On Friday November 6, Tyler Christopher brought the sights, sounds and moves of Elvis to life at Leeds Center for the Arts.
The two-set, two-and-a-half-hour show engaged the audience with comical back and forth banter as well as music and showmanship. A full house of approximately three hundred was treated to great live music. Winchester’s own Elvis, Dominic Bernal, was also spotted in the audience.
The first one-hour set was dedicated to Elvis’s early years with tunes like “Jailhouse Rock,” “Blue Suede Shoes,” and “You Ain’t Nothing but a Hound dog.” Along with songs from some early movies, the green sparkle jacket and the black and white oxfords were exclamation points to the swivel hips and rock and roll played by the five-piece band.
During his performance of “Let me be your Teddy Bear,” Tyler tossed stuffed teddy bears into the crowd. One attendee tossed him a bear with her name on it. The first hour ended with a prelude to the second hour as Elvis came off stage and up the aisles and into the balcony singing and greeting the audience to “Viva Las Vegas.”
After a short intermission, which Tyler surely needed to catch his breath, the second set began with an Elvis appearing in a baby blue (apparently polyester) jumpsuit and cape to the music “A Space Odyssey” and “C C Rider.”
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Along with Vegas show tunes, “Let Me Be There” by Olivia Newton John and Frank Sinatra’s “New York New York” the audience coaxed the performer into singing an unscheduled “Kentucky Rain.”
While singing “Suspicious Minds” the singer did many of the moves that Elvis introduced as a stage performer. On another trip into the audience to “I Can’t Help Falling in Love with You,” Tyler placed leis around the necks of some female attendees.
Later, the song “Love Me” was sung while passing out silk scarves to the ladies at the stage front. The evening concluded with “I Can’t Help Falling in Love with You.”
Overall, it was a great evening.
