January 26, 2014
Theme: “Make ‘Em Laugh: Parody, Satire and Humor”
Mark Janas kicked off the evening talking about the humble beginnings of Sondheim’s A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum. For some reason, when it first was previewed by audiences, the audience did not laugh at all (even though the show was funny.) Sondheim thought on it and decided to place “Comedy Tonight” at the beginning of the show. Once the audience was reminded that it was a comedy, they laughed and continued to do so throughout the show. Mark shared that lesson with us and, thus, gave us permission to laugh heartily throughout tonight’s show!
Our Co-Host was Bistro Award Winner Nathan Chang! Nathan will be bringing STEPPIN’ OFF THE SIDEWALK back to Don’t Tell Mama – 343 West 46th St, NYC 10036 – February 7th at 7:30pm. For more information: www.donttellmama.com
Our Salon Spotlight featured Multiple MAC & Bistro Award Winner Laurie Krauz! Laurie will be bringing TAPESTRY REWOVEN back to The Metropolitan Room – 34 West 22nd St, NYC 10010 – with The Daryl Kojak Octet January 31st at 7pm. For more information: www.metropolitanroom.com
Sneak Peek: Classical Corner
Mark announced that tomorrow, January 27, is the 258th Anniversary of Mozart’s birth. In keeping with the theme, Mark revealed that Mozart was actually quite a cut-up. On the one hand, he was pristine about his songwriting - his handwritten scores were impeccably written (as opposed to others like Beethoven who had scribbles and scratches all over the page.) On the other hand, he wrote incredibly base and inflammatory lyrics to a few of his songs. Mark got his hands on one and read the lyrics to us - really hilarious!
For the first part of the Classical Corner performance, he invited up Zach Wobensmith, Adam Shapiro, and Matthew Martin Ward to perform a round. First, they sang in unison so we could get a sense of the song. And then Mark led them in an impressive round where the pieces of the verses matched up beautifully no matter who was singing what - such wonderful harmonies! And most impressive, this perfect round of singing was done with only one run-through rehearsal right before The Salon!
For the second part of Classical Corner - Mark invited tonight’s Co-Host Nathan Chang to the stage to play a piano/clarinet duet of the exposition from the 1st movement of Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto!
To close the segment out, Mark recounted one of the best piano lessons he had ever had. His teacher asked him, “What do you do when you learn a new piece?” Mark told her that after learning the piece and committing it to memory, he sits at the piano and decided how he wants to interpret the song. She responded, “What I do is learn the notes, get my technique connected to the song, get ‘off the page’ and then sit and wait ... and then play the piece very simply to see what the piece wants to do with me.” Mark said that perhaps we as singers might like to try that at some point in our song development and see what happens. I like that idea. :)
Roster of singers for the evening (in order of appearance):
(click link to visit the singer’s website, when available.)
Jamie Salzano
Robin Kradles
Sheryl Altman
Jane Glick
Sally Darling
Matthew Martin Ward
David Ballard
Candice Oden
Charles Baran
Lawrence Florek
Richard Eisenberg
Special thanks to tonight’s pianists and musicians: Mark Janas, Daryl Kojak, and Matthew Martin Ward.
Upcoming shows:
Wednesday, January 29, 2014 (9:30pm) - Tanya Moberly in “I Love NY Songwriters” at Don’t Tell Mama, 343 W 46th St, NYC.
Wednesday, January 29, 2014 - Sue Horowitz in “Tomatoes Got Talent” at The Triad, 158 W 72nd Street.
Wednesday, January 29, 2014 (7:30pm) - Elaine St George in “Elaine St George sings Steve Goodman” at Don’t Tell Mama, 343 W 46th St, NYC.
Friday, January 31, 2014 (7pm) - Laurie Krauz in “Tapestry Rewoven” at The Metropolitan Room, 34 West 22nd St, NYC 10010.
Friday, January 31, 2014 - Matthew Martin Ward will be performing with Broadway Concerts Direct in Teaneck NJ.
