The Salon was buzzing with alliteration as we prepared for Sunday’s theme: “Divas, Dorks, and Duets.” For more alliteration, our Co-Hosts were Joshua Desjardins & Joshua Warr whose same name was hilariously highlighted by Mark calling up “Our Host, Josh!” This led to a bit of a scuffle, ending in a revised version of Wicked’s “What Is This Feeling?”
‘The Joshuas’ have been called ‘wickedly funny’ with ‘two of the most beautiful voices in cabaret’. Their critically acclaimed show “Joshing Around”, directed by Miles Phillips, will return to The Duplex later this year. More information about the show can be found at www.JoshingAroundNYC.com In the meantime, you can catch Joshua Warr in PRIDE RIVER CROSSING, an LGBT take on Edgar Lee Masters’ Spoon River Anthology, at the All Out Arts / Fresh Fruit Festival, July 17 – 24, 2012 at The Wild Project, 195 East 3rd St, NYC. For more information: www.freshfruitfestival.com.
To kick off the open mic portion of the evening, longtime Saloner, Adam Shapiro and your blogette, Erin Cronican, sang what Adam called the quintessential Diva & Dork Duet, “Suddenly Seymour” from Little Shop of Horrors by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman. As a shameless plug: I will be away from The Salon, but only 10 blocks north, as I stars in not one but TWO short plays with The Seeing Place Theater - The Lover (Pinter) and Danny and the Deep Blue Sea (Shanley) playing July 27 - August 12! Both plays run on the same evening with a shirt break between! Tickets to the whole evening are only $20 (or see one show for $12.) Since it’s a play, there is no food/drink minimum - which means ALL proceeds go to the theater (which Erin co-runs!) It would be amazing to see you there. Tickets here.
Bobbie Horowitz was next, singing the adorable (and appropriately titled), “Dork Song,” an original tune about the perils of dating someone who is commitment-phobic. Charlie Lindburgh came to the stage for what Mark Janas called a “dorky duet.” Mark and Charlie sat at the piano and after some fighting over who got the “better” seat played a four-handed version of Bernstein’s “Glitter and Be Gay” from Carmen. Susan Hodgson song a tender and lamenting, “Losing My Mind” from Sondheim’s Follies. She has a show coming up September 8 at 3pm at Don’t Tell Mama - music direction by Barry Levitt and direction by Peter Napolitano. Tickets are only $5!
Sunny Leigh was next, with “Mon Coeur S’ouvre a Ta Voix,” an aria from the French opera Samson and Delilah in the scene where she cuts off his fabled locks! Elisa Pupko sang the wistful, contemporary musical theater tune, “Or Do I Go” by Stuart McMeans. Coming up July 29- August 7, Elisa can be seen in a free reading series produced by The Seeing Place Theater over at ATA’s Sargent Theater on 54th St (between 8th and 9th.)
Kathy Ann Skylar came to the piano and sang the original ballad, “They Make It Look Easy.” Kathy will be appearing at the Indian Road Cafe on July 19 - be sure to check it out! Salon newbie AC Haley brought up her bass guitar and serenaded us with the flower duet, “Lakme.”David Ballard, our trusty server, brought us “I Believe” from The Book of Mormon.
For the blogette’s slot, Erin Cronican invited up Richie Eisenberg and they sang his original country duet, Sorry. Be sure to keep your ears open for Richie cabaret, Smile On My Face, which is coming back this fall with singers, Erin Cronican, Rob Langeder, Stacie Perlman and Adam Shapiro, with Barry Levitt musical direction and overall direction by Peter Napolitano. Fulfilling the diva theme of the evening (and fantastically!) your Etceterette for the evening, Shana Farr, brought us “Vilia” from the operetta, The Merry Widow. Not only can Shana sing, did you know that she designs incredibly beautiful jewelry? Check out her work here.
This week’s Salon Spotlight was a real treat. Reverend Yolanda (aka Roger Mapes) was in the house in full regalia, singing a couple of tunes from her upcoming show at The Duplex, “Rev. Yolanda’s Old Time Gospel Hour”, opening August 5. On August 5th special guest on her show will be Salon board member, Raissa Katona Bennett. You should check it out - Yolanda is such colorful fun!
