The opera lovers who arrived at The Cecil on West 118th Street after hearing Benjamin Britten’s “The Burning Fiery Furnace” were unexpectedly bombarded with “Great Balls of Fire.”
The party for the Harlem Opera Theater, after its performance Monday at the Church of the Intercession, featured rockabilly keyboard-pounder Jason D. Williams, who looks and sounds like Jerry Lee Lewis.
Pat Kerr Tigrett — the unofficial queen of Memphis and stepmother of Hard Rock Café co-founder Isaac Tigrett — booked Williams and his band as a favor to her friend Donna Corbat, the event’s co-chair and the wife of Citi CEO Michael Corbat.
As Williams jumped on his baby grand and played with his cowboy boots, the gaping crowd included Robert De Niro and Grace Hightower, Michelle Paterson, Michael Gross, Nicole Miller, Carmen D’Alesio, Judith Jamison and Stephen Burrows, who designed the opera costumes.
Williams, who was raised in Arkansas by a pair of Baptist missionaries, has an album coming out next month titled “Hillbillies and Holy Rollers.” He was a real fish out of water in Harlem.