Four nights, four concerts, four venues and lots of great entertainment is what Los Angeles has in store this October 24-27 weekend with Cabaret is Alive and Well and Living in Los Angeles, and it’s all to benefit The Actors Fund.
Conceived by the acclaimed, award-winning theatrical and performance director David Galligan, this four day event is the first of its kind – a celebration of cabaret – with the proceeds from all four shows going to The Actors Fund. Galligan, as many know, is the man behind the annual S.T.A.G.E. benefits held in Los Angeles at the Saban Theatre and in San Francisco, with all proceeds benefitting AIDS patients; in Los Angeles, specifically AIDS Project Los Angeles.
One of the world’s most beloved “Phantoms” of all time thanks to decades of various incarnations of “Phantom of the Opera”, Davis Gaines is no stranger to cabaret or David Galligan. “Leave it to Galligan to come up with something really interesting and cool and diverse and every night different with different kinds of people and different kinds of music. I think it’s gonna be really fun for LA to go out and see a different event every night. . .He knows all the great talent in town and he knows how to put them together and he knows how to put a show together and have an arc to it and make it work.” Recalling his own experiences doing S.T.A.G.E. benefits with Galligan, Gaines notes, “[H]e pulls in really interesting people and knows how to put them together and the song choices, and make it work. He has that gift and he’s really good at it.”
So just what is “cabaret”? When many hear the word “cabaret” they think Liza Minnelli and Joel Grey.” But that’s not quite on point. As Joanne Worley, one of Saturday’s performers, note, “I have a book in front of me called ‘Intimate Nights’ by James Gavin which is about the cabaret scene in New York City which is where I got some of my chops working in the Greenwich Village nightclubs and things like that. Back then they were called ‘nightclubs’ but it was always cabaret. . . ‘Nightclubs’ don’t necessarily mean entertainment but “cabaret” does.” Gaines himself has found he’s had to adjust his own representations of ‘cabaret’ in order to give the audiences a better idea of what it is. “I put together a new cabaret show myself. . .but on the materials it says ‘cabaret. . . I’m doing some press and some advertising and to say ‘cabaret’ it confuses people. They don’t know what that is so I had to put the word ‘concert’ in. “Intimate concert’.” Intimate concerts are exactly what you’re going to get, too.
Calling on many of the S.T.A.G.E. family to perform during this cabaret extravaganza, the benefit performances kick off on Friday, October 24th at 8:30 p.m. with “Come to the Cabaret” at the Catalina Jazz Club on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. Hosted by Sally Struthers and under the musical direction of Tom Griep, performers include, Obba Babatundé, George Ball, Michele Brourman, Loretta Devine, Davis Gaines, Julie Garnyé, Damon Kirsche, Amanda McBroom, Sharon McNight, Lisa Passero, Valerie Perri and Christina Saffran. Although unknown exactly what arc or story Galligan has created for the evening, Gaines at least knows the songs he’ll be performing. “I have a medley I do – ‘When You Wish Upon A Star’ and ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’. They kind of read together in a great way. The words to both songs are about wishing on a star, ‘someday I’ll wish upon a star over the rainbow’. . . It’s such a great arrangement. My musical director, Carol Henderson, arranged it. It’s a great tune going from a very intimate place to a big ending. It’s really nice.”
