I still couldn't fit the rest of my review in one post, so here's the third and final part.
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Brett also shared a few things I don't remember seeing in any interview or article before. For example, after her split from Klugman, she dated a 28-year-old man for about a year and a half. (\"Sometimes I still ask myself why I broke up with him!\") Of course, this isn't all that surprising, considering how many of the young men in the first chair she flirted with on Match Game! She also pointed out that, while she's not allowed to talk about her children, no one mentioned anything about her granddaughter. She showed us a photo of an adorable little girl of about seven or eight and sang a song dedicated to her. (Oddly enough, she didn't tell us the girl's name.) When she finished the song, she kissed the photo before setting it back on the piano. It was easily the sweetest moment of the show. You could tell that her granddaughter is the light of her life.
Most of the show was hilarious, with Brett presenting her experiences in a very humorous light, but there were two very sad and poignant moments. She described how Jack Klugman took her out to dinner at a very expensive restaurant and told her he didn't want to be married to her anymore, and then she sang a sad breaking-up song. Most of her singing to that point was done with a joyous, boisterous spunk, but she sang this one differently, in a soft, mournful voice.
A little later, Brett described a man she collaborated with and grew to love dearly. She identified him only as Michael. \"He was everything I wanted in a man. He was tall, he was dark, he was handsome, he was gay…It was just like a marriage, only there was no se—actually, it was just like a marriage.\" Sadly, she told us, Michael passed away from AIDS in 1995. She sang a song and dedicated it to him, and you could see how much she missed her friend.
For her final number (besides the encore), Brett perched on the piano and said, \"I've always wanted to sit on the piano and sing, and tonight's the night!\" She then told us that her favorite singer of all time is Frank Sinatra and sang one of his songs, the title escapes me, but it's the one that begins, \"When I was seventeen…\" She left the stage after the song was over, then came back out for a one-song encore, and that was the show.
We had the chance to speak to Brett very briefly after the show and have our picture taken with her. I told her, \"I haven't laughed so hard since this morning's three-hour Match Game marathon on Game Show Network.\" Brett had a good laugh at that and seemed flattered when I told her I watch her 2-3 times a day on GSN.
All in all, it was a wonderful night, and I hope I can get to at least one more performance before Brett hangs up her microphone!
Eileen
