MORE "HERE & THERE" PART II
Frank Ford's third and final report on the 2010 ADELAIDE CABARET FESTIVAL was received yesterday, and we immediately posted it on the website - http://www.cabarethotlineonline.com/ and the blog - http://cabarethotlineonline.blogspot.com/ . Check it out. Frank was one of the founders of the Adelaide event, and his passion for the art and the artists of cabaret is quite evident throughout. The dates for next year's event were also announced. Plan ahead to attend the best and biggest cabaret festival in the world, June 10th through 25th, 2011. Full details of the program
I saw just 1 show in the past 7 days, and this time around I can't quite give a rave.
I was at DON'T TELL MAMA on Tuesday, June 29th at 7:00 pm for Susan Winter's "Million Dollar Matinee" show. Susan has a terrific voice and can be a marvelous entertainer. But I had some problems with this show - and it was all about the show, not about Susan. And its a problem I had with each of Ms. Winter's shows since she returned to performing after taking a break to raise a family.
It was a show featuring songs from the movies (where have we heard this theme before) and unlike Wesla Whitfield's show on the same theme at the METROPOLITAN ROOM a few weeks ago, this show lacked originality and sparkle. It seemed almost over-rehearsed - a presentation not a performance. All the right gestures were there, all the right lyrics were there, all the right patter was there, all the familiar songs were there, but it simply didn't come together as a moving, exciting, interesting cabaret experience.
Even Rick Jensen, who usually can be counted on to provide exciting arrangements, seemed to resort to the tried and true this time around. The few times where an arrangement seemed to strike a new direction (a George M. Cohan medley that was slowed down to ballad speed, for example) lacked any discernable purpose except to be different for the sake of being different. A Burton Lane/Frank Loesser medley ("I Hear Music") turned out to be a choppy, disconcerting series of lyric lines and portions of lines containing the word "music" from their wide-ranging songbook. "That Old Black Magic" lacked any mystery, and "Makin' Whoopee" came straight from an old piano bar routine. Ms. Winter has terrific vocals and a most charming personality. Both were wasted on a show that was bland and forgettable.
Another reminder: The 4th of July U.S. INDEPENDANCE DAY celebration will soon be here, and this year, since the 4th is on Sunday, the holiday will be observed on Monday the 5th. And the normal Monday CABARET HOTLINE ONLINE will be published on Tuesday, July 6th, which also happens to be my 71st birthday. I simply might not feel like working very that hard that day, so expect a short issue. Stay tuned.
Thank you to the 3 new sponsors for the 20th Anniversary Gala on Tuesday, July 13th at THE LAURIE BEECHMAN THEATER. From here on in, the GALA will be in the black - all our expenses are covered for the event.
And that doesn't include ads in our program booklet for folks who can't make the show but wish to send their congratulations (or folks who want to promote a CD or upcoming cabaret event). Cost is just $25 for a quarter page (and price per quarter is reduced the more you order). Both the inside front and back covers are already sold - full pages for the rest of the book are just $75, half pages are $45. Space is limited. Deadline is July 6th. For specs and to order, just click here:
All proceeds from the gala go to support CABARET HOTLINE ONLINE during the lean summer months when ad income drops to nearly zero (we currently have only one paid banner running instead of the normal 15, so we're really hurting this year).
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