Although already sold-out, Saturday the 25th at 9:00 pm finds “A Cabaret Celebration” at Tom Rolla’s Gardenia in West Hollywood. Joining Musical Director and Host Brad Ellis, are Mary Jo Catlett, Carole Cook, Nancy Dussault, Ilene Graff & Ben Lanzarone, Jane A. Johnston, Karen Morrow, Lisa Passero and Joanne Worley. Scheduled to meet with Galligan and Ellis just after our interview, Worley was uncertain what they would have in mind for her, but, “I’m bringing several numbers that I do in my own cabaret act, my own nightclub act, which is now my one woman show [which Worley describes as ‘It’s just my nightclub act only much more personal and with some show and tell as I call it; some clip and some pictures and stuff like that.”]. We will choose depending on what else other people are doing. Usually my stuff is that I take a regular song that people know and I do it in a different way. Or I do it with different lyrics.” Taking a trip down memory lane, Worley recalled “Something that I did years ago was at the suggestion of Jerry Lewis. I was in something at Paramount called ‘The Jerry Lewis Comedy Workshop.’ I always sang. But in it, he said, ‘Why don’t you do the song, ‘Till There was Youz’?’ So I did a set up about going to a diction teacher in Brooklyn and then I’d do the song only with a Brooklyn accent. Maybe I’ll drag that by David! . . .I can give that set-up. Jerry Lewis is one of the reasons that I wanted to get into the business!”
Sunday, October 26th at 7pm at Rockwell Table & Stage in Los Feliz will find Jason Graae singing the songs of Jerry Herman for an evening of “Perfect Hermany” with Musical Director John Boswell. For those unfamiliar with Herman, he is the Grammy and Tony award winning American composer of hit Broadway musicals like “Hello, Dolly!”, “Mame” and “La Cage aux Folles”.
Wrapping up the four nights of cabaret on Monday, October 27th at 8pm at Studio City’s Upstairs at Vitello’s is “Classic Broadway Sings Schwartz”. Hosted by one of daytime’s favorite legal eagles from “General Hospital”, Carolyn Hennesy, under the musical direction of Mitch Kaplan with Nate Light on bass and Denise Fraser on drums, Louise Marie Cornillez, Barbara Deutsch, Tal Fox, Dianne Fraser, Julie Garnyé, Juliana Hansen, Dennis Kyle, Kelly Lester, Jon Maher, James C. Mulligan and Joanne O’Brien will shine the spotlight on some classic Schwartz tunes from shows like “Pippin’” (a revival of which is currently playing in Los Angeles), “Wicked” and “Godspell.”
And why support The Actors Fund? By its own definition, “The Actors Fund is a nationwide human services organization that helps all professionals in performing arts and entertainment. The Fund is a safety net, providing programs and services for those who are in need, crisis or transition.” One of the oldest charitable organizations in the country, The Actors Fund was founded by Harrison Grey Fiske, a young writer turned editor of the New York Dramatic Mirror who championed theatre and the performing arts but was dismayed at the “bad rap” actors had been receiving since John Wilkes Booth assassinated Abraham Lincoln. Times were often difficult enough, but for actors, things were worse. From establishing the first cemetery for actors to the first Actor’s Home in 1902 to the present day multiplicity of services helping with, among others, rent, food, insurance questions, medical care and informational services, The Actors Fund is there for those in front of the curtain or camera as well as behind it. Joanne Worley, one of those most active and charitable members of the entertainment community (she is also President of Actors & Others for Animals) was surprised to learn that “Several of my friends have said, ‘I remember when I was starting out in the business and I benefitted from The Actors Fund.’ It has been around for a long time and doing all kinds of good things. . .on many levels, and not for just the people on stage and in front of the camera, but for everyone.”
As Davis Gaines explained to me, “They do great things for people in need. It’s kind of a quiet charity because they help actors and, like you said, everybody else who works in the business, when they need it most. All we have to do is ask for help and they’re there. It’s an amazing organization. Our profession is not a sure thing so there’s a lot of ups and downs in our work and in our profession that we all need help every once in awhile and it’s great to know that something like The Actors Fund is there for us. We’ve gotta keep putting it back in the pot so everyone can use it.”
Perhaps summing up the benefit and The Actors Fund best, calling this “beyond worthwhile”, Worley’s passion and compassion is evident. “I’m sure you’ve heard this before, but giving back is the most important thing we can be doing right now.”
Ticket prices for CABARET IS ALIVE AND WELL AND LIVING IN LOS ANGELES start at $30 each for the 3-show package. (The Saturday show at The Gardenia is SOLD OUT) Single ticket price is $50. Food/beverage minimum applies at each venue. http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/863740
