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BECOMING MARILYN
When BrookeLynn Cohol puts on “the wig,” a transformation occurs.
She becomes Marilyn Monroe.
It doesn’t seem to be a stretch for the vivacious Cohol, who got started as a Marilyn impersonator while in college.
The 1998 graduate of Canfield High School —where she was active in theater, choir and volleyball — attended Point Park University in Pittsburgh on a volleyball scholarship.
She explained how the Marilyn act got started.
“I was an intern at the Pittsburgh Film Office and they were going to do a fundraiser,” said Cohol. “My boss said, ‘You kind of look like Marilyn Monroe ... can you play her for the fundraiser?’ I said, ‘Yes, but I’m a broke college student so you’ll have to buy me the wig.’”
They bought her the wig, and Cohol sold everyone on her ability to do Marilyn. She reprised her performance at the fund-raiser for the next few years. “I sat in laps and sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to the men,” she said.
After graduating, Cohol packed up the wig, moved to New York City and put Marilyn behind her. She worked in production and post-production for New Line Cinema. As a behind-the-scenes person, she had a hand in making the movies “Lord of the Rings” and “Elf.”
After about five years, she moved back to Ohio and settled in Akron, where she started a pet hotel. She has since sold that business, but still operates Let Her Do It, a concierge service for businesses (www.haveherdoit.com). She also runs a pet information Web site (akrondogstuff.com) just for fun.
A few months ago, she began to undergo what she calls a rebirth. “I am going through a rebirth to do what I want to do ... whatever makes me happy,” she said.
That means acting.
She’s found steady work doing television and radio commercials in the Cleveland area. But most fun of all, she is once again putting on the platinum blonde wig and becoming Marilyn Monroe.
She performs with a Cleveland-based Rat Pack impersonation group that does dinner-shows and performances throughout the region.
It all started with an audition.
In February, Cohol answered an ad seeking background singers for the Rat Pack group. “I told them I can do a Marilyn, and they said OK,” said Cohol. “For my audition, they told me to dress as Marilyn ... only I didn’t know it, but it wasn’t an audition. I walked out, and there was an audience there. I walked into a show. So I had to become Marilyn. Once you start being Marilyn, you can’t stop. I sang for them and started sitting in laps. During a break, one of the guys sat next to me and said ‘Please tell me you will do this for our show.’”
Cohol said she knew right away that there was “amazing” chemistry between her and the three men in the troupe: Damion Fontaine (who impersonates Frank Sinatra), Scott Brotherton (Dean Martin) and Stan Davis (Sammy Davis Jr.).
“You kind of know where it’s going when you get on stage,” she said. “It was magic.”
The act also does impersonations of other singers, such as Neil Diamond, Joe Cocker, the Blues Brothers and Ray Charles.
The Rat Pack & Then Some dinner-show, with Cohol, will come to the Mahoning Valley this summer for two shows at The Georgetown in Boardman on July 9. Tickets are $32. Call Ciao Promotions at (330) 757-2779 for reservations or more information.