KRCB-FM: Second Row Center

Ask anyone under fifty years of age who Rosemary Clooney is and they’re likely to respond “George Clooney’s wife?” They’d be in the ballpark (she was his aunt) but what they probably don’t know is that she was an immensely popular musical performer who charted numerous hit songs in the 50’s and 60’s. Changes in the musical landscape combined with a struggle with mental health issues led to her star fading. After an onstage breakdown and years of therapy, she was the rare performer who managed a ‘second act’ in showbiz when she turned to jazz. She continued to perform and record until her death in 2002. Composers, lyricists and playwrights Janet Yates Vogt and Mark Friedman use Clooney’s breakdown as the jumping off point for Tenderly, The Rosemary Clooney Musical, playing now at Napa’s Lucky Penny Community Arts Center. The show uses the framing device of Clooney’s therapy sessions to tell her tale. After melting down during a Reno, Nevada performance, Rosemary Clooney (Taylor Bartolucci) finds herself in