The Salon Wrap-up for October 1, 2017: "A Little Bit Off"

Mark bounded back to the Salon stage on Sunday night, back from "playing hookie" from NYC, proud of having performed with Kathleen Turner, Sean Harkness, and Ritt Henn in Philadelphia. In October, they're going to have two shows at Feinstein's in San Francisco (October 20th and October 21st) and next year will be London!

Our theme for this evening was a little bit weird...I mean odd...I mean..."A Little Bit Off" with guest host, Monica Salvi. At the piano, tickling the keys as Ms. Salvi's "psychotherapianist," was the tall and dapper Michael Ferreri. Monica is here from London (via her home country of Italy) to perform at The United Solo Festival: read up all about her solo show, taking place on Saturday, October 7th, at www.madwoman.org.uk. Her inventive show, "Mad Women in My Attic!" is offered as "musical group therapy," and Monica helped each of us as a clever Co-Host by handing out little smile-printed "tranquilizers" to each of us after we sang - within each little pill was a tiny scroll that had her website on it!

Mad props for the Mad Co-Host of the Evening!

Monica began her evening dressed in a top hat and classic "dance hall" corset, singing "Dangerous Cabaret," a tribute to cabaret stars of yesteryear combined with a dramatic warning of what is to be expected of her evening, emblematic of a Kurt Weill song, belted to perfection. After a costume change, Act II was started by Monica transformed into a be-turbaned Diva with a few screws demonstrably loose. After a story about her Italian teen years seeing Andrew Lloyd Weber musicals, she realized her dreams of Divatude, complete with stalkers. In this dazzling garb she sang "With One Look" from the musical Sunset Boulevard, and then went on to note how composers know how write really beautiful songs for mad woman. Monica then flowed into an example of this, the hauntingly beautiful "By The River" by Maury Yeston (from his song cycle, December Songs), featuring Monica's silvery high soprano notes. She then took a 180 and chastised Yeston's heroine for settling on just one man by finishing off her Act II opening set with the comedic Black Widow song "To Keep My Love Alive," handing out (or throwing in turn) roses to each of her tragically chosen "loves" in the audience. With a final costume change into a modest black lace dress, Monica proved her ability to belt out good advice with "The Get Well March" and had us all singing along with zany, mad aplomb to end the evening. You can view Monica's website at www.monicasalvi.com for all future bookings and media.

Monica Salvi

"Mad Women in My Attic!" starring Monica Salvi with Michael Ferreri at the piano and directed by Clare McKenna will take place at the United Solo Theatre Festival at Theater Row (Studio) on Saturday, October 7, 2017 (4pm) 410 West 42nd Street, NYC.

Salon Spotlight!

Ira Lee Collings has been a staple of the Cabaret community for many years, and his joyous 2017 Hansen Award Winner was much deserved this past year. Last night, Ira provided us with the same joy as our Spotlight performer, with help by pianist John Cook. With his high tenor range, spritely attitude and enormous heart, Ira regaled us to his Indiana childhood, the songs that influenced him growing up, and shared a selection of his personal Top 10 songs that most influenced him. Taking advantage of the nimble jazz finger of John Cook at the piano, Ira started out with Nat King Cole's "Route 66" (sung with a few cheeky gay-friendly items added in). Ira then waved a little rainbow flag, detailing how he experienced his first gay pride parade in New York on 5th Avenue in 1970, and expressed the emotion he felt when he witnessed the brave young men and women marching then. From this memory, he powerfully and emotionally belted out "No Matter What Happens." We then got to "the mother of all weed songs" with the samba-comedy song "I'm Too Old to Die Young," complete with maracas and tons of naughty joy!

Ira Lee Collings, with John Cook at the piano, can be seen in "The Gay Geezer: Life Is A Song – So Why Not Sing It? And Weed Songs...” at Don't Tell Mama, 345 West 46th Street, NYC.

