremely) enthusiastic men next to me in the front row who started shrieking for her to sing "I Am Changing" as soon as she came back on stage. No one had the music, but not one to disappoint, she just stood center stage and served it. Here's something about me: I don't do outwardly enthusiastic. It's not my thing. The two men next to me? They were squealers. The fact that I was so fucking impressed that I didn't want to stab them through their four minute vocal orgasms? Truly a testament to how amazing the performance was. When all is said and done, I'm just a sucker for a gigantic voice taking on a dynamic song. And you just don't get bigger sounding, more dramatic songs than Effie's. I don't want to say it was transcendent or anything. But I might have tinkled a little. She's just that damn good.