Bobby Rydell was battling a bug and needed some secret weapons Tuesday before taking the stage at The Sharon L. Morse Performing Arts Center.
“I visited a clinic here and it really helped me,” Rydell said in a hoarse voice with a sore throat, having been sick for the past 48 hours. “They gave me a Z-Pak; some B-12 and a shot in the butt. I’m a mess.”
It didn’t matter once he got on stage in front of an audience. Rydell’s gritty and inspired performance came from the heart – not the meds.
A soldout crowd gave Rydell three standing ovations and — sick or not — the singer, 74, came back for three encores. He returns to The Sharon tonight at 7, with comic Bobby Collins as the opening act.
“Tonight, Bobby Rydell showed what being a professional entertainer is all about,” said Clark Barrios, a popular singer in The Villages. “He wasn’t feeling well, and he was hurting. But Bobby knows the show must go on. I think every young performer learned a lesson tonight. That was a great performance by a real pro.”
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Rydell’s voice seemed to gain power as the night went on. He would frequently cough and take drinks of water. But Rydell showed he can sell a song and push himself to hit the high notes.
‘I’m glad to be here tonight; in fact I’m glad to be anywhere,” the one time “American Bandstand” teen idol told the crowd. Four years ago, Rydell received a liver and kidney transplant that saved his life.
He told the crowd about his organ donor named Julia, 21, who was killed in 2012 when hit by a car. “She is my special angel,” Rydell said. He urged everyone to sign up as an organ donor when they get their driver’s license. “Do it for me,” Rydell said. “I know from personal experience that it truly is the gift of life.”
He opened the show with the upbeat, “Goody Goody,” backed by a tight, 10-piece band. Then came a powerful version of “For Once in My Life.”
During the show, Rydell told stories about growing up in an Italian neighborhood in South Philadelphia. He asked the fans if they knew his real name.
“It’s Ridarelli,” someone yelled.
“Close” Rydell said, pronouncing it this way: “Rid-da-relli. Sounds like something you would order in an Italian restaurant, you know, ‘Give me some Rid-da-relli with Marinara sauce.’ Rydell sounds a lot better.”
Rydell came of age with rock and roll. During the late ‘50s and early ‘60s, he was among the most popular singers in the world. It seemed a more innocent time, and Rydell’s handsome features and glossy vocals helped define the teenage cultural mood of that era.
“I’m going to sing one of my old 45s – you remember 45s, the little records with the hole in the middle,” Rydell joked. Then he delivered the goods on one of his most memorable hits, “Forget Him.” Next it was time trip to 1960 with the hard rocking “Wild One.”
Rydell then told about opening at the famed Copa Club in New York City when he was 19.
“I was getting ready for a show and there was a knock on my dressing room door,” he said. He opened the door and there stood Bobby Darin. “I’m doing this tribute to one of the greatest performers of all time. Bobby would have turned 80 this year.”
Rydell, like Darin, has a special way of taking smooth, big band sounds and turning them into alluring pop numbers. He did Darin justice with lilting versions of “Beyond the Sea” and “Mack the Knife.”
Then he took a break, and drank some more water. “It’s tough being up here tonight, I hope I can get through this’” said Rydell, wearing a black suit and tie and sitting on a wooden stool near center stage. He told show business stories about working with such stars as George Burns, Red Skelton, Jack Benny, Dean Martin and Perry Como. But he seemed most honored to have known Frank Sinatra. He offered tribute to Old Blue Eyes with a swinging version of “The Lady Is A Tramp” and Rydell’s voice was growing stronger.
Rydell then had the audience singing along to one of his biggest hit singles, “Volare.” He left the stage but the people wouldn’t let him go, they just kept clapping and cheering.
“I wasn’t going anywhere,” Rydell said as he returned to a huge ovation. He sang an emotional Sinatra number, “You and The Night and The Music.”
Then people started yelling out requests for Rydell’s older hits: “Wildwood Days” and “The Cha-Cha-Cha.”
“I can’t do them because we don’t have the charts,” Rydell said. But when someone yelled out “Sway,” Rydell gave it a whirl and turned it into one of the highlights of the concert.
The Z-Pak must have kicked in because Rydell seemed to be downright frisky. He finished his third encore number with another Sinatra standard: “I’ve Got the World On A String.”
This time Rydell left the stage for good, to another thunderous ovation. Rydell still wasn’t finished. He returned to The Sharon lobby to sign autographed copies of his newly released biography: “Teen Idol on the Rocks,” co-written with Allan Slutsky.
Dozens of Villagers stood in line to get autographed copies, and Rydell patiently obliged everyone there.
“I grew up with Bobby Rydell,” said Cookie Vaream, a Brooklyn native who lives in Mallory Square. “I can relate to his songs and his stories. It brought me back to my youth.” Her husband, Nick, felt the same way. “Bobby relates to people and that’s why so many people relate to him. I was worried about him tonight, because you could tell he was sick, but he put on a great show.”
Villagers Lorraine and Barry Laidlaw patiently waited in line for Rydell to autograph a book.
“I remember seeing Bobby on ‘American Bandstand,’ in the afternoon when I got home from school,” Barry said. “He wasn’t just a pop idol, he was a great singer.”
Lorraine Laidlaw grew up overseas and didn’t discover Rydell until later in his career. “I was so moved and impressed about what he said about his transplant and organ donors,” she said. “Bobby has an amazing story and tonight he was amazing. You could tell he wasn’t feeling well, but he just kept going and he got better as the night went on. I just want to bless him and hope he stays healthy.”
Comic Bobby Collins opened the show and a few minutes into his act, the power was jolted and lights came on, while the stage mike went dead.
“They told me it was a lightning strike,” said Collins, who did some hilarious bits about life in Florida. “I couldn’t worry about lightning, I just kept going. These people wanted to laugh, and I loved it.”