Quick Wrap - Classical Corner

Last night's theme of "A Little Bit Off" reminded Mark of one particular piece of music, Chopin's Nocturne Opus 9 No 3, which is one of those pieces that Mark has heard since he was 18 years old, but hadn't yet learned to play fully. As Mark continued to explain, this particular piece has so many odd dissonances, even for Chopin. It has an interesting melody, heading down the scale by 1/2 steps, and uses the left hand in bare octaves (which feels a little naked for Chopin); combined with the melody, it all makes for some tritones and disjointed dissonances. Then it suddenly hits an incredibly random series of top notes that seem to flutter around until it reaches a fairly consonant section. A series of cadences, in which they deceptively lead the ear into an unexpected harmony, then appears, leading into a different harmony that finally resolves. There's also an off way that Chopin creates the rhythmic dissonance, by grouping odd combinations of rhythms in the left and right hands (groups of threes against groups of five, then three against seven, then three against four). As a side note,  playing 3 against 4 can be practiced by using Mark's piano teacher's "Pass the Goddamn butter" trick. Mark even pointed out jazz open seventh chords (almost unheard of in Chopin's day) hidden within this piece. Bringing back the concept of "pedal point" from Matthew Martin Ward's corner from last week, Mark showed how the top line changes and floats above the pedal'd bass line and then how the B major key goes to a B minor towards the end, clashing triplets in the bass with a series of eighths in the right hand (with the melody above it all) until another deceptive cadence into C major suddenly jars our ears. Chopin then takes us in and out of keys for a while, keeping us on our toes and "off kilter" until we finally get back to the original (albeit eccentric) B major key melody. A lovely 11 against 4 portion (which Mark admits he has a natural ability to play) leads us into the coda, which has many deceptive cadences until we finally trill ourselves into a cascading series of chromatic two's in groups of threes into a gentle landing. WHEW! What an odd adventure! Mark encouraged us to listen to a recording online (like this one) and hear all these nuances to this piece on our own time.

Roster of performers for the evening (in order of appearance):
Click link to visit the performer’s website or other links, when available.
All piano accompaniment by Mark Janas unless otherwise noted.

Co-Host: Monica Salvi (with Michael Ferreri on piano)
Carol Sue
Rian Keating
Caitlin Fahey

Becca Kidwell
Sally Darling
Angela Leone (with John Cook at the piano) - PR Church benefit

David Ballard

Sierra Rein
Adam B. Shapiro

Salon Spotlight: Ira Lee Collings (with John Cook on piano)

Classical Corner

BREAK

Co-Host: Monica Salvi (with Michael Ferreri on piano)

Tanya Moberly
Richie Eisenberg
Jen Bradley
Becca Kidwell (encore)
Caitlin Fahey (encore)
Sally Darling (encore)
Adam B. Shapiro (encore)
Sierra Rein (encore) 

David Ballard (encore)

Co-Host: Monica Salvi (with Michael Ferreri on piano)

Thank you to this evening's videographer, Michael Stever, to Gill Alexandre on lights and sound, David Ballard and our amazing waitstaff, and the management at Etc Etc.

Ongoing Shows:

Monday nights (7pm): Opera Open Mic at Shanghai Mong with Mark Janas and Matthew Martin Ward, 30 West 32nd Street, NYC.

Weekly: Bill Zeffiro plays and sings with a rotating list of guests at La Rivista, 313 W 46th St, NYC.

Upcoming Shows:

Monday, October 2, 2017 (7:15pm): Ira Lee Collings with John Cook at the piano in "The Gay Geezer: Life Is A Song – So Why Not Sing It? And Weed Songs...” at Don't Tell Mama, 345 West 46th Street, NYC.

Wednesday, October 4, 2017: Angela Leone will sing at La Rivista Restaurant, 313 W 46th Street, NYC.

Wednesday, October 4, 2017 (9:30pm): Tanya Moberly directs the return of "A Life Behind Bars," written and performed by Dan Ruth, at The Laurie Beechman Theatre, 407 W. 42nd Street, NYC.

Friday, October 6, 2017 (7pm): Tanya Moberly and Ritt Henn at Don't Tell Mama, 345 West 46th Street, NYC.

Saturday, October 7, 2017 (4pm): "Mad Women in My Attic!" starring Monica Salvi with Michael Ferreri at the piano and directed by Clare McKenna will take place at the United Solo Theatre Festival at Theater Row (Studio) at 410 West 42nd Street, NYC.

Sunday, October 8, 2017 (1pm): Sally Darling will be a part of "Richard Skipper Celebrates" at The Laurie Beechman Theatre, 407 West 42nd Street, NYC.

Monday, October 16, 2017 (6pm): Opening night of the Cabaret Convention features Tanya Moberly, Adam B. Shapiro, Matthew Martin Ward, and others, at the Rose Theatre, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Broadway at 60th Street.

Friday, October 20, 2017 (8pm): Mark Janas, Ritt Henn and Sean Harkness will play for Kathleen Turner in "Finding My Voice" at Feinstein's San Francisco, 222 Mason Street, San Francisco.

Saturday, October 21, 2017 (8pm): Mark Janas, Ritt Henn and Sean Harkness will play for Kathleen Turner in "Finding My Voice" at Feinstein's San Francisco, 222 Mason Street, San Francisco.

