4 minute read
Love & Laughter
LOVE Now you see her . N ow y o u don ’t. Laughter& by Diane Ciarloni | photos courtesy of Rhonda Medina
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By the entertainment industry’s definition, Rhonda Medina of Flower Mound is someone who marries respectful, thoughtful comedy with highly-developed impersonations and music. The people sharing a comfortable space in her brain include Marilyn Monroe, Barbra Streisand, and Dolly Parton, among others.
Rhonda received her talents through a natural genetic chain. Both parents were entertainers. Her mom, adopted at birth in 1947 and grew up playing piano. Her God-gifted singing voice was beautiful enough for Sammy Davis Jr. to once characterize it as a cross between Patsy Cline and Karen Carpenter.
The guitar was Rhonda’s dad’s instrument of choice. He was a handsome kid who grew into a talented man.
By the time she was four, Rhonda had memorized Shirley Temple’s dance routines from television. She loved dancing and acrobatics, and her mom took her to nursing homes to perform. That’s where she first felt the joy of teasing a smile to the lips of an elderly and often mentally compromised person.
The young parents worked hard and bought a house when Rhonda was 2-years-old. It was a perfect place for young musicians to meet, play, sing, and enthrall friends with impersonations. Rhonda and her sister knew it was a party night when they were hustled off to bed early. Soon after being tucked in, Rhonda quietly snuck from her blankets to peek through the narrow slit in the open door to watch the fun. It was her father who truly mesmerized her with his impersonations.
“One of the things I remember most vividly was the magic of my mom’s voice,” Rhonda said. “It was beautiful and unique. I was so completely disappointed the first time I
recorded my own voice at 12-years-old. I sounded nothing like mom. I cried and cried.”
Rhonda began expanding her own vocal talents through musical impersonations and characters in 1995 at Universal Studios theme park in Hollywood. Now, 20 years later, it has been an incredible adventure, with a total of 14 different celebrity impressions and musical tributes in her repertoire. She invests six months to a year developing each celebrity impression before she allows it to emerge on stage.
“I can’t rush the process,” she says. “I’m like a sponge in some ways. I absorb many elements, such as accents, after hearing them just once. I read everything I can find about the character: what I can find on the Internet, books, magazines — whatever. I want to know how they feel about certain issues and how they react physically as well as mentally. I want to know, and to feel, a person’s truth because that’s the only way I can respect it.”
She added, “At least half of my time is spent reading, watching videos, reading articles, watching the way someone walks, and biographies. I can’t do someone if I can’t relate to him or her. I need to put my heart into them and their heart into me.”
Rhonda takes comedy very seriously and always infuses it with love.
“I have done patriotic-themed performances for dementia and Alzheimer’s patients. Some of them have been in very bad places — unable to move or talk. I’ve had some reach out, take my hand, and kiss it while I’m singing. It’s beautiful, and the power is incredible. You can literally watch it draw people out of a dark place. It’s taught me over and over that life is a gift, and everyone has something to contribute.”
Rhonda was influenced greatly by master impersonator Rich Little, who could glide from one personality to the next effortlessly without interruption. But, she has no desire to be like Little.
“Actually being these people will challenge you, your beliefs, and your values. I’m empathetic and considerate of others’ feelings. People energize me and excite me. I love to be pushed and challenged by researching these personalities. It’s amazing to me that I enjoy this work as much as I do, but I do! It’s also amazing that my phone still rings for me, at 56, to play Marilyn Monroe.”
Rhonda describes herself as a wife, mom, activist, and animal lover who also happens to tap deeply into the minds and hearts of famous personalities. Once she invites these others into her soul, she never bothers or disturbs them until she needs them.
Some of her most fulfilling performances are in facilities for the elderly. Perhaps it’s memory care. Perhaps it’s Alzheimer’s or dementia. Whichever it is, it’s where people need to go long and deep to find themselves. Rhonda can do it with the help of her friends.
“Lucille Ball is one of the best,” she says. “She can help people come back from far, far away. In this whole process, I’m just a nobody pretending to be somebody.”
And that is an inaccurate statement because, actually, it is the truth, love, and respect of Rhonda Medina shining through Marilyn and Lucy and Dolly that turns on a light within those who see her.
“LUCILLE BALL IS ONE OF THE BEST, SHE CAN HELP PEOPLE COME BACK
FROM FAR, FAR AWAY.”
