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Heaven help us all.

There’s a woman selling out venues across the country using the "Queen of Soul’s" name. Aesthetically, she sounds like "The Queen." She even looks like "The Queen." But who is this woman, and what has she done with Aretha?

Accompanied by a full orchestra led by H. R. Barnum, Aretha Franklin took to the stage of Los Angeles’ Greek Theatre last Friday night amidst thunderous applause. Her highly anticipated return to Southern California after a 21-year absence had the sold-out audience, which included the legendary Clive Davis, eager to hear her and in turn, show her, just how much she had been missed.

Franklin opened the set with "Won’t Be Long" from her Columbia days; and things were off to a good start as she eased into "Try A Little Tenderness," followed by "Angel," from her 1972 Quincy Jones produced album and "Think" her 1968 hit with Atlantic, the label which produced her most memorable music and on this night, brought everyone to their feet. And although the night produced no "audience-friendly-banter," (she just basically moved from song to song) she managed to make us chuckle when she forewarned us, "if I don’t hit the high note, just imagine," and segued into the beautiful Puccini inspired aria, "Nesson Dorman," and pointed a finger to the sky, sparking our imagination, as the song escalated and the note wasn’t reached. Hell, we stood up and clapped anyway.

But then things started going downhill.

Dressed in a low cut white satin gown accentuated by a billowy shawl, Southern California’s unpredictable evening elements quickly warned Franklin that she had worn the wrong outfit. She also had major problems with the PA system, and constantly requested that it be turned up, at one time, even threatening to leave the stage. During the evening her voice became so affected by the cold that it was hard not to notice her coughing during much of the show; and at times so hoarse that she became totally inaudible. How much worse could things possibly get? Read on ...

There may be numerous reasons for Franklin’s decision to exclude all of the songs that have anointed her the Queen of Soul and gained her legions of fans over a span of four decades. Of course, this writer along with many of Friday’s concertgoers would be hard pressed to think of one. But the early warnings from The Queen herself apparently escaped us. Like children unable to control our excitement we called out the names of the hits we knew, and she was eggin’ us on. "What do you want to hear?" she asked at one point; and each time said, "Well, you’re not gonna hear that one tonight!" These words went right over our heads. We thought she was joking. She wasn’t.

Where we were expecting 1968s The House That Jack Built we got, instead, the Puccini piece. When she sat down at the piano, we expected to hear the heart-wrenching profundity of "I Never Loved A Man [The Way I Love You]," but instead we got "So Damn Happy " and "Wonderful" from the "So Damn Happy" album. During the hour she would perform an array of music including "Say A Little Prayer," the jazz-tinged "Cherokee," "Chain of Fools," "Precious Memories" and "Today I Sing the Blues," her very first hit with Columbia. She dedicated the song "My Turn" from her 1981 album "Love All the Hurt Away" to Clive Davis and brought former Temptations man Ollie Woodson out to join her in the duet, "I Want To Make It Up To You." Through it all we happily and willingly hung in there waiting ... hoping.

But Franklin’s decision to omit what music biographer David Nathan refers to as the "chestnuts" of her repertoire opens up an interesting topic for thought. In this day and age, with the emergence of solid, bar-raising performers like Alicia Keys, india.arie, Beyonce, Usher; performers who credit the legends like Aretha for paving the way for them--can anyone that decides to take on a tour afford to rest on past laurels ... on legacy alone or, in light of what we have become accustomed to, are they, too, expected to bring it? Nathan states, "It’s great to do a show like this for audiences who have seen you. You know, like the New York audiences. She’s performed in NY several times; or Chicago or even Florida, she’s been to many of those places, you know, multiple times within the last 10 to 15 years. So my only thing is that if you’re going to come out here for the first time in 20 years, you really want to give people what ... you know, you want to give them a little more of what they came to hear because they haven't seen you in 20 years." Nathan, who went again to the Saturday night show, says the difference was like "night and day," with Franklin incorporating more of her hits into the show.

In Franklin’s case on Friday night, instead of the rousing applause that generally accompanies the finale of such a legendary appearance, the audience at Los Angeles’ Greek Theater stood quite stunned. Seemingly bewildered when Franklin concluded her concert with "The Greatest Love of All," thanked Clive Davis and Tavis Smiley for coming, waved to the audience a few times and walked off. We stood and waited. And waited, but the only sound in the theatre was the announcer over the mic exhalting, "The Queen, the Queen." And for her encore, she came out for one last wave and it was over. Jaws dropped.

While one fan sitting behind me was noticeably upset as she found her way out of the "F" row, for some, Aretha could have just showed up and not sang a note and they still would’ve seen it as something just short of a religious experience. "It was an honor. This was the greatest honor of life for me," said one extremely happy woman exiting the arena. "It was a great experience to be in Aretha Franklin’s audience." And then she burst into laughter, which had one reporter ask if she was being facetious. But what about all of the songs she didn’t sing? "It wasn’t about the songs tonight," the woman continued. "It wasn’t about the songs, it was about the singer, h-e-l-l-o." Another gleaming fan said he, "thought it was wonderful tonight [but] I would’ve liked to have had another hour or two."

In the hospitality suite later that evening I spoke with noted music journalist and biographer David Nathan, who helped put the night into perspective. "It was amazing to see Aretha Franklin in Los Angeles after such a long time. And I thought her show included so many different facets of what she could do musically. I was particularly impressed by the gospel number, I loved that. I loved the fact that she went w-a-y back and actually sang "Today I Sing the Blues," which I never, ever heard her do; which was her first ever hit. And, you know, the only thing that was missing was some of her real Atlantic chestnuts. I think that if she had done "Dr. Feelgood" or "Bridge Over Troubled Waters," that, for me, was the only thing that was really missing--those kinds of things sung on the piano. Other than that, I have to commend her for doing such a vast array of material. I think that from a public perspective it was a little bit of a mistake to leave out "Respect." I know she’s probably sick and tired of the song, but at this point, you cannot really do the show without "Respect."

I’d say that certainly goes both ways, David.

DeBorah B. Pryor is a Los Angeles based writer and Public Speaker’s Coach. You can reach her by email at Dpryor@almansor.org