Training for a Lifetime for the Role of Pearl Bailey

"Ever since singer-actress Roz White found out she shared a birthday (March 29) with Pearl Bailey, she's felt a kinship with the legendary performer. 'I thought, wow, we look alike . . . so I started reading her books and learning her quotes,' White says. Bailey, who died in 1990, also spent part of her childhood in Washington, where White grew up.

'She could work a ballad like the best of 'em. She just was the completely well-rounded entertainer. . . . She had it all,' observes White, who is starring in a cabaret-style salute, 'Pearl Bailey . . . by Request,' at MetroStage in Alexandria tomorrow through Nov. 9. The show is an expanded version of a piece White performed at THEARC in Anacostia..."

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