For the Memorial Day Weekend Salon, people gratefully came out of the heat and enjoyed the theme of "Boats, Beaches & Boardwalks – All Things Nautical". Matthew Ward was co-host and at the piano for the evening, taking over for Mark Janas, who is away in Maine for a show. The gracious host of the evening was Jay Rogers, who started the evening off with the song "Come By Sunday," extremely appropriate for a Sunday musical event! Then Jay introduced Steve "The Whistler" Herbst, who whistled "Misty." He informed us that his whistling prowess replaced a Theramin track on a Verizon DSL commercial - you can view it on his website. After Steve came Sunny Leigh, who sang the theme from Titanic, "My Heart Will Go On." Maria Ottavia then sang the Irving Berlin song "Always" - Maria is performing her new Karen Carpenter show "If I Were a Carpenter" at Don't Tell Mama next month, with Tracy Stark as musical director and Lennie Watts as director!
Next on the stage came Peter Oliff, who sang "Sail Away," probably in anticipation of performing in Dames at Sea this summer at a New Jersey theater. After Peter, Richard Eisenberg sang his original piece entitled "Good Old American Hamberger," dressed appropriately for the Summer barbecue season in an apron, glove and spatula. Then Louisa Poster sang "Row, Row, Row" - and her show "Flash, Bam, Alakazam" a tribute to Betty Hutton will take place July 13th and Don't Tell Mama, with Mike McFrederick on piano, and Joan Jaffe directing. Then Susan Hodgdon sang "There Are Worse Things I Could Do" from Grease, Caroline Ferenczi (whose show "I Enjoy Being a Girl...Singer" will perform this Friday June 4th at 4:30 and 7pm, Don't Tell Mama) sang "Watch What Happens." Jack DiMonte sang "Small Day Tomorrow" in a lovely, languid tone.
To finish the first half, Sierra Rein sang "Mr. Snow," the ultimate Broadway love song to a fisherman, from Carousel. Etceterette Joanne Sheeron sang "Sea and Sand" by The Who, accompanying herself on guitar. Then Etceterette Marnie Klar sang (as I hoped someone might do) "Part of Your World" from The Little Mermaid.
The hilariously funny, talented Special Guest of the evening was Forbidden Broadway's darling, Christine Pedi! In addition to her comedy and female diva impersonations, Christine is a beautiful singer and interpreter of songs, and she showed off all of the above that night. First, she sang a comedy song "All the Good Men are Gay," then going into parody lyrics by Douglas Braverman to the tune of "The Trolley Song," only this time it was a primer on how to imitate Judy Garland. Christine then got a couple rounds of "Row Row Row Your Boat" out of the audience, asking us to do our best Carol Channing and Ethel Merman impersonations with her. The sound was...uh...unique! Then, switching into her "legitimate" and beautiful voice, Christine sang a rousing rendition of "Any Place I Hang My Hat is Home." Christine can be heard on Sirius Radio on the On Broadway Channel Monday - Friday 9am to 3pm, and then on Saturday co-hosting with Seth Rudesky.
Matthew Ward then brought Mark Janas' Classical Corner to light in his own way by first giving a music theory 101 lesson in Impressionist music and Debussy (who hated the term Impressionist to begin with). After demonstrating the whole and half step differences in modes, Ward went on to play Debussy's "L'Isle Joyeuse," meaning "Happy Island."
Tanya Moberly then came up to sing "The Sailor of My Dreams" a la Betty Boop, Shirley Temple, and a bit of Marilyn Monroe to boot. We then were able to see some repeat singers up on stage; Steve Herbst whistled and sang "Summertime" (appropriate as Memorial Day is the start of Summer), Jack DiMonte sang "Spring Will Be A Little Late This Year," and Richard Eisenberg rougue-ishly sang some of his dirty parody lyrics to "Carolina in the Morning." Then Peter Olaff brought "Since I Gave My Heart Away," a lovely song from Stephen Schwartz's TV musical Gepetto, Joanne Sheeron (again with her guitar) sang "Baby Blue," Marnie Klar brought emotional angst with "The Portrait," Sierra Rein (me!) sang "Whatever Happened to My Part?" from Spamalot (admittedly inspired by Christine Pedi's performances that night!), and Susan Hodgdon sang "The Rose" by Amanda McBroom. To complete the second half, Jay Rogers sang "Most of the Time" by John McMahon.
Next week our wonderful guest co-host and pianist will be Mr. Bill Zeffiro for the theme of "Vicissitudes"! Our co-host will be Vicki Van Tassel, and our Special Guest will be Steve Ross. My backup Blogette will be Erin Cronican.
Have a good one!
-Sierra Rein
The Blogette for The Salon
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