What Chatham County needs is another shot of Haviland Stillwell. The club singer, Broadway and TV actress and all-around bubbly person did an intimate one-woman show here last Christmas, and those lucky enough to get tickets are still buzzing about it.
Here we go. Stillwell's coming back Aug. 21, for two performances (accompanied again by pianist Steven Jamail) in the newly-christened Tybee Wedding Chapel. Stillwell, as she did in December, will sing as a benefit for the restoration of the Tybee Post Theater.
Although she lives in Los Angeles, Stillwell is a Savannah native and lived here until the age of 9 (her father is Hunter McLean attorney W. Brooks Stillwell).
She has appeared in the hit Broadway revivals of Fiddler on the Roof and Les Miserables, and has an eclectic pop/cabaret CD called How I Role. She is omnipresent on the Internet, as a writer, performer and filmmaker, and is also a motivational speaker.
"I am, at my core, a Southern girl," she told us in 2010, "and Tybee is very much a starting point for me. I always want to come back to Savannah; that's where my roots are."
She knows all about the rich history of the Tybee Post Theater. "I do a lot of volunteer and activism work, and I'm very specific, as I think we all should be, about who we want to spend our time and energy giving to."
As for that Christmas show, "They asked me, and it was really a no-brainer."
It's a fairly small room - not a bad seat in the house! - and one assumes that's why there are two shows planned instead of just one. Tickets will be available Aug. 1. The 4:30 p.m. concert costs $25; the late show (7 p.m.) carries a $50 ticket price and includes an after-show reception with Stillwell and Jamail.
Get tickets through the Savannah box office - (912) 525-5050.
@ Soulful Atlanta-based singer/songwriter Lee Tyler Post is performing at 7 p.m. Aug. 4 at All Saints' Episcopal Church on Tybee. This is a free show, but donations for the Tybee Post Theater will be gratefully accepted. Post headlines the Savannah Folk Music Society's First Friday concert Aug. 5, along with Barry Brogan.
