With a whirlwind, our fast and funny co-hosts breezed into the room, talking and joking and starting an absolutely wild ride that would last over 3 hours. With that, we were thrilled to introduce Salon audiences to Stone & Stone, twin comedians (Todd & Adam) with their own show at The People’s Improv Theater on Mondays at 8pm - 123 East 24th Street (between Park Ave & Lexington). $10 cover / no drink minimum. To purchase tickets online, please visit: www.brownpapertickets.com/event/143233.
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| Co-Hosts Stone & Stone! |
The evening started with a bit of Stone & Stone’s stand-up routine, which included songs with new interpretation - did you know that “Light My Fire” was actually about Jews lighting the Menorah? Neither did I, but Stone & Stone made a convincing argument for it. :)
Barb Malley was first up for the open mic with “I Loved” from Jacques Brel is Alive and Well in Paris. Barb has a brand new show coming up in the spring called “Out of Order” - stay tuned for more details! Lawrence Florek was next with “Some Other Time” from Bernstein, Comden & Green’s On The Town. Joann Sicoli sang the classic, “The Look of Love” by Bachrach & David, made famous by Dusty Springfield.
Zach Wobensmith came to the stage with a contemplative, “Someone To Fall Back On” by Jason Robert Brown from his album, Wearing Someone Else’s Clothes. Zach has been cast in a reading of the brand new musical, Cloned, at The York Theater on February 20 at 3pm. Mark Levy brought in a hilarious “You Won’t Succeed on Broadway” from Monty Python’s Spamalot. Kathryn Allyn sang a jazzy and sultry, “Bakery Blues” sung by Jo Stafford. Kathryn is putting together a cabaret show of songs from the WWII era, and she mentioned that many of the songs (like the one we heard tonight) were out of print or hard to find. What an opportunity to hear classic music - thanks, Kathryn!
Bobbie Horowitz was next with, “Flatbush Serenade” (with her every own lyrics!) Bobbie has a show of her songs coming up, “It Shows to Go Ya,” at Stage 72 on March 3, 2013 with Corinna Sowers Adler and other wonderful singers. She also is the host a benefit on the Upper East Side for the Unity Center of NY. More details next time! Charlotte Patton sauntered up to the mic and gave us Kurt Weill’s, “I’m A Stranger Here Myself.”
David Ballard, our amazing server, sat at the piano and accompanied himself on William Finn’s “What More Can I Say” from Falsettos. Erin Cronican (me!) & Parker Scott (him!) sang the first duet of the evening - “I’d Give It All For You” from Jason Robert Brown’s Songs for A New World. Erin announced her next play, A Lie of the Mind, runs which March 1-17 with fellow Salon-ers Janice Hall & Mary Lahti. She is also directing Miss Julie, which stars Salon-er Marnie Klar. Both shows run at The Seeing Place Theater at ATA’s 4th Floor space. Speaking of Marnie Klar, our lovely Etceterette brought in the pop lullaby “If I Were Brave” by Shawn Colvin. Marnie is proud to announce her brand new show, “Accidental Happiness” April 13 & 26, May 8 & 21 at Don’t Tell Mama.
Rosemary Loar (with Frank Ponzio at the piano) was tonight’s Salon Spotlight. Rosemary has one more show coming up at the Metropolitan Room - “When Harry Met The Duke” February 22 at 7pm- with songs by Harold Arlen and Duke Ellington. We got a sense of what her relationship might be with the audience as she quipped about her talent crush on Stone & Stone. She kicked off her 3 song set with one of my favorite rendition’s of “Hit Me With A Hot Note.” She followed that with a fun and upbeat version of, “When Harry Met The Duke.” She finished her set with a dark and delicious, “I’ll Wind.” This gal’s down to earth, funny, and engaging - we were thrilled to have her with us - you must check out her show!
