Chita Rivera in Playbill Online

The Playbill Online Diva Talk column has a great interview with Chita Rivera discussing her terrific new CD:

Question: How did you go about choosing the songs?

Rivera: I’ve just got this unbelievable repertoire of theatre songs. So Michael decided, why don’t we do our show and just change all the arrangements. Give them another face. And that’s what we’ve done. I think that, should I do another album, which I think I would like to do, I think probably I would then do [a jazz CD]… I used to talk to Rosemary Clooney, who was a friend, and I would say, “That’s what I want to do at some time in my life! I want to sing some Johnny Mercer. I want to sing some fabulous jazz composers’ songs.” I think this is a step towards that.

Plus it has reviews of the new Liz Callaway, Rebecca Luker, and Kate Baldwin CDs.

Michael Feinstein in the Blade

The current issue of the Washington Blade has an interview with Michael Feinstein (whose publicity photos get younger each year): “ “When I started getting some acclaim for what I do, I noticed that reviewers would say that he’s not afraid to be sensitive, and I understood what they meant. I’m a male singer who has never been afraid to express vulnerability or express a sensitive side. Or even a feminine side if it’s appropriate for the song. My job as an interpreter is to bring through the intentions of the writer or to find a point of view that resonates with what they wrote. And I absolutely believe all my life experiences, including my sexuality, add resonance to my interpretations.”

Great Bruce Springsteen Article

Slate has a great article about Bruce Springsteen and the making of Born to Run (by necessity an important music milestone for anyone who had grown up in New Jersey in the 70’s).

Springsteen’s music has had a number of notable cabaret treatments.  My favorite is Barbara Fasano’s amazing recording of Rick Jensen’s recording of Thunder Road. 

Favorite quote from the article:  “What mattered to him was to sound spontaneous, not to be spontaneous. “Spontaneity,” he said, in 1981, “is not made by fastness. Elvis, I believe, did like 30 takes of ‘Hound Dog,’ and you put that thing on,” and it just explodes.”

Cherry Red Could Use Your Help…

For many years, Cherry Red Productions was one of the edgiest, oddly classiest companies in DC, giving us productions like Bluebeard; Kenneth, What’s the Frequency; and Spamlet.  Not to mention their terrific Day-Old Play festivals.

For my mind, their most theatrically complete production was a midnight show at DCAC called Thumbsucker.  A very creepy look at a serial seducer and killer.  The staging combined a quality that was both horrific and elegeic.  And it was the most perfectly lit show I’ve ever seen.  The piece was set in a seedy hotel room at night, and the only lighting came from a single floor lamp on stage and the spill from the theater’s “Exit” sign.  It provided both a realistic portrayal of the light that would have been in the room  and it made those of us sitting in the audience in the dark feel extremely voyeuristic.  Really, that show is at least in the Top 5 of shows I’ve ever seen.

Cherry Red Founder and author/director of  Thumbsucker is trying to get grass-roots financing to turn it into a film.  A very small contribution can make a big difference.

In other news, Ian is working on a service called Green Green Ticketing that combines NY-based last-minute ticket deals with green contibutions.

Who knew it even had a name ?

Interesting column in The Straight Dope this week on earworms.

Victoria Clark in Playbill.com

Playbill.com has a charming Newlywed Game-style interview with Victoria Clark and Ted Sperling who are presenting the Vicki and Ted Show at Feinstein’s:  “Any time I am singing onstage and see Ted conducting in the pit, I feel better. I have a good feeling in my gut — I know I am home. He has that effect on lots of people, not just me, but I would like to just put it out there and say, hey, I knew him when, and he has always made me feel better when he is in the rehearsal room or in the orchestra pit or onstage next to us. Sometimes, it is scary, he knows me so well, he already knows where I am going to breathe, and working on this show, we are finding when we sing together, we can anticipate all kinds of things like breaths, phrasing, etc. We are sort of mind-melded! Vulcan ancestry I guess.”

Stephen Holden on Melody Gardot

The NYTimes brings us the “taking lemons and making lemon curd” story of Melody Gardot.

We saw it here first

Victoria Clark and Ted Sperling have announced that they will be presenting their show, now entitled The Vicky and Ted Show at Feinstein’s in New York, October 20 -24.  The show is basically a repeat of the terrific concert the team presented last season as part of the Barbara Cook Spotlight series at the Kennedy Center.

Two great bargains

PS Classics

The PS Classics label is issuing 4 highly anticipated CDs this week: New solo CDs from Rebecca Luker (pretty much the show she did at the Kennedy Center), Liz Callaway, Kate Baldwin, and an all-star studio recording of the ’20s musical Kitty’s Kisses.  They have a great package deal with all 4 CDs for $49.95 — and one shipping charge.  And since you’re saving all that money, how about adding Stephanie Block’s terrific  CD, This Place I Know, before you close your shopping cart?

Dwayne Britton

I don’t think I’ve listened to single track in the last year as often as I’ve listened to Dwayne Britton’s amazing version of Rainbow Connection, accompanied only by acoustic guitar.  (His tracks of Run Away With Me and The Song Remembers When aren’t far behind.)  So in case you don’t have the CD, I wanted to let you know that Britton is having a sale on his eponymous CD, with signed CDs going for $9.99 through Thursday.

Alix Korey in Playbill

The Playbill Online Diva Watch column interviews one of the all-time greats Alix Korey:

Question: When you look back on your New York theatre roles, do you have a favorite experience? What stands out in your mind?
Korey: I have to say that one of the reasons I left when I did was because All Shook Up was the most wonderful, joyous experience that I’d ever had. That’s partly due to Chris Ashley, truly one of the great directors, and the whole company and the process. Everybody was so incredibly collaborative, and it was just fun. I had so much hope invested in it that when it closed I thought, “I want to leave on a high. I don’t want to leave like a bitter bitch.” So that was really the last show I did in New York. It was also my sixth flop. I called Karen Morrow out in L.A. and I said, “Karen, I think I just beat your record, and I’m leaving.” [Laughs.]

Question: And what did she say?
Korey: She said, “Come on!” That, and certainly Wild Party was a huge investment of my heart and soul and a lot of time. That kind of broke my heart for a little while. They were just these wonderful pieces that the rest of the world won’t get to see. . . . What makes one thing survive and not another? I think that it’s all about producing and who’s producing and how they produce.