Look out, New York! Jacqueline Jonée is returning to the Bruno Walter Auditorium at The New York Public Library for Performing Arts Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center, to perform her hugely popular show, A Date with Liberace. Jonée, who’s  been described as “the world's première concert pianist drag diva,” will do two performances on Monday, June 12.  

The program will feature a screening of her 2009 HD video biography of  Liberace’s life. The screening will be followed by a performance of Liberace’s music by Ms. Jonée and  a question-and-answer session.

I recently sat down with John Nieman (aka Jacqueline Jonée) to discuss Liberace, the evolution of Jacqueline Jonée, and her return to the stage at The New York Public Library.

Nieman’s fascination with Liberace began as a child when he and his mother watched The Liberace Show in his childhood home of Saskatchewan. "I was just a kid— 6, 7,8,” he said. “I was taking piano lessons and it was just this cool sort of fascination with this TV personality," he said. "He was playing Tchaikovsky  and all this wonderful classical music and having fun and the audience was having a lot of fun too." Nieman did get to meet Liberace twice as an adult.

His first meeting with Liberace was in Montréal, Québec in 1974. He was introduced through the friend of a mutual friend at one of Montreal’s  gay clubs on Saint Denis Street. "The thing I remember the most was the softness of his hands and how warm and gracious Mr. Liberace was when we shook hands," Nieman recalled. "We exchanged a few words and talked about our mutual friend.  Of course, the image I had of Liberace was quite grand and larger than life, but he was not a tall man, but very real and personable."

After moving to New York in 1976 to study acting, Nieman met Liberace again in 1986 at an after party at the Fillmore East to celebrate a performance at Radio City Music Hall. The area was roped off and on the tables were quarter-sized plastic grand pianos in all colors. "I still have several of them as a remembrance from that night, said Nieman. "Again, Liberace was very gracious and I spoke to him for a little." Liberace gave him an autographed picture with the dedication, ‘To My Pal John’ which he displays on the piano during his A Date With Liberace concert.  

Liberace would die of AIDS, just four months later on February 4, 1987.

Nieman explained that the evolution of Jacqueline Jonée began when he was performing in Fire Island with a group called The Imperial Court of New York. "I could play the piano in some of these shows and raise money for whatever the cause  happened to be." That exposure eventually led to doing shows at the famed don’t tell mama. He then took the show to the Arts Project of Cherry Grove. Many re-writes later, he said, a new and better version ensued.  

As his drag character evolved, her fans clamored for a name. "My given name is John Dennis and my dad was John Dietrich," he said. "I became Jack because it’s a nickname for John. So when I started doing drag, people said to me ‘you should be Jackie, you should be Jacqueline.’ which capitalized on his French ancestry on his mother’s side. "First I was Diva Dijonee with a French twist," he said. "Everybody was a diva.  But some people said It sounded like a French mustard so we abandoned that. So from then on I was Jacqueline Jonée."

Nieman first performed at the Bruno Walter Auditorium in 2007 when he was invited by Dr. Joe Jeffries, a professor at NYU Tisch School of the Arts, to perform in his  production of Drag Show Video Verité. "He did his screen presentation and then I performed. The library staff asked if I could come back next year to do my own program and I said I would love to," he said.

The following year he did a show called "Liberté, Egalité, Jacqueline Jonée," which was hugely popular. In 2009 he followed with A Date with Liberace. "There were so many people that couldn’t get in,” he recalled. "That is why now I perform two concerts." The show also features Jonee's orchestra, the JouJou Jacquettes Philharmonic Orchestra whose numbers can range in a given performance from 3 musicians to 8. "They're still the JouJou Jacquettes even if there's just one," quipped Nieman.

Nieman modestly attributes the show’s success to the enduring appeal of Liberace. "He really became that popular entertainer, he set the stage,” he said. "Cher, Elton John, Michael Jackson, Madonna came into that, but he had been doing it since the 1940s. He was doing it with the glitz and glamour and making classical music accessible, making it entertainment." Of Jonee’s stage style Time Out Magazine said: "Ms. Jonée blends accomplished technique with Liberace-style flair, taking the concept of a drag show far beyond the standard lip-synch performance of "It's Raining Men."

Nieman enjoys that his concert  attracts a cross-generational audience.  "It’s a very adult show but it’s kid friendly. You see little kids from 5,6,7.  It’s so gratifying."

Jonee has played at Christie’s for the benefit of the New York City Gay Men’s Chorus, in venues in Montreal and at WorldPride Jerusalem in 2006. She will also do double duty as host and guest pianist at Queer Urban Orchestra's annual Gay-La to be held Saturday June 17 at 8:30 pm at the Church of the Holy Apostles.

But Nieman considers his upcoming event a personal highlight. "I’m part of the LGBTQ events at the library," said Nieman. "This concert for Bruno Walter is my favorite because I love Cheryl Raymond (Manager, Public Programs and Special Events, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts). "They’re so lovely and they treat me like gold. They’re just fun."