Charles Holt was the first black man to play the lead in a production of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. He’s starred on television’s Law & Order: Criminal Intent and written the memoir Between Me and My Dad. Holt’s professional resume is so extensive, the easiest – and most appropriate – way to package it is with a performance outlining his life through songs.
On Friday, Holt tells his life story with the help of local bassist Dennis Murphy, pianist Michael Martinez and drummer Skylar Campbell. The tale opens with gospel staples like “Amazing Grace,” which speaks to Holt’s childhood in Nashville. His granny constantly sang gospel and church hymns, hoping he would be inspired to preach one day.
After college, a failed attempt at pro football and a stint as an IBM salesman, Holt sang in a church choir and jazz clubs. He represents this period with a couple jazz standards like “Summertime.” He also unloads the original blues number, “Everybody Has a Place at the Table.”
Then comes theater. Holt’s starred in Smokey Joe’s Café and Jesus Christ Superstar and, for more than four years, he was in The Lion King on Broadway. Last year, his original show about Martin Luther King, Jr., Martin and Music, toured nationally, and Holt’s produced a couple one-man plays, including Never Fight a Shark in Water, the true story of a wrongfully convicted man who was exonerated after spending 27 years in prison
His theatrical work is conveyed with faves like Rent’s “Seasons of Love” and Lion King’s “The Circle of Life.”
Holt sums up his vast and versatile professional career nicely in his 2012 book Intuitive Rebel: Tuning in to the Voice that Matter: “Life is about change, growth and unfolding ever-greater aspects of the self.”
CHARLES HOLT 7pm Friday, June 12. The Center for Spiritual Awakening (formerly Pacific Coast Church), 522 Central Ave., Pacific Grove. $15/advance; $20/door. 372-2971.