Friday March 2, 2007 SGN.org |
 |
Volume 35 Issue 09 |
 |
|
Tuesday, Jul 08, 2008
|
 |
|||||||||||
|
|||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||
|
Bits & Bytes |
|
 |
|
| Ann Hampton Callaway returns to Jazz Alley, Chita Rivera kicks up her heels in Dancers Life, Buddy ends is rockin, rollin run at 5th Avenue | |
|
By Milton W. Hamlin -
SGN A&E Writer Chita Rivera returns to Seattle with her autobiographical Broadway revue, A Dancers Life, at the Paramount Ann Hampton Callaway continues through the weekend in an encore visit to Jazz Alley, the rockin Buddy Holly biographical musical ends its audience-pleasing run at the 5th Avenue. New shows continue at the Seattle Rep, ACT readies its 2007 season, theres always lots of news with the Seattle Symphony Orchestraits another great week for Emerald City entertainment fans. And that includes Bits&Bytes. Read on: ANN HAMPTON CALLAWAY RETURNS TO JAZZ ALLEY 175 EX HUSBANDS CHEER Ann Hampton Callawaysinger, songwriter, diva extraordinaire and official Girl Friend of The Seattle Mens Chorus makes a welcome Seattle encore visit this week in an appearance at Jazz Alley. When she appeared at a Seattle Mens Chorus concert many seasons back, she introduced the men on stage as my 175 ex-husbands (and the crowd went wild). Many of those SMC ex-husbands were on hand last night to welcome the talented singer/songwriter back to Seattle and back to Jazz Alley. Many more will make Jazz Alley the spot for GLBT music fans this weekend. Callaway continues with five more shows through Sunday night. Bits&Bytes first encountered Callaway when the owners of Thumpers brought her to Seattle to celebrate the restaurants 10th anniversary. She delighted the crowd in the handsome Oak Room of the recently shuttered (and sorely missed) restaurant and bar. She returned as a guest artist with the Seattle Mens Chorus, where she was a delightful, captivating diva. (She had been one of four New York guests with the Chorus earlier but this scribe missed that gig.) She returned to SMC with her sister, Liz Callaway, and their tongue-in-cheek cabaret show, Sibling Revelryand the CD became a personal favorite. (The two talented singers have a new show on tour, Relative Harmony, but it has not been recorded yet.) Callaway then visited Seattle for her first Jazz Alley gigand her SMC ex-husbands packed the sophisticated jazz club. Callaway made her Broadway debut in the Big Band nostalgia outing, Swing! and received a Tony Award nomination for her work in the popular, high-energy revue. On a New York visit, Bits&Bytes got to do his first (and, so far, only) backstage interview with Callaway. In preparing for an exclusive SGN interview with Callaway before her Seattle arrival, this scribe reminded her of out past meetings. Thanks for reminding me of our past, she laughed. Its good to know that you are one of my people. Callaway is very protective of her peopleespecially the Gay and Lesbian fan base that helped launch her career on RSVP cruises. Although Callaway never discusses her personal life ( but it is the worst kept secret in show business ), she has a strong, strong fan base in GLBT circles. My personal life is too confusing for me to understand, she laughed, let alone explain to others. In late May, she will join one of the Rosie Family Cruises for GLBT travelers and their children and other family members. We sail on the Queen Mary II from New York to England, May 29-June 4. I think the whole concept is incredibleits so important for GLBT families to have a chance to spend quality time together, she explained. Callaway will celebrate her May 30 birthday on the cruise. Her Jazz Alley gig is her only appearance on the West Coast this trip. She was in Seattle in November at Cornish as an artist in residence. After her Jazz Alley stay, she returns to New York and then returns to the West Coast for an AIDS benefit in Los Angeles March 10 and 11. I love my career. One night its a small jazz club, the next night a guest appearance with a major symphony orchestra. One week its a one-woman show, the next trip is with my sister for Relative Harmony. Then an AIDS benefit or a RSVP cruiseits all fun. Ann teams with sister Liz for an incredible duet of Stormy Weather and When The Sun Comes Out on her new Blues In The Night CD for Telarc, her first release on that major jazz label. They originally sang the duet as part of a Harold Arlen tribute in their Sibling Revelry concert and CD. Callaway has also toured with Michael Feinstein and sung the duet with him in concert. (When Feinstein guest starred with the Seattle Mens Chorus, the openly Gay singer introduced the SMC men as my 175 future boy friends. Between her ex-husbands and his future boyfriends, its easy to see how they would get along on stage.) A talented songwriter, Callaway has written songs for Barbra Streisand, including A Love Like Ours which Streisand sang at her wedding to James Brolin. As always, my accountants favorite is The Theme From The Nanny, Callaway laughed. To say that that TV theme was a lucrative event would be an understatement, Callaway confirmed in our backstage interview in New York. Coming up soon is a TV pilot to be taped in May for PBS. Its an Inside The Actors Studio format but about American songwriters and American singers. We want the world to know there is more to The Great American Songbook than American Idol. Liza Minnelli will be Callaways first guest for the pilot. Well talk, shell sing, Ill sing, well sing, well talkwell see, she laughed. Callaways Jazz Alley shows will feature a number of selections from her new Blues In The Night CD but lots of The Best Of& tunes that my fans expect. Callaway recently made her Hollywood film debut as the Big Band singer in Robert De Niros The Good Shepherd where she sang Come Rain Or Come Shine. Hopefully, she will include that Great American Songbook classic in her Emerald City song list (Full disclosure from Bits&Bytes: Ive been sleeping with Ann Hampton Callaway