WADE PRESTON
Piano Man & Stunt Billy
As Noel Coward wrote “I went to a marvelous party. . .” and there I heard one of the hottest boogie and New Orleans Barrel house piano players play a couple of tunes and he just blew me away! Most assuredly, I’ve never seen fingers fly so fast on those black and white ivories! The man is Wade Preston (www.WadePreston.com ) and many of you may remember his role as the Piano Man in the Billy Joel/Twyla Tharp Broadway hit Movin’ Out. (www.broadwaymusicalhome.com/shows/movinout.htm ).
Preston is an original cast member who stayed with the show from its inception to closing. He holds the record as the Piano Man with the most consecutive shows performed without a break and is the only Piano Man who has played the lead role and the synth chair at the same time. Preston did the rehearsals and sound checks for Billy Joel in Hershey, PA and Shea Stadium, essentially as the "Stunt Billy." "Thanks for doing this," Joel said to Wade at a rehearsal in NYC. "You're making my life very easy."
One week after that marvelous party I went to see Wade who was appearing solo at the Triad Theatre (www.triadnyc.com ) on West 72nd Street in NYC. He calls this show Piano, Microphone, Audience because of the intimacy. No technology to get in the way.
This time I was treated to an entire evening’s entertainment that opened with “Root Beer Rag,” a Billy Joel instrumental, to “Scenes From An Italian Restaurant,” “Angry Young Man,” “Vienna” and “Zanzibar,” to name only a few of the Billy Joel classics (www.billyjoel.com ). By the way, Preston is also a top notch singer. He even plays harmonica while playing the piano. What more can I say?
Additional material included some of his original songs along with “Great Balls of Fire,” “Embraceable You” and his own unique arrangement “Bumble Boogie,” based on Rimsky-Korsakov’s Flight of the Bumble Bee - a mesmerizing treat to the ear and eye.
Preston has cleverly kept together alumni from the Movin Out Band as the nucleus of a band featuring Wade along with Michael Sorrentino (drums); Dennis DelGaudio guitar/vocals); John Scarpulla (sax/percussion/stage antics/vocals; Greg Smith (bass/vocals).
Wade’s been a serious musician with his own band for many years. When he was 19, he appeared with Dick Clark and Chubby Checker on American Bandstand and did a number of TV shows with Chubby. Among them, was the short lived Friday's with Victoria Principle as guest host.
Can’t wait to see what’s next on Wade Preston’s plate. Should be something big and grand.
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