Tony
Pace
plays
a
who’s
who
of
music
By
Charles
Einstein
For
The
Star-Ledger
You
have
$5
in
the
left-hand
pants
pocket
and
$6
in
the
right-hand
pants
pocket,”
Bud
Abbott
would
say,
teaching
basic
arithmetic
to
sidekick
Lou
Costello
“Now:
What
have
you
got?”
“Somebody
else’s
pants,”
Costello
would
reply.
Ah,
then.
Now
take
an
excellent
tenor,
with
a
range
of
nearly
four
octaves,
a
neat
touch
of
Danny
Gans
and
a
predilection
for
impersonating
others
and
singing
duets
with
himself.
Name
him
Tony
Pace
and
let
him
loose
on
the
smallish
stage
of
the
Screening
Room
on
the
13th
floor
at
Resorts.
In
for
an
extended
matinee
run,
Pace
seems
10
years
at
least
below
his
actual
age
of
42,
with
a
baby-faced
energy
that’s
enabled
him
to
do
180
shows
in
just
a
seven-week
engagement
at
the
Indian
Head
Resort
in
New
Hampshire.
Gans-like,
Pace’s
voice
fills
the
room
with
one
impression
after
another.
Given
a
change
of
wigs,
he
can
go
from
Willie
Nelson
to
Julio
Iglesias
and
back
to
Rod
Stewart
all
in a
Massachusetts
minute,
that
being
his
native
state
and
home
of
his
chief
tutorial,
the
prestigious
Berklee
College
of
Music.
Assisting
Pace
in
his
one-man
show
is a
secret
second
show,
the
backstage
manipulation
of
tapes
not
only
to
provide
orchestral
support
but
even
a
second
or
third
voice.
The
result
seems
so
effortless
that
many
members
of
the
audience,
some
of
whom
have
even
been
summoned
to
the
stage
to
join
Pace
in
his
endeavors,
come
away
convinced
he
was
lip-synching
all
along.
“It’s
flattering,
I
guess,
but
it’s
not
true,”
Pace
says.
“That’s
my
own
voice.”
And
his
own
idea,
perhaps,
to
do
an
imitation
of
Elvis
singing
“Dixie,”
but
in a
slower
tempo
than
we’ve
heard
before.
Suddenly
both
the
singer
and
the
song
come
achingly
alive.