Classical Corner
Mark started off by saying that he’s a Gemini (“the twins”) and for a long time he had two sides of him that were polar opposites - at once uptight and loose, careful and reckless. He said that he sat himself down and had a talking to his two sides and taught them how to accept one another. And with that, he talked about two people, four hands, at the piano. He asked Matthew Martin Ward to come up and sight read a piano duet with him. They started by listing the kinds of things that are always important things to discuss when attempting a piano duet:
- How do you get out of each other’s way?
- When it comes to the middle of the piano - who plays what?
- Who’s gonna pedal?
- How can they make sure the treble is balanced with the bass so that the melody line is followed.
- Who’s got the theme?
- How will the tempo be established?
And, finally…
- Who turns the pages? :)
They then went on to describe a “Rondo.” A Rondo theme starts, and then another one comes, and then the original theme comes back, etc etc etc. The theme scheme looks a little bit like "a-b-a-c-a-d-a." To demonstrate this, they decided to “Rondo in E Major” by Franz Schubert.
Second Act
To kick off the second half, Stone & Stone performed more of their stand-up. It would really do them a disservice to try to explain what all they did - I sat there too enthralled to type while they were performing. Plus, I didn’t want to steal any of their material by posting it all here. :) But, to get a taste, you can see clips on their website.
Salon Producer Tanya Moberly sang “Two’s Company” from Stephen Schwartz’s The Magic Show. Sally Darling, with Matthew Martin Ward on keys and 2nd vocals, sang, “The Tale of the Oyster” by Cole Porter. Sally show, “Choices,” will be coming back in the spring, most likely May 5 & 10, 2013. Matthew will be at Caroline’s Comedy Club with Elizabeth Tryon on Feb 19 at 7pm with their opera comedy show, “There’s A Phantom In My Opera.”
Eric Michael Gillett was back with “So Many People” from Stephen Sondheim’s “Saturday Night” (one of my favorite songs!) He has his final two nights at 54 Below on Feb 26 & 27 at 7pm. Natasha Castillo sang “For Good,” a solo version of the amazing duet from Stephen Schwartz’s Wicked. She’s bringing back her show, “Anything But Ordinary” one last time at The Duplex March 1.
Jane Glick brought in a charming, “Buddy’s Blues.” Jane has a show, “Blizzard of Lies” - Tuesday, February 19 at 7pm at the Metropolitan Room, to benefit the victims of Hurricane Sandy through the Mayor’s Fund. Richie Eisenberg brought us that amazing and lyrically challenging original tune, “Two Again.” His show “Smile On My Face - The Songs of Richard Eisenberg” is on the voting list for MAC nominations - he requests that if you’re a MAC member and have seen and liked the show, please vote for it for Best Revue!
Sally Jo Hadley (with a sweet “Snow White” sounding soprano) came to the mic with, “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered” from Pal Joey. A newbie to The Salon, Nadav Wiesel, sang a song he wrote through the BMI Workshop - “A Love Song” (which reminded me a lot of Avenue Q- nice work, Nadav!) Bill Zeffiro invited up Ellen Bullinger to sing the Frank Loesser duet, “Baby It’s Cold Outside.”
The final act of the evening was the dynamic duo, Stone & Stone, who again cracked us up with their A+ material.
Next week Our Co-Host will be MAC & Bistro Award Winner Marieann Meringolo! Marieann has been called a cross between k.d.lang and Barbra Streisand. She recently performed You Must Believe in Spring! – The Music of Michel Legrand at Feinstein’s and has several CD’s available on iTunes. For more information: www.marieannmeringolo.com
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| Next Week's Co-Host Marieann Meringolo! |
Our optional theme is “Crazy Love” - bring in any song about losing your mind, being in love, loving thy neighbor, or bring your own theme! All is welcome at The Salon.
We’ll see you then!
-Erin Cronican
Blogette for The Salon
Need anything? Please email me.
PS: In the meantime, if someone video-recorded your performance and you’d like us to know about it, please post the link in the comments section of this blog post. Thank you!
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