|
|
|
Tweet this article !
As you see the kids trotting back to school this month, can you remember those dear, dreaded days of buying new notebooks and pencils so you’d be ready for that inevitable first assignment? It was, of course, a report on “How I Spent My Summer Vacation.”
Also, this summer, I took time off from cabaret to see some theatre. In addition to The Fringe Festival which I reported on and, like a good cabaret show has an encore – see the Fringe Encore Series reports on our site—I attended a night of what’s called The Cringe Festival. It’s meant to be plays that are so bad-on-purpose or dopey or daring or daffy that they can make you cringe. Well, I did cringe several times, I laughed a bit, I shook my head a lot, I shook my fist a little in frustration as a parade of stretched-thin comedy sketch ideas were presented as short plays and 
some seemed long and short of real ideas. But every once in a while, there was a good laugh and a good line at Cringefest, held at The Producers’ Club and presented by NY Artists Unlimited with unlimited boundaries on the chosen theme of sex for laughs. It was a rather mindless moment in my summer vacation from cabaret, but at the end of the night who should be one of those lauded and awarded The Golden Pineapple, but the woman who produces an awards show herself, featuring the year’s outstanding cabaret acts, whom I meet with regularly as one of her committee members choosing those Bistro Awards’ recipients: Sherry Eaker. And, of course, we ended up talking about cabaret afterwards, my so-called summer vacation and her real vacation to Europe.
So, I decided I needed a real vacation – far from any cabaret people and cabaret music. I packed my bags, including a
total of zero cabaret CDs and not even a copy of Cabaret Scenes Magazine, and went to a deserted mountain on a deserted island in the middle of a deserted ocean inlet, an inlet where no cabaret could be let in. Ahhhhhh! Resting ever so peacefully on the quiet mountaintop, I looked up one day and saw a small airplane and some skywriting, reading: “Only 43 more days until my cabaret show at Metropolitan Room.” Well, now that it’s almost those 43 days later, I can’t blame Liz Lark Brown for wanting to promote her show, which is there September 17, 18, 19, 22 and 23. She should be proud. She’s terrific. She was the winner of their singing contest MetroStar Talent Challenge last year: that contest we’ve been reporting on via Kathleen France. I’d been impressed with her in those rounds in the summer of 2009, and whenever I see her as a piano bar entertainer at Don’t Tell Mama, so I’m glad she is now doing that all-expenses-paid show that was her prize. But who would have thought the budget would include skywriting above a mountain near Timbuktu? But, please, I needed my vacation. So, I edged my way down the mountain to lie on the beach on the island. Ahhhhhhhh!! But what should catch my eye? A floating bottle that the tide was bringing to the shore. Sure enough, there was a piece of paper inside. A message in a bottle! I couldn’t resist! I pulled it out, unfolding it carefully, went all the way back to the top of the mountain to get my reading glasses, came all the way back down, and read what this message that had so randomly floated my way said:
There were the words, neatly printed:
“To whomever finds this bottle—Attention, please. Gentle Reminder: Please come to my upcoming cabaret events. After helping to produce this summer’s MetroStar events, I will be returning to my usual cabaret work. Come to my Cabaret Cares Divapalooza variety show with some great guys singing songs originally made famous by female divas on September 27. It’s at The Laurie Beechman Theatre on West 42 Street in the West Bank Café.” It was signed by 
Joseph Macchia. Well, I couldn’t begrudge him this creative publicity intrusion. After all, the event is another fundraiser for his charity, Help Is On The Way Today, which helps young people with HIV/AIDS. And it coincides with his birthday. And it includes my talented NiteLifeExchange colleague, ubiquitous performer Daryl Glenn. I didn’t need the gentle reminder, but maybe you do. As I placed the message back in the bottle for someone else to find washing ashore (publicity is important, but a low-cost banner ad on NitLifeExchange might be more efficient), I noticed there was writing on the other side. It said: “Also: Don’t forget to come to the Q-Talk variety and talk show I co-host at Metropolitan Room on September 18. Music, outrageous Gay fun, opinions galore and more, more, more. Special guests are Emmy Award winner and jazz singer Gregory Generet, who does his own shows regularly at the club, and Billboard recording artist Jason Walker. Bill Rancitelli stops by to talk about fall fashions and trends. And it’s right after one of Liz Lark Brown’s shows (see skywriting above) and right before the late night piano bar open mic.” Well, really now. Is there no escape? I decided I may as well come back to Manhattan and wish Joseph a happy birthday and maybe wish a happy birthday September 15 also to Bill Zeffiro who plays piano and sings at his own open mic at La Mediterranee restaurant on Second Avenue near 50th Street. But just as I was making them birthday cakes from seawood and mountain goat cheese, I saw a giant monster in a sequined dress with a microphone, singing a cabaret version of the big band hit “I Had the Craziest Dream.” And, in fact, it had been all just a dream, because I woke up and found myself not on a desert island by a mountain, but still on Manhattan island with a can of Mountain Dew, staring at an e-mail from singer Susan Winter, with the subject line “How Ms. Winter Spent Her Summer Vacation.” Turns out she, too, has been preparing for a show at Metropolitan Room in October. There’s no rest for the weary. Happy autumn, Ms. Winter and all, and happy new cabaret season. It’s yours for a song -- and a cover charge and a couple of drinks. So, have fun whether you’re going to see the fun songs of the irrepressible Ray Jessel the jester, who puts the "Ray” in “cabaret” – he’s at Don’t Tell Mama on September 16 and 29 – or you can go to Barnes & Noble at 66th Street and Broadway on September 21 and enter laughing for the Enter Laughing cast album release event – laughing is a good release, according to the press release, and it’s just one of their many free events. Hope you enjoyed your summer vacation, if you had one, and see you at the cabarets for catch-up. Cheers!
CATCH-UP ON CABARET is made possible via the generosity of Jamie deRoy and friends
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
