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Have you heard about the big hit The Provincetown Cabaret Fest 2010 was yet? If not, you will. Ok, so maybe you missed it this year, but here's why you might want to think about booking a room early for next year.
Let me “name drop” (as Jim Caruso loves to say) to keep your interest: Jim was there, as was Billy Stritch, Dane Vannatter, Krisanthi Pappas, Carol O'Shaughnessy, Bobby Wetherbee, and many more.
For the third year in a row, The Provincetown Business Guild (PBG), which produces this event, has attracted “top notch” entertainers from New York, Boston, Chicago and other points on the compass. This year's event was a well-seasoned mix of “well-known's,” mixed in with some very talented “locals” (who work the nightclub scene but have yet to be noticed the way they eventually will be).
The three-day event lasted from Opening Night on Friday, through Sunday Brunch. Some people bought the “package” deal and caught ALL the shows. 
Others wandered in, felt the magic and then ran out to get tickets for the next event. And these shows were events!
The new Crown and Anchor Cabaret Room was at the epicenter of all the activity, with its great new staff, lighting and sound booth and local team from the PBG making sure everyone got in, got seated and had a good time. There will be more about some smaller rooms around town that took up the slack when “Prime Time” ended each night, in the second part of this article.
The new Cabaret Room at the Crown and Anchor
There's so much to tell, and so much talent to delight you with, this story will come in two parts (or it will be as long as the bible). First: up: “Opening Night,” pertaining to the event hosted (for the second year in a row) by the incredibly talented duo of singer, piano player and musical arranger/director to the stars, Billy Stritch, along with the indefinable singer, comedian and wild man, Jim Caruso, New York's Monday night “phenomenon” of Cast Party at Birdland.
The next edition of NitelifeExchange will have individual reviews and insights into the shows and talents of Dane Vannatter & Krisanthi Pappas, Carol O'Shaughnessy and the separate show that Stritch and Caruso performed this past Saturday night.
OPENING NIGHT
There's no denying that Billy Stritch and Jim Caruso are two of the most dynamic personalities and talents in the business. And together? They're magic! They play off each other like a bow on a fiddle. Whether musically or comically, they read and anticipate each other as well as, oh, probably Steve and Eydie! No doubt this comes from a thirty-year friendship, dating back to their club days in Texas (Billy is from Houston and Jim is from Dallas, but they played every club in between). "We know each other so well” says Jim, “that we just need to look at each other and know what's coming next."
As hosts of the sold out Opening Night Show, they took the stage like Grant took Richmond! The glittering silver backdrop of the new Crown and Anchor Cabaret Room (it IS P'town after all), shone even brighter as Stritch sat down at the grand piano and was joined by Caruso in a rousing duet of “When I Get My Name in Lights,” replete with harmonics and lots of fun!
Caruso immediately had the audience eating out of his hand when he said, "What a great day for the beach." Heavy rain plagued the weekend, which is usually mild up here. He went on, "We flew in on one of those little planes, you know, in the rain, and then had to veer to the left as we landed to avoid the wild turkey's on the runway.” This of course led to even more references of turkeys in the room.
Before the show, when asked why the two of them, who have plenty of work (as we all know) wanted to do a show on this sand bar (it's their SECOND year hosting this event), Billy answered, "We were asked," coyly flashing his sweet, innocent, tongue in cheek smile. Caruso, who spends his Mondays introducing performers at Birdland added, "I just love talent! It's a blast to hear friends and some of the locals get up and show us their stuff." Although, he added, "Last year they had us here in May and it was much warmer." (hint, hint)
Jim, once onstage, told the audience, "In New York (at Birdland's open mic) we say 'Here are some of the greatest singers in the world, plus other people.' I mean, you never know.” He then added, “But here in P'town, I have a list," which he waved in confidence, implying that the acts here were all going to be good.
There was much more hilarity between the duo, and Caruso can make you just laugh with a simple twitch of his face, but the business of introducing the “Opening Night” performers, instead of going on with their own show, was now at hand.