Monday, February 3, 2014 (7pm) - Jane Glick in Eric Michael Gillett’s benefit for The Singer’s Forum called “Showstoppers” at the Laurie Beechman, 407 W 42nd St, NYC.
Monday, February 3 (7:30pm) - Gabi Epstein in “Gabi Epstein’s Crack-aret” at Don’t Tell Mama, 343 W 46th St, NYC
Wednesday, February 5, 2014 (7pm) - Jamie Salzano in “Stardust...and Other Sparkly Things” at Don’t Tell Mama, 343 W 46th St, NYC.
Friday, February 7, 2014 (7:30pm) - Nathan Chang in “Steppin’ Off The Sidewalk” at Don’t Tell Mama, 343 W 46th St, NYC
Monday, February 10, 2014 (7pm) - Jane Glick in Eric Michael Gillett’s benefit for The Singer’s Forum called “Showstoppers” at the Laurie Beechman, 407 W 42nd St, NYC.
Thursday, February 13, 2014 - Bobbie Horowitz hosts “Great Songwriters Up Close” at the Metropolitan Room, 34 W 22nd St, NYC
Friday, February 14, 2014 (9:30pm) - Charles Baran in “Saint Valentine’s Day Massacred!” at The Cafe on Broadway, 318 W 53rd St, NYC.
Saturday, February 15, 2014 (5:30pm) - Jamie Salzano in “Stardust...and Other Sparkly Things” at Don’t Tell Mama, 343 W 46th St, NYC.
Tuesday, February 18, 2014 (9:30pm) - Carly Ozard can be seen in Jason Brock’s show at 54 Below, 254 W 54th St, Cellar, NYC.
Thursday, February 20, 2014 (7:30pm) - Barb Malley in “Out Of Order” at Don’t Tell Mama, 343 W 46th St, NYC.
Friday, February 21 - Sunday, March 9, 2014 (Wed-Sat 7pm, Sat-Sun 2pm) - Erin Cronican in “Dying City” - the 1st NY revival of Pulitzer Prize Finalist for Drama, with The Seeing Place Theater - 314 W 54th St, 4th Floor.
Tuesday, February 25, 2014 (7pm) - Tanya Moberly in “I Love NY Songwriters” at Don’t Tell Mama, 343 W 46th St, NYC.
Friday, February 28, 2014 (7pm) - David Ballard in “Having It All” at Don’t Tell Mama, 343 W 46th St, NYC.
Tuesday, March 4, 2014 (7:30pm) - Elaine St George in “Elaine St George sings Steve Goodman” at Don’t Tell Mama, 343 W 46th St, NYC.
Friday, March 7, 2014 (9:30pm) - David Ballard in “Having It All” at Don’t Tell Mama, 343 W 46th St, NYC.
Thursday, March 15, 2014 - Bobbie Horowitz hosts Unity Cabaret
Wednesday, March 26, 2014 (7:30pm) - Elaine St George in “Elaine St George sings Steve Goodman” at Don’t Tell Mama, 343 W 46th St, NYC.
Wednesday, April 30, 2014 (7:30pm) - Elaine St George in “Elaine St George sings Steve Goodman” at Don’t Tell Mama, 343 W 46th St, NYC.
Sundays, May/June 2014 (4:30pm) - Carly Ozard in “Midler On The Roof” in NYC.
Next Week’s Salon
NO SALON next week. We will be back February 9. We’ll see you then!
Erin Cronican
Blogette for The Salon
(Updates? Changes? Email me.)
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A few things you may find different from The Salon Blog in 2014. Here is an update regarding a few structural changes which will take place on the blog starting in 2014.
From now on, the blog will take a more streamlined approach to encapsulate what each Salon night entailed. It will now simply state what the Theme was, who Co-Hosted, who was the Salon Spotlight, what Classical Corner was about and then will list the performing members that were in attendance that night. Below that will be a list of the upcoming shows of ONLY the people who attended that evening. The Blogette of each evening will still be at the door to collect monies but will take minimal notes - so make sure he or she has all song and show information written on the signup cards when you fill it out. Thank you!
