was close enough that the trade-
mark company would trademark
it. So we came up with ‘Calling
All Divas.’ Then we hired Michael
LaFleur, a show creator. He helped
build the show in Las Vegas for
Celine Dion. He’s worked with
Disney, Universal, Sarah Bright-
man. He took this idea that Lisa
and I had, and we made a story
of it where these four girls com-
pete against in each other in the
first act. And a young songwriter,
Frankie, tries to find the next voice
for his song to bring back to his
boss, who needs to have some-
thing happen for his club and his
connections to break the next
superstar. So he finds a country
singer in a really funky country bar.
And he finds a soul singer in Har-
lem. And he finds Lisa in a record-
ing studio who’s been there, done
that. And she says, ‘No, no, no, no,
thank you. It’s not for me.’ And
he says, ‘But Mr. D. would love
you.’ She says, ‘Mr. D.?’ And he
NJ STAGE - ISSUE 55
says, ‘You know D.?’ And she says,
‘Yeah, he has the key to my front
door.’
Lisa: In other words, we had a re-
lationship together.
Franke: She says, ‘If he wanted
me, he would have come and got-
ten me a long time ago.’ So she
passes on it. So he’s on his way
back to tell Mr. D. he only has two
girls. And he’s sitting there and the
subway car breaks. There’ll be a
five-minute wait. And this 19-year-
old girl starts playing in the sub-
way. ‘A Moment like This,’ she
sings. So he invites her. Then next
scene is these three girls getting
ready to sing, and Lisa shows up at
the club.
And you’re the mentor of the
four of them?
Lisa: Yeah, I’ve been around
the longest. It offers a story that
we’re better together sometimes.
There’s strength in numbers and
friendship and love and loyalty
and all that good stuff. He finds
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