“Run Away With Me” at Arts Club of Washington, November 19, 2010
“Run Away With Me, A Contemporary Cabaret“ (http://runawaywithmecabaret.wordpress.com/) had the pleasure to perform at the Arts Club of Washington (http://artsclubofwashington.org/csite/index.html) on Friday night, November 19, 2010.
We performed for a Club Dinner, an event open to the membership of the Arts Club. We sang for a wonderful group of people and then enjoyed a lovely meal and engaging dinner conversation.
The Arts Club of Washington is particularly enthralling venue because it resides in James Monroe’s House, where he lived while serving as Secretary of State and then as President of the United States in 1817, until the White House (or, Executive Mansion, as it was known then)restoration was finished following its burning by invading British forces (http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/washingtonsack.htm) in 1814.
It is exciting to FEEL the history in that building and imagine all the historical figures who have occupied the same rooms.
We are seeking venues and will update soon on plans for public performances in the New Year.
Now, the Arts Club serves a wonderful community of artists. The rooms are filled with exhibitions of all kinds of Art, from a collection of hats, to photography, fabric arts, and fine paintings.
THUNDER, LIGHTENING AND TORRENTIAL RAIN!
“Run Away With Me, A Contemporary Cabaret” cast member Terri Allen wrote to Michael Miyazaki with the story of our final performance.
We sure went out with a BANG!
It Never Rains
http://cabaretdc.wordpress.com/2010/07/26/it-never-rains/
July 26, 2010
A report from Terri Allen on the final performance of Run Away With Me on Sunday in the highly-exposed Baldaccino Tent at the Capital Fringe Festival:
Michael, Don’t know if you want to post this — might be fun:
We closed our show Run Away with Me! A Contemporary Cabaret at Fringe with a bang. We had about 50 people in the house with the 90 degree heat, and were performing in the afternoon without the stage lights. The show was really going well. Emily got up to sing “Toll” — and I looked at Justin, and said, “It’s getting darker on stage.” During one number, it had gone from light to dark. I could see out through the bar, and the wind was really whipping up. When the audience didn’t seem to get the joke of the number, I think I realized they were getting worried, too, about what was then pounding rain. We decided to do one more number “Rainbow Connection”, and we asked Jeff Tucker, our sound guy, to put on the stage lights. By this time, the rain was flooding into the theatre through two doors, although audience members were trying to close at least one of the doors. Audience members were disconnecting the fans, etc. We decided to stop the show . . . and were hoping to start back up, but the storm seemed too intense and it really was unclear what was going to happen next.
Later, Lonny said he had seen the lights above him swaying, and afterwards, we learned that Fringe staff were running around the tent to make sure everything was secure. It seems that their tent structure, and the electrical power supply were actually fine. But, when Jeