The Countess blasts into town Thursday with a 90-minute cabaret show that’s sure to raise a titter among real housewives of Charleston.
The crowd will likely shower star LuAnn de Lesseps with throaty “bravos” as testaments to her role as an original cast member of Bravo network’s Real Housewives of New York City.
The Countess is bringing her show, “Marry F— Kill,” to the Charleston Music Hall at 8 p.m. Oct. 10 to showcase songs and stories blended through the magic of cabaret. (The “f” in the show’s title is a word very similar to “fork” and refers to a game she remembers playing as a girl growing up in Connecticut.)
“It’s kind of a big sing-along,” she said in a recent interview. “I show clips from my show. I sing songs. I tell stories. They get an inside glimpse into my world.”
The Countess, born LuAnn Nadeau in 1965 in Berlin, Conn., was a licensed practical nurse before being scouted to become a model in New York. Then she moved to Europe to model, became known in Italian television, and married a French aristocrat, with whom she had two children and later divorced.
She joined the original RHNYC cast in 2008 and was in 13 of its first 14 seasons. Around 2018, she started performing a cabaret show, loved it, and has kept it going, performing all over the world.
“I went back to what I love, which is music,” she said. “A good friend of mine says, ‘You love to sing for your friends, and you love to tell jokes,’ which I do, all of that. And he goes, ‘you should be doing cabaret…
“Then I got married, and he wasn’t going to let me do it. I divorced him seven months later. Yeah, you know, love is blind.” Later she added, “So I talk about that. I talk about online dating. I give them tips on dating.”
There’s a lot of talk and engagement with the audience. The show in Charleston is named after a question-and-answer fantasy game that girls play, she said – “Who would I marry? Who would I eff and who would I kill?”
The show’s elements include songs and comedy.
“I play with music in how I build the show,” de Lessups said. “I pick a song I absolutely love, and then I figure out, OK, what story is going to get me into that song. And it’s usually comedy. There’s always comedy involved. And then I picked a dress that’s going to be perfect.”
She says she’s continually inspired by her fans, who “get an inside glimpse into my world. It’s all about my love affair with people.”
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