For the 2005 Cabaret theme, the subject of honoring singer-songwriters who have passed away came up. The Cabaret Planning Committee tossed around a number of names for the title; "Up With Dead People," and "Cadaveray" were obviously nixed. Playing on any kind of word involving "dead" or "deceased" would wisely be avoided. Cabaret Music Producer and Director Dan Chouinard came up with the elegiac title "The Late Show: Music of the Dear Departed Legends of Song." Capitalizing on honoring the departed meant the decorating committee would transform St. Joan's conspicuously athletic looking gym into a Church like atmosphere. Their direction: stained glass, banners and candles.
Friday night's Cabaret performance (10/28) featured on the background of center stage a large all black church window shaped panel, with cut outs lit with bright gels in
chartreuse, tangerine and magenta-presto, theatrical stained glass. Theatrical
faux candles over black draping adorned the two basket ball hoops creating a
candelabra look while the same faux candles hung in a circular formation over a
black draping directly above the audience. Along with Saint-like depictions of
Bob Marley, John Lennon and Janis Joplin-all with halos-on the cover of the
program and tonight's servers adorned with halos, a celestial atmosphere of
reverence for music's departed legendary greats created spirited intrigue.
Tonight's sold out fundraiser (proceeds support the grants of SJA's Justice Funds) offered 28 performances in roughly three hours of performing time with 90 minutes for both Acts I & II. A 45 minute intermission included a ten minute break and ten raffle drawings along with a Heads or Tails game (winner won a trip to Maui).
Cabaret Committee Chair Steve Boyle introduced the evening while Cabaret
Music Producers Dan Chouinard and Anna Vagle traded hosting duties. Proceedings
kicked off with a campy spoof: Chouinard and Julie Madden as John Lennon and
Janis Joplin looking down from heaven adorned in robes, wings, bad wigs, glasses
and halos. While Chouinard would eke out verses from "Imagine," Madden, with a
raspy-voiced Joplin impression, would sing about riding in a Mercedes Benz.
Cyril Paul took over the stage with a brief intro of Bob Marley's "One Love,"
segued by an all cast medley of "When I Die" (solo from Deb Harley) and "I'll
Fly Away" featuring boisterous solos from Bruce Henry and Gwen Matthews.
Henry, in an electric blue suit, paid homage to Nina Simone and the city of
New Orleans with the blues traditional "House of the Rising Sun." Frequently covered, the song's lyrics were originally equated with brothels and a girl corrupted
into a life of ruin. Henry sang some smoothly soulful vocals,
culminating with a falsetto flourish. A tight backup combo led by Chouinard on
piano, Dick Hedlund on bass and Shane Speltz on drums provided terrific
accompaniment. Also featured here were great guitar riffs from Bobby Schnitzer and
searing harmonica from Bruce "Creeper" Kernow.
Pat Frederick offered a cheery rendition of the Beatles' 1964 hit "You Can't
Do That". Deb Harley crooned a dreamy cover of The Mamas and the Papas'
1968 Schwandt and Andre classic "Dream a Little Dream of Me" with harmonious
backup vocals from Rachael Kroog, Kathy Perkins and Anna Vagle. Fred and Anna paid
respects to Buddy Holly offering "That'll Be the Day." Unfortunately, the
right stage sound monitor acted up preventing Fred's guitar accompaniment from
being heard. Their daughter Carin Vagle(right), looking radiant in a reddish gown, gave
a tenderly haunting performance of the Johnny Mercer/Joseph Kosma standard
"Autumn Leaves," dedicating the song to the popular Eva Cassidy.
While Sound Engineer Doug Lohman worked out some kinks in the system,
Chouinard, with a wink, tinkled out the Jeopardy song.
Folk singer Ann Reed dryly cautioned in her intro, "This song really only has one foot in the ground." Patsy Cline, who sang the 1961 signature tune "Crazy" may be dead but Willie Nelson, who wrote the song, lives on, indeed. The perfect cover tune for Reed's clear contralto voice, she supremely nailed it yet again. Chouinard gloriously accompanied on piano with smooth strumming from Hedlund on bass. "Little Red Rooster," a blues standard recorded by Sam Cooke and written by Willa Dixon received a wickedly scorching treatment from Bobby Schnitzer whose slide guitar produced some mean blues while he ably sang along. Kernow accompanied fiercely with his cryin' teasin' and poutin' harmonica skills.