for the past 10 days. Thats righther wonderful Blues In The Night has never left the CD player, and I drift off to sleep each night with Lover Comes Back To Me, Willow Weep For Me, Its All Right With Me, No One Is Alone. the title track or The Glory Of Love lulling me to sleep.) Callaway has five more appearances at Jazz Alley this weekendcheck it out. Reservations and full details at 441-9729. Join her 175 ex-husbands, her other Emerald City fanatics and Seattle music, cabaret and jazz fans in this very special treat. CHITA RIVERA RETURNS TO SEATTLE WITH SNAPPY A DANCERS LIFE REVUE Chita Rivera, Broadway legend and reigning/surviving diva of The Great White Way, blew into town Wednesday for a weeklong stay of her latest Broadway outing, A Dancers Life. Billed as a new musical on Broadway last year and on tour on the Broadway At The Paramount series, the show is really a first class Las Vegas revue that is thoroughly entertaining in its own right. Rivera has a legendary Gay following from her long career on Broadwayand her two Tony Awards. Her work in the title role in the Gay-themed Kiss Of The Spider Woman cemented the decades old connection when her performance helped propel that challenging musical into the hit category. The revuestructured around an And then I was in&. formatwas great fun on Broadway (where Bits&Bytes reviewed it for SGN theater fans a year ago December) and is doing fine on tour. Performances at the Paramount continue though Sunday evening with matinees on both Saturday and Sunday. Tickets start at just $22. (A friend of Bits&Bytes, a notorious skinflint who makes Molieres The Miser look like a big spender, broke down a bought a main floor ticket to Rivera. When an old broad like her comes to town and is kicking up her heels at 75its time to go, he explained in his politically incorrect manner. The last time he opened his billfold for a big bucks ticket was when Maxine Andrews, Edie Adams and Virginia Mayo visited Seattle for the 5th Avenue Theatres Follies eons ago. Take his advicecheck it out.) BUDDY ENDS ROCKIN RUN AT 5TH AVENUE WITH FINAL 5 PERFORMANCES Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story, ends its three-week Seattle run at the 5th Avenue Musical Theatre with five more performances this weekend. The show closes with a matinee and evening performance on Sunday. The showa huge hit in London where it ran 13 yearsslipped in and out of New York so fast that few remember the Broadway production. Butand it is a big butthe show is a crowd-pleasing rockin and rollin tribute to The Day The Music Died and the short, short career of Buddy Holly. Bits&Bytes first saw it several years ago in San Francisco where the show was extended time after time for Bay Area theater fans out for an evening of nostalgia and a jukebox good time. Check it out. Next up at the 5th is the national tour of a new, revised Camelot with Michael York as Arthur and then West Side Story. Details and ticket information at 625-1900 or toll free at (888) 5TH-4TIX for out-of-area theater fans. MARVIN HAMLISCH SCORES AT SYMPHONY, RETURNS NEXT YEAR Marvin Hamlisch, the talented triple threat artist, delighted the Seattle Symphonys loyal Pops Series subscribers with his From Stage To Screen concert in late February. His legions of fan are already excited about his SSO return next winter with a salute to Irving Berlin and Richard Rodgers. Hamlisch, a frequent SSO pops visitor, combines an outstanding performance with show biz commentary and gossip and general observations in a casual, off-the-cuff Will Rogers manner. His shows are always a delight from start to finish. From Stage To Screen was no exception. The concert opened with three, diverse Hollywood classics As Time Goes By, The Theme from Psycho and Taras Theme from Gone With The Wind. A My Fair Lady medley followed, showcasing the fine playing from the Seattle Symphony. Hamlisch conducted the orchestra with flourish and performed many piano selections with the full symphony. J. Mark McVey, a talented tenor who performed the leading role in Les Miserables 2,912 times in New York and London and in national tours, delighted the crowd with Soliloquy from Carousel. He returned later with selections from Les Miz and Phantom Of The Opera. Hamlisch delighted the crowd with his tales of New York vrs. Seattle. Hamlisch loves Wild Ginger, the popular pan-Asian restaurant right across the street from Benaroya Hall. In New York, you arrive at your favorite restaurant and theyve never heard of you, theyve lost your reservation, they tell you to go away. In Seattle, its Right this way, Mr. Hamlisch&have a good dinner. On going to the movies in New York Tickets are $12.50, popcorn is $19, parking is $200 for the eveningno wonder people stay at home. Late in the concert, Hamlisch turned to his own achievements. A medley of Scott Joplin rags that he used for The Sting, The Way We Were which he wrote for Barbra Streisand, the film score from Sophies Choice, music from A Chorus Line, the groundbreaking Broadway musical that earned the young Hamlisch a Pulitzer Prize for his contributions to the one singular sensation thats now back on Broadway. For the record, Hamlisch has won three Oscars, four Grammys, four Emmys, a Tony, three Golden Globes and the Pulitzer. Hamlisch is always a welcome visitor to Seattle and the Seattle Symphony. Complete information on all SSO concertsthis year and nextis available at 215-4747 or toll free for out-of-area music fans at (866) 833-4747. Ask for free brochures on the rest of this years season and a full flyer on next years 2007-08 programs. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
International Readers read the SGN in Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish |
|
 |
|
 For more info & to sign up: email aniab@llaa.org or call 206.328.8979 |
|
 |
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 post your own information on Seattle Gay Blog |
|
 |
copyright Seattle Gay News - DigitalTeamWorks 2006