MORE "HERE & THERE" PART II
As noted above, we have one additional sponsor for our 20th ANNIVERSARY OF CABARET HOTLINE ONLINE GALA (anonymous) but we truly could use one or two more. The sponsors help to cover all the advance costs of the show, plus show expenses, so that we don't have to sell every ticket to show a profit. In essence, all the funds collected from ticket sales go directly to support CABARET HOTLINE ONLINE! This allows us to cut off ticket sales the day before the event, even of all seats aren't sold - and don't have to stand at the door to collect money, give change, etc.
Tickets are selling at a brisk pace - we're almost to the halfway point in sales.
I'm going to let you all in on a little "behind the scenes" facts about this year's event. In March, after the fantastic MARCH IS CABARET MONTH SHOW, I sort of made the decision that the event in July would be our "closing" show. We weren't going to even offer memberships for 2010-2011 and just shut down CABARET HOTLINE ONLINE on July 6, 2010 after 20 years of continuous publication.
But, interestingly, I began to watch as more and more folks began visiting the website and the blog. More and more folks are getting their news and information on the internet now, and print publications are losing audience weekly. So we began to really dig in and get to work to grow CABARET HOTLINE ONLINE rather than close it down.
Right now, in addition to the CABARET HOTLINE ONLINE website and theCABARETSINGS.COM website, we revitalize and polished up out CABARET HOTLINE ONLINE BLOG (which, quite frankly, we ignored for some time), and opened up 3 TWITTER feeds - one for the newsletter, one for songwriters, and a sort of personal "daily here & there" feed where I could just write whatever comes to mind and not confined to just cabaret. The total number of followers for all three is about 700 but there is a lot of duplication of followers.
I saw three amazing shows in the past 7 days that I want to tell you about.
JACKIE DRAPER AT THE LAURIE BEECHMAN THEATER
On Thursday, June 10th, I was at the LAURIE BEECHMAN THEATER to catch Jackie Draper's latest show "Go The Distance". I've lost count on how many different shows that Ms. Draper has done in the past several years, as I have also lost count as to how many of them I've seen. But I do know that each and every one I've seen has been entertaining, interesting and a great treat. Jackie seems to start her for her next show before she ends the run of her current show! All follow her unique formula - she always includes a song in French, in German and in Spanish, always has a dance number, and always leaves one eagerly looking forward to her next show! In "Go The Distance" show started with the tale of running the NYC Marathon - almost as a dare - alongside her husband (at least at the start of the race). Undaunted by the fact that neither managed to complete the course, they returned the following year to try again. And this time Jackie managed to make the finish line (her husband had to drop out). Backed by Music Director Gregory Toroian, on piano; Ritt Henn on bass and uke; Robbyn Tongue on alto sax, clarinet, she wove song with anecdote, all moving along her theme. And, an audience favorite, she was joined on stage by dancer Franklin Ayala for an elegant (and a bit romantic) number. Directed by Helen Baldassare, the show never lost its focus, and truly went the distance when it comes to entertaining, inspiring and energizing an audience.
On Thursday, June 10th, I was at the LAURIE BEECHMAN THEATER to catch Jackie Draper's latest show "Go The Distance". I've lost count on how many different shows that Ms. Draper has done in the past several years, as I have also lost count as to how many of them I've seen. But I do know that each and every one I've seen has been entertaining, interesting and a great treat. Jackie seems to start her for her next show before she ends the run of her current show! All follow her unique formula - she always includes a song in French, in German and in Spanish, always has a dance number, and always leaves one eagerly looking forward to her next show! In "Go The Distance" show started with the tale of running the NYC Marathon - almost as a dare - alongside her husband (at least at the start of the race). Undaunted by the fact that neither managed to complete the course, they returned the following year to try again. And this time Jackie managed to make the finish line (her husband had to drop out). Backed by Music Director Gregory Toroian, on piano; Ritt Henn on bass and uke; Robbyn Tongue on alto sax, clarinet, she wove song with anecdote, all moving along her theme. And, an audience favorite, she was joined on stage by dancer Franklin Ayala for an elegant (and a bit romantic) number. Directed by Helen Baldassare, the show never lost its focus, and truly went the distance when it comes to entertaining, inspiring and energizing an audience.
This show ran for three sold-out performances in June at THE LAURIE BEECHMAN, which means there's a strong possibility that it might return.
MARCUS SIMEONE AT THE METROPOLITAN ROOM
Marcus Simeone returned one last time with his show "Everything Must Change" to the METROPOLITAN ROOM on Saturday, June 12th at 7:30 pm. It was a continuation of the launch of his second live CD, recorded last year in the same venue. The proceeds of this very special one-night only encore event went towards the special fund for the ongoing therapeutic process necessary to help Greg Kennell regain motor skills and return to a normal life after almost two months in a coma and related consequences. Gregg remains partially paralyzed.
