Home for the Holidays” would be a fitting song for Shea Seger’s show Sunday at Zeiders American Dream Theater.
The pop singer moved back to Virginia Beach this year, married her childhood sweetheart and started an artist-in-residency gig at Zeiders in Town Center.
Seger had lived in London for about 20 years. The Tallwood High School grad studied theater at the Governor’s School for the Arts, and said she planned to become a playwright and do some acting abroad, but instead dove into a music career. Her 2001 debut album, “The May Street Project,” pleased reviewers. A Rolling Stone article called it “a collection of infectious pop gems.” It included a single featuring another Virginia Beach singer, Pharrell Williams, “Blind Situation.” She toured with John Mayer and Brit chart-topper David Gray. “It was a ride for sure,” she said. “It’s good to be back.”
She married Jimmy Reeves, a Beach graphic design artist and composer who does music for commercials and plays in the rock band Sunndrug.
Sunday’s holiday singalong is Seger’s fourth show in her residency. “It’s just a Christmas hangout. I want it to be a kind of ‘wing-it’ situation.” Families can come, and she hopes to talk to folks in the audience. “Everybody can just be, and sing, together.”
The first show in Zeiders’ intimate, temporary location, was a “stripped-down, lyrically heavy show,” she said. The second had a full band and she did a lot of the pop stuff that she’s best known for. The third was a mixed media performance.
She’s grateful to Zeiders. “It’s so exciting for the area to have a place like this.”
“I said, ‘Look, take a bet on me and hopefully we’ll put some buns in some seats. And we did, and it’s grown.” She’s looking forward to continuing the residency while she teaches voice, and also songwriting and performance, privately. Shows are planned for Jan. 26 and Feb. 23.
She’s eager to see what Zeiders does when its new theater opens in Town Center, which didn’t exist when she went off to London.
“I worked at Planet Music. I remember Columbus theater being built. … I was astonished that the Pembroke Mall was still standing!” she said, laughing, let alone find a new downtown area.
“It’s cool to have a space like that that’s walkable, that’s not Ghent or the Oceanfront.”
This Christmas, instead of enjoying her Swedish friend’s wassail recipe in London (the trick is using a half-measure of vodka for every measure of wine, and tons of sugar) she’s among lots of family and friends, and “Home for the Holidays.”
If you go
What: Shea Seger Sing-a-long Concert
When: 6 p.m. Sunday
Where: Zeiders American Dream Theater, 4573 Bank St., Virginia Beach
Tickets: $18 online, $20 at the door; americandreamtheater.org, 757-499-0317
Dan Duke, 757-446-2545, dan.duke@pilotonline.com