Patricia Fitzpatrick and Billy Stritch
Patricia Fitzpatrick was the first to take the stage, fresh from her appearance last Wednesday night at the Iguana in New York, with Richard Skipper. The feisty, redheaded grandmother of five, who used to be the Tourism Director for P'town, has just recorded her first CD (and had almost the entire town at her CD signing and afternoon show the next day). Before singing a sexy, lusty version of, “I Thought About You” from the new disc, she whispered to the audience that she really got herself into the show so she could tell her great, great, grandchildren that, “Billy Stritch played for me.” Bubba McNeeley surprised Billy and Jim (and all of us). Old friends with them from those Texas club date days, Bubba was there to host another show, but they asked him to sing a song. Jim said, “It feels like 1980,” as Bubba, with his distinctive, raspy country boy sound burst into a rousing rendition of, “Let's Stay Together. What a voice! Then came Barbara Nye, a retired Snowbird from Boca Raton, who sings once a week at the Boca Bar and Grill during the winter. She hit the stage and worked it like Sophie Tucker, singing "Cabaret," a song for which Mr. Stritch probably did not need a lead sheet. She was fun.
Paul Motundo, an ex-New Yorker now working the Chicago circuit, knocked it out of the park with his "Buble'esque" version of "Taking a Chance on Love." The Brooklyn native's lovely voice and easy demeanor left no doubt why he recently filled the Metropolitan Room in New York (watch for him again). He's headed back to Chicago for a May 8th CD release party and show at the Skokie Theatre. All this CD talk led Caruso to quip, "I have a CD too. It just went putrid." Stritch too, wanted to remind people of his last CD: Billy Stritch Sings Mel Torme. Caruso asked him what it was about, to which Stritch replied, with a straight face, "Bobby Darin!"
Paul Motundo & Jim Caruso
Zoey Lewis brought some wonderful musical comedy relief with her piano playing and harmonica zapping, while she sang a wonderully funny original tune called "The Breakfast Food Blues." A snappy tune about unrequited love coupled with breakfast food, it had lines like, "You're like hard eggs in the mornin' and I keep bacon you to go" and "You cause so so sausage misery, that it's a raisin to leave, because I donut love you anymore." Lewis has played many New York clubs, but spends her summers entertaining in P'town. (Check with the P'Town Business Guild, PBG, for her schedule, as well as others in town this summer).
Zoey Lewis
Dane Vannatter
Dane Vannatter, a scheduled FEST act, dropped by to give eveyone a "peek" of what was to come in his own show with Krisanthi Pappas. The very handsome Bostonian with the great smile, mesmerized the audience with a torchy, bluesy ballad called, "This House is Haunted." He took it from down and dirty to some highs (and high notes, he has an awesome range). Vannatter not only sings beautifully, but is definitely one of those performers who just gives it all he's got, and then a little more! When Dane was done, Caruso said he was shocked that in seventeen years of hosting he'd never heard the song before. Vannatter explained that it was a Ziegfeld Follies number that Jane Froman was to sing, but her husband had rejected it for her. Caruso and most of the audience were taken by the story, as he said, “You just don't hear too many Jane Froman stories anymore.” Everyone laughed, but to be honest, how many people in one room, anywhere but New York, LA or P'town would have? Billy, who had done a fantastic job on the complicated arrangement of the song, was told by Jim: "You know, you're very good, despite what people say."
Krisanthi Pappas, was a delightful surprise. She's the female half of the Vannatter/Pappas show and an accomplished singer/songwriter who's also perfomed to great reviews in rooms in New York like Don't Tell Mama and Danny's Skylight Room. Having just won second prize in the Billboard World Songwriting Contest, she'll be in New York on May 8th to be honored at the NY Sheet Music Society. She reminded me of Victoria Shaw twenty years ago.
Singing wise, I will say she took me by surprise. Being one of the featured acts of the weekend, and hearing Billy begin the intro to "The Lady is a Tramp," the thought hit me, "Lounge song?" or “Did she forget her music?” But, then the standard song quickly took a turn, and the arrangement soared as Pappas rode Billy's wildly swinging piano like a bronco! Then came the scatting. Oh hmmmm., you see, this writer is not a big fan of the scat, probably because most people don't do it well, but Pappas had it down and blew everyone away with her mastery of the craft. More to come on her own show Saturday night and her unusual ability to change vocal genre's at will, in the next article.