There are dozens of fantastic male vocalists appearing on the NYC cabaret stages, but there is only one Marcus Simeone - his press release calls his vocal abilities "phenomenal" and try as I might, I couldn't find a better word! Marcus was backed by a hastily reconstituted trio assembled by his musical director, Barry Levitt - one of whom Marcus had met for the first time at the sound check just before the show. I never cease to be amazed that the breadth of talented folks in the NYC area - the show ran smoothly and the performances were close to flawless. And I never cease to be amazed at the breadth of song styles that Mr. Simeone has mastered and sings with apparent ease. While his patter occasionally strays a little off course, the vocals never stray from perfection. OMG has become a texting shortcut to express amazement, and this show tallied about 15 OMGs in my book!
As mentioned, this show was a one-night only event, but you can purchase the CD via Miranda Music - Marcus has begun to assemble the makings of his first "studio" recording later this year.
There comes a point when you simply run out of superlatives. Well, I've "hit the wall" this time. Monday night, June 14th, my pal Daniel & I were at THE TOWN HALL for the final show of this year's BROADWAY BY THE YEAR series and no Thesaurus in the planet has an accurate word to describe the show. By this time, I'm sure, you're tired of me saying "this was the best show yet from creator/writer/host Scott Siegels offerings at THE TOWN HALL."
This show was special - instead of covering the songs from Broadway shows for a particular year, to celebrate the final show in this 10th Anniversary of this series, Scott chose one song from one show, for each year between 1990 and 2010. And he also chose an incredible lineup of performers for the event: Norm Lewis (The Little Mermaid), Karen Mason (Mama Mia!), Astaire Award-winner Spencer Liff (Cry- Baby), Michael Winther (Mama Mia!), Douglas Ladnier (Jekyll & Hyde), Ann Harada (Avenue Q), four-time Tony Award nominee Gregg Edelmann (Tale of Two Cities), Alexander Gemignani (Les Miserables), Tony Award winner Debbie Gravitte, Kendrick Jones (The Scottsboro Boys), three-time Tony Award nominee Mark Kudisch (9 to 5), Tony Award nominee Bobby Steggert (Ragtime), Julia Murney (Wicked), Max Von Essen (Xanadu national tour), Tony Award nominee Barbara Wash (Company) and Lari White (Ring of Fire).
The result was a spectacular evening that covered all twenty years, in chronological order, with each song delivered with energetic enthusiasm. With so many talented performers in one place at one time, one would expect an undercurrent of competition ("anything you can sing, I can sing better") but this was not the case at all. Under the adept direction of Scott Coulter, the cast was a unified team, almost as they each (especially in the multi-singer numbers) tried to make each other look and sound better! And succeed they did. The intermission at this show was also special. It served to give us all a brief break before we burst from the excitement of the first act. And it also was unusual because just about everyone rushed back in immediately when the lobby lights flashed so that they would not miss a single second of the second act. It would be ludicrous of me to attempt to single out any particular performance.
Once again, the arrangements and accompaniment of Ross Paterson and his "Little Big Band" were awesome. No show-off flourishes, no upstaging the performers, each note was delivered with that special bit of something that you don't notice until you take notice.
In an unexpected but totally appropriate interruption of the show before the final song, director Scott Coulter stepped on stage and made a brief but touching speech about his personal connection with Mr. Siegel and BROADWAY BY THE YEAR - starting as an audience member at the very first show of the very first year, and then appearing in several of them along the way and directing several in the past few years. He completed his speech with a song, dedicated to Mr. Siegel's inspirational leadership.
Next series coming soon to THE TOWN HALL under Scott Siegel's leadership will be THE SUMMER BROADWAY FESTIVAL, Mondays, July 12th, 19th & 26.
One more plug for memberships & the gala. Your memberships help us keep CABARET HOTLINE ONLINE running. We try to fulfill every request from performers to promote their shows, and every request from our subscribers as well. Now I'm sending my request to you all to take part as a supporting member - $5 is not a whole lot to ask for, and the basic $20 SILVER membership not only helps us, but also makes available to you discounts on shows and rebates on advertising. And the GALA party is most important to help us make it through the summer. Purchase a ticket, support as a sponsor, help us make this the grandest event possible. And, if you can't make it to the show, and can't afford as $100 sponsorship unit, we'll be selling ads for the program booklet starting Saturday - just $25 per 1/4 page to start.
Now I have to get to work on the website - replacing all the "flash" buttons at the top of the pages with "jpg" buttons to make the site iPad friendly, then run the whole affair through a test to make sure it is compliant with both mobile and desktop devices. I'm even studying html5! We're moving into the next phase of computer life and I want to be there!
See a show or two this week! Visit our websites! Run a banner or sidebar ad! Join CABARET HOTLINE ONLINE for 2010-2011. Now - more than ever - cabaret (and CABARET HOTLINE ONLINE) needs your support. Every day, in every way, we're promoting cabaret!Look for more news on the CABARET HOTLINE ONLINE website , on theCABARET HOTLINE ONLINE blog and almost-hourly updates, picks & reminders on TWITTER
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