Shows to love at SCCA
Published 10:09 pm Friday, February 5, 2016
From the subway to Suffolk, Alice Tan Ridley will delight an audience at the Suffolk Center for Cultural Arts on Valentine’s Day.
Ridley, who for more than two decades supported her family by performing on New York City’s subway platforms, will give a 3 p.m. show on Feb. 14.
![Alice Tan Ridley, vocalist and mother of Academy Award nominee and “Precious” actress Gabourey Sidibe, will perform at the Suffolk Center for Cultural Arts on Feb. 14.](https://www.suffolknewsherald.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2016/02/use-alice-tan-ridley-86c0d868f2de9f19.jpg)
Alice Tan Ridley, vocalist and mother of Academy Award nominee and “Precious” actress Gabourey Sidibe, will perform at the Suffolk Center for Cultural Arts on Feb. 14.
“I think it’s going to be a show people will regret if they’re not here,” arts center Executive Director Jackie Cherry said. “She’s got such a voice and a really nice range of music.”
After bursting onto the above-ground stage on “America’s Got Talent” at age 58, Ridley now is a touring performance artist. She comes with her own accompaniment, Cherry said.
Ridley has performed at venues such as BB King’s and Café Wha? in New York and performing arts centers such as Popejoy Hall in Albuquerque, N.M.
Cherry said it’s Ridley’s first time in the Hampton Roads market.
Performing later that same week, Feb. 19, is a show that will delight Beatles fans: “Yesterday and Today: The Interactive Beatles Experience.”
Cherry said she booked the Beatles act because colleagues at other performing arts centers raved about them.
“They could not say enough about the show,” Cherry said. “You sing along, and if you don’t know the words, you hum along.”
Cherry said audience involvement is a part of the show, and even those who don’t get called up on stage aren’t sitting in their chairs.
“There wasn’t anybody sitting in their chairs,” Cherry said of her colleagues’ reports.
Cherry said there are still good seats available for both Ridley and “Yesterday and Today.”
“Both shows are going to be fabulous and just fun nights,” she said.
Both shows are sponsored by the Suffolk News-Herald.
Call 923-2900 or visit www.suffolkcenter.org for tickets.