Saturday October 21, 2017 (4pm): Caitlin Fahey stars in debut show "Party of One" with Rick Jensen (MD) and Lina Koutrakos (Dir) at Don't Tell Mama, 345 West 46th Street, NYC.

Friday, October 27, 2017 (7pm): Tanya Moberly and Ian Herman are appearing at Don't Tell Mama, 345 West 46th Street, NYC.

Saturday, October 28, 2017 (2pm): Tanya Moberly directs the return of "A Life Behind Bars," written and performed by Dan Ruth, at The Laurie Beechman Theatre, 407 W. 42nd Street, NYC.

Sunday, October 29, 2017 (7:15pm): Ira Lee Collings in "The Gay Geezer: Life Is A Song – So Why Not Sing it?” at Don't Tell Mama, 345 West 46th Street, NYC.

Monday, November 6, 2017 (9:30pm): Tanya Moberly directs the return of "A Life Behind Bars," written and performed by Dan Ruth, at The Laurie Beechman Theatre, 407 W. 42nd Street, NYC.

Wednesday, November 8, 2017 (7pm): Marnie Klar performs "Bedtime Stories" (directed by Tanya Moberly with Stephen Ray Watkins at the piano) at Don't Tell Mama, 345 West 46th Street, NYC.

Friday, November 10, 2017 (7pm): Marnie Klar performs "Bedtime Stories" (directed by Tanya Moberly with Stephen Ray Watkins at the piano) at Don't Tell Mama, 345 West 46th Street, NYC.

Monday, November 13, 2017: Amy Beth Williams, with Tanya Moberly directing, performs "A Thousand Beautiful Things" at Don't Tell Mama, 345 West 46th Street, NYC.

Tuesday, November 14, 2017 (6:30pm): Rian Keating (with Woody Regan, Musical Director) in "there is a time: songs of love and life" at Don't Tell Mama, 345 West 46th Street, NYC.

Friday, November 17, 2017 (7pm): Tanya Moberly and Mark Janas are appearing at Don't Tell Mama, 345 West 46th Street, NYC.

Saturday, November 18, 2017 (4:00pm): Rian Keating  (with Woody Regan, Musical Director) in "there is a time: songs of love and life" at Don't Tell Mama, 345 West 46th Street, NYC.

Tuesday, November 21, 2017 (7pm): Sally Darling will be part of "Together: 2017 Cabaret Award-Nominated Vocalists" at Don't Tell Mama, 345 West 46th Street, NYC.

Friday, November 24, 2017 (7pm): Carol Sue presents "Carol Sue Sings to the Amazing You," with Keith Ingram and Band (a show based on her book!) at Don't Tell Mama, 345 West 46th Street, NYC.

Wednesday, November 29, 2017 (7pm): Sally Darling (with Matthew Martin Ward) presents "Totally Noël" at Don't Tell Mama, 343 West 46th Street, NYC.

Friday, December 1, 2017 (7pm): Caitlin Fahey stars in debut show "Party of One" with Rick Jensen (MD) and Lina Koutrakos (Dir) at Don't Tell Mama, 345 West 46th Street, NYC.

Sunday, December 3, 2017 (4:30pm): Sally Darling (with Matthew Martin Ward) presents "Totally Noël" at Don't Tell Mama, 343 West 46th Street, NYC.

Friday, December 8, 2017 (7pm): Tanya Moberly and Steven Ray Watkins at Don't Tell Mama, 345 West 46th Street, NYC.

Saturday, December 10, 2017 (4pm): Marnie Klar performs "Bedtime Stories" (directed by Tanya Moberly with Stephen Ray Watkins at the piano) at Don't Tell Mama, 345 West 46th Street, NYC.

Friday, December 15, 2017: Sally Darling will be part of "Together: 2017 Cabaret Award-Nominated Vocalists" at Don't Tell Mama, 345 West 46th Street, NYC.

Monday, December 18, 2017: Amy Beth Williams, with Tanya Moberly directing, performs "A Thousand Beautiful Things" at Don't Tell Mama, 345 West 46th Street, NYC.

Wednesday, December 27, 2017: Sally Darling and Matthew Martin Ward bring back her show "Love, Lust, and Longing" at Don't Tell Mama, 345 West 46th Street, NYC.

Friday, December 29, 2017 (7pm): Tanya Moberly and Sean Harkness are appearing at Don't Tell Mama, 345 West 46th Street, NYC.

NEXT SALON!
Next Salon will be October 8th, 2017, when our Co-Host Ruth Carlin will ask us all the theme "What's in a Name"? Do you have an answer??? Plus, Amy Engelhardt will be our Salon Spotlight!

--Sierra Rein
"Blogette" for The Salon
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