For this week’s Classical Corner, Mark Janas started with the definition of “duet” -two different voices working together in a song. Mark talked about obvious duets - different instruments that might be matched to a piano, like the violin or viola. But duets can also be on the same instrument. Bach and Handel both tended to write duets for a single piano players. Some times duets can be in canon, some are immediately following one another, or they can even be two motifs playing at the same time.
Mark talked about the genesis of the “round” and why it was called that. During the renaissance, musicians would sit “in the round” and pass the music around the circle slowly. As the music reached each musician they would begin to play and a cacophony of music would commence, and thus the name “round” stuck.
Mark invited up Matthew Martin Ward to play Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony 3rd Movement Scherzo, reading out of a special sheet music book where one person’s music is on the left page and the other person’s much was on the right. It was wonderful!
Second Act
Joshua Warr started the 3-song Co-Host set with a medley of “River Deep Mountain High,” “Come Rain or Come Shine” and “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough.” This epic arrangement was created by none other than our very own Mark Janas! Joshua Desjardins jumped to the stage and started the rousing duet, “Anything You Can Do,” from Annie Get Your Gun, punctuating the song with their own fun lyrics. They closed their energetic and charming set with Gypsy’s “Together Wherever We Go.” As a reminder, they have a show at the Duplex every month starting in September. Find more information here.
Next to the stage was Salon producer Tanya Moberly, who invited up yours truly (again??) to sing “I Don’t Know His Name” from the musical, She Loves Me. Tanya is excited to announce that she has a new show hitting Don’t Tell Mama in September: “Tanya Lorraine Moberly sings Barbra Jones Streisand” - a complete performance of Barbra’s album of the same name. I can’t wait to see it!
Miles Phillips sang a warm and inviting medley of "Over The Rainbow" and "I'm Always Chasing Rainbows" and then Mark Janas asked Miles to join him on "I Can See It" from The Fantasticks, a show that brought them together back in '93 when Mark was MD and Miles was playing Matt. Speaking of shows, Miles and Joshua Warr are in a show the aforementioned Pride River Crossing - though, I’m not sure this town can handle the power of these talented men in the same cast!
Matthew Martin Ward came to the piano sang his hilarious tune, “Don’t Leave Me Oprah!” Tym Moss talked about his favorite diva, and then reminisced about the first time a gorgeous man showed him special attention, with the Streisand torch song, “He Touched Me.” I was excited to hear that he has a radio show called “Artists Exposed” - check it out here. Kevin McMullan sang the witty “Why Can’t A Man Sing The Blues” - I don’t think you have much of a case here, Kevin -- because I think you just did!!!
Singer-Songwriter Freddy Freeman brought up his guitar and gifted us with his original tune “Echo.” Someone suggested that he sounded like the recording artist, Marc Cohn - I think Freddy might even be better! Feddy tells us that he’s performing at the Out in the Woods Festival on August 11. This is Freddie’s first time at The Salon, and he was absolutely wonderful. We sure hope that you’ll come back again, Freddie.
Salon board member, Bill Zeffiro, brought in his contemplative, “I’ve Still Got New York." Bill’s family was in the house to support him, including his mom and two sisters - what a friendly group! In a rare turn, he then stepped away form the piano and let Mark fill in, while Bill took to the stage with his mother’s favorite song, the Noel Coward song, “Mina.”
To close the evening, Joshua Desjardins sang the heart-wrenching and tender ballad, “What You’d Call A Dream” from the musical Diamonds. How lucky were we to see this amazing duo of Josh’s at The Salon- we were so thrilled to have them with us.
Next week, The Salon’s optional theme is “Rebel With A Cause” - sing any song about a cause that inspires you to give of your time, energy or money! Or, rebel and sing about anything you want! Our Guest Pianist/Host will be Tracy Stark. Our Co-Hosts will be Miranda Music! CEO Kitty Skrobela will be joining us with Miranda Music Recording Artists: MAC, Bistro & Nightlife Award Winner Karen Oberlin, Multiple MAC, Bistro & Cabaret Hotline Award Winner Marcus Simeone (www.marcussimeone.com), MAC & Emmy Award Nominee Kathleen France, Metro Star Winner Marissa Mulder & MAC Award Nominee Tanya Holt.
SAVE THE DATE:
The Salon turns 7 YEARS OLD in August, so we’re having a birthday party. Please set aside Sunday, August 19, at 7pm to celebrate.
-Erin Cronican
Blogette for The Salon
URL’s I missed? Names misspelled? Please email me.
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