Krisanthi Pappas and Dane Vannatter duet
Lisa Jason and drummer/event planner Bart Weisman
Lisa Jason, who has already been a guest at Jim Caruso's New York Cast Party, wore a sequined yellow floor length gown. This was cause for some fun, as Jim said, “Now if you would only have dressed up for this event,” and pondering further, asked, “Where are your sheep?” Billy chimed in by asking if she was “Cinderella.” Jason played along with the jibes and laughed right along with the boys, then she took the mike and the room hushed. Big voices DO come in little packages. This wisp of a woman (plus 10 lbs of sequins) belted out a version of "Johnny One Note" that I think might have actually made “Verdi turn 'round in his grave.” Not too many singers can handle a song like that, the way it was meant to be sung, but Jason is one of them. Also, one of the so called "locals,” she'll be doing a one-woman show titled Little Voice, at the Wequassett Inn and holds a regular Wednesday night “Ultimate Variety Show” of her own at Marley's Club all summer (both in Chatham).
Rounding out the evening, was one of Boston's best, Carol O'Shaughnessy. This woman has been playing nightclubs and cabarets as long as most of us can remember. Called the “First Lady of Boston Cabaret,” (she's been honored in New York, and played Town Hall among other places) she hit the stage and immediately launched into the up-tempo rouser, “No Time At All” from Pippin. Bringing the house bouncing along with her, she showed what a cabaret trouper is all about! Closing the Opening, other than Billy and Jim coming back to close the show, and closing the three-day event, says a lot. Even Caruso and Stritch, as well as most of the acts, hung around for Sunday Brunch.
Carol O'Shaughnessy & Jim Caruso
And with that, Bobby Wetherbee became the surprise event of the evening for many who had never heard him before (he did both Friday and Saturday nights “post show”). Those in the know, already had seats and were ready for the “late show” to come. Wetherbee, celebrating SIXTY years in show business (he started as a child prodigy), has played in Boston, with jaunts to P'town and New York as long as most people can remember, and not looking much older. He spent two years playing the swanky St. Regis in New York, as well as accompanying more than a few acts from up here at clubs like Don't tell Mama. But, the piano player/singer is still as HOT as ever. He'll be at the Crown and Anchor all summer (the front room) to take requests and let singers join him in song. He can best be described to a New York audience (who doesn't know him) as a cross between Bobby Short and Jerry Scott.
Bobby Wetherbee
With a trademark smile that lights up a room, Wetherbee not only plays the songs the way they were meant to be played, but tells the history of them; where they came from and why (Bobby Short anyone?). He also has an open mic so people can come up and enjoy the fact that he can play just about any song in any key (Jerry Scott anyone?). Many of those indecisive people who were leaving the room, changed their minds and stayed to hear stories of why Jerome Kern wrote this, or what led Oscar Hammerstein to write that. Particularly moving was his Saturday night tribute to the late and often under-rated Dorothy Fields, whom he lovingly showcased. Wetherbee also does an eerily funny (yet dead on) Eartha Kitt impression, sings an amazing version of “Give my Regards to Broadway” to the tune of “I Left My heart in San Francisco,” and tears at the heart with a song of his own called, “I Never Loved You, That's a Lie.” From the beginnings of the American Songbook through the Broadway of today, Wetherbee brings class to any room he plays.
Last, but never least, was the “After the Show” show at the Waterford Inn, hosted by Patricia Fitzpatrick on Friday and Phoebe Otis on Saturday. This was a place to unwind and get warm as the rain came down in buckets. Having only been able to make the Friday night show due to scheduling conflicts, that's all we can mention here, although I'm sure Saturday was a sell-out with ex-New York singer Otis as well. Pat Fitzpatrick sang some soft ballads with “local” piano player/composer John Thomas, who joined her in a few duets and harmonies. In this intimate setting, Fitzpatrick showed that storytelling and setting up a song before you sing it, can be quite an effective tool.
Some of the other guests sang, most notably Michael Steers, with a beautiful 
Broadway tenor that would stand him in good stead if he headed for the theatre. Even two-time selectmen David Atkinson tickled the keys and sweetly sang, surprising some of his old voters, a definite mix of what makes P'town, well, P'town. It was a lovely end to a very full day of the thing we were all there to celebrate, cabaret!
From the perspective of just being an audience member, “Opening Night” of the Provincetown Cabaret Fest was like a mad marathon of talent that ended with that exhilerating feeling of having completed the 26 mile run.
Try not to miss this event next year. Hopefully Strich and Caruso will be back for a third hosting!
***In the next issue of NiteLifeExchange (Tuesday), we'll take a look at the full length, individual shows of Billy Stritch & Jim Caruso, Dane Vannatter and Krisanthi Pappas and Carol O'Shaugnessy.
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