Moving on to our "cardigan sweater portion of the evening," quipped Chouinard. Neal & Leandra, SJA favorites, paid tribute to Perry Como with lovely harmony on "Girl of My Dreams." Sound trouble ensued again. This time Neal's guitar cut out from that pesky right monitor. Leandra proved a virtuoso whistle blower at the coda of this classic. Russian singer Sima Shumilovsky richly contributed the romantic ballad "Russian Field."
Renowned fiddle player Peter Ostroushko, another SJA favorite, put his foot right in his mouth with his ill-timed badly executed public service announcement joke. He said it's "unbecoming for a woman to whistle in Church." He then proceeded to ramble on way too long about meeting Mr. Rogers in Pittsburgh. The famous Mr. Fred Rogers asked him back then to sing a Ukrainian song. Ostroushko finally ceased the bantering to sing and evocatively play with mandolin "Lullaby For Lesha." Jerry Rau paid tribute to Jerry Garcia with the Grateful Dead song "Ripple," but unfortunately (and like last year's Cabaret performance) could barely be heard. Must get closer to that mic, Jerry.
"This would be the late 80's category of the show," Chouinard conveyed,
introducing Shane Speltz and Kathy Perkins, the married couple who front their
band Scarlet Haze. They paid mighty respects to INXS singer Michael Hutchence
with a cover of the 1987 hit "Never Tear Us Apart." Providing a stellar hard rock
performance and wild variation from the usual Cabaret fare, Speltz vocally
did Hutchence justice note per note while Perkins, with a hot passionate belt
and command, made the song her own. Lee Vague supplied a solid electric guitar
backup along with Creeper on harmonica.
Dennis Spears, supplying his trademark flamboyance, charmed, shimmied,
twirled and whipped himself into a frenzy with his tribute to Cab Calloway, "Minnie,
the Moocher." Jim ten Bensel made magical ambiance with his muted trombone.
Lee Vague paid vocal rocking respects to Robert Palmer with "Bad Case of
Loving You" and engaged in a terrific guitar showdown with Schnitzer. Kroog and
Perkins got that Palmer video girl look- vacuous super model stare/pout- down
pat while swaying with solid backup vocals. Cyril Paul, looking festively fine
in a silver lame shirt and straw hat, paid respects to Lord Kitchner, aptly
covering his monster calypso hit "Sugar Boom Boom." Madden, replete with
Jamaican caftan and flower head dress, promptly headed a conga line through the
audience while ten Bensel kept the upbeat tempo moving along with his trumpet for a
celebratory finish for Act I.
Mime artist Michael Hennessey paid his respects to the great Pierrot by
dressing in full traditional clown attire. Chouinard provided French ambiance with
his accordion accompaniment as Hennessey worked his magical First Date improv
on a woman from the audience. Rachael Kroog would likely turn the stage into
her own private Ashram. She chanted "We are spirits having a human experience
. . . pretty deep." Her Showstoppers Revue cohort Andy Kuula (both in 60's style wigs) grooved and
frolicked about with Hair's "Aquarius." Paul
Peterson's sublime tribute to Ray Charles with "Georgia" showcases that wonderful
white soul style unique to Peterson. What a fine singer and guitar player;
Peterson smoked some stinger riffs while navigating his soulful vocal range that
peaked to a luminous falsetto.
Debbie Duncan and the band-Chouinard, Hedlund and Speltz-created heavenly
Jazz, the cool intimate cocktail lounge kind, with their mighty fine homage to
the great Thelonius Monk. Duncan cooed and slid her vocals with an elegant
smoothness on their Jazz staple "Round Midnight." Chouinard was just as elegant
with piano accompaniment. Jim ten Bensel's inspiration came from the Glenn Miller
Band and kept the mood richly mellow with his graceful ease and superb
control of dynamics playing his trombone on the instrumental "Morning Mood," an
Edvard Grieg composition.
Guitar wizard Bobby Schnitzer honored the memory of the fierce blues sound of
Paul Butterfield, a legendary guitar player, with "Work Song." Schnitzer's
stinging sound, truly riveting, rocked the house in a jam with Creeper's wailing
harmonica and Hedlund's impeccable bass. Steve Kremer’s assured baritone vocal
poured out sweet passions for a loved one with "Perhaps Love," a valentine
ballad from the John Denver canon. Joe Cruz aided Kremer's fine guitar playing
with nice mandolin backup.
Gwen Matthews is no stranger to scatting or ad-libbing melodic goobly gush.
The great Nina Simone's "Four Women" fits her voice and style as well as
challenges a deeper dramatic connection with the music. Recorded in 1966, this song
was banned on the radio for allegedly being insulting to black people. It's
about four black women whose circumstances and futures are determined by the
subtle differences in their skin color.
Matthews shaded distinct vocal nuances
with each of the women-Aunt Sarah, Sephonia, Sweet Thang and PJ-building from
quiet assurance to emotions of bewilderment, heartache, anger and determination
in her wailing. Boyd Lee and Joe Cruz, who accompanied Matthews, remained on
the stage for a dedication to Jimi Hendrix that was pure joy. "Batting around
with dead guy tunes," mused Lee, got him to dig up Hendrix’s "Hey Joe," one of
his first recordings. Psychedelic guitar sounds became rather countrified in
the deft hands of Lee (guitar) and Cruz (mandolin).
These two strummers rocked
ferociously in a furious pace that brought down the house.
Mary Jane Alm revealed being nervous about hitting those high notes of the great Roy Orbison on his classic "Blue Bayou." She sang her heart out, albeit, cutting short the final note. Deb Harley and Prudence Johnson arrived late with backup vocals but made good harmony to Alm's lead vocal. Johnson, accompanied by Chouinard on accordion, brought meaning to the word memorial, perhaps more like funeral. A morbid but fascinating selection, Johnson and Chouinard chose to do "Where I Am Laid In Earth" from Henry Purcell's 1689 Opera 'Dido and Aeneas.' Johnson served an exquisitely torchy vocal. Wash it down with Chouinard's melancholy sound and you've gotten a feast for rolling out the tear drops. To cheer us up, the Frantzich Brothers, Tim & Paul, remedied the situation with their impeccable harmony on Jim Croce's 1973 hit "I Got a Name." These two charismatic brothers mightily satisfied the crowd with their warm chemistry that bonds gorgeous vocal blend, solid guitar playing and poetic musings.
Producers Dan Chouinard and Anna Vagle acknowledged the tireless dedication
of the Cabaret Planning Committee whose talents coordinated the making of a
well run three and half hour production and raffle. The entire cast closed the
celestial themed show of dedications with "When the Saints Go Marching In,"
impressively starting with ten Bensel's deep bass vocal intro and working the sold
out crowd into a well deserved standing ovation.
Interestingly, this year's Cabaret showcased more instrumental numbers than
in years past and in length ran about 30 minutes shorter. The extraordinary
artistry, number of performers and money raised- nearly $75,000 for both
nights- remains unparalleled for fundraisers in the Twin Cities. This ambitious
philanthropy and draw of talent make St. Joan's Cabaret indeed the musical event
of the year. We are so blessed.
Cabaret Planning Committee
General Chair: Steve Boyle
Bar Service: David Burnside
Finances: Mary Burnside
Design: Chad Campbell
Publicist: Todd Dalebroux
Cabaret Coordinator: Ann Ditzler
Graphics: Lynne Dolan
Raffles: Fred Faxvog
Technical Advisor: Julie Faxvog
Printing: George Horner
Hospitality: Harriet Horner
Decorations: Pat Keller
Ticket Sales: Peg Lasota and Jennifer Woodland
Refreshments: Don Lynch
Food: Cathy Meyer, Dale Olson and Catherine Pususta
Web Coverage: Michael Reinbold
Operations Coordinator: Roseann Rogers
Music Producers: Anna Vagle and Dan Chouinard
Technical Advisor: Fred Vagle
Crew Coordinator: Dick Voss
Decorations/Wait Staff Coordinator: Heidi Wennen
Volunteer Coordinator: Claire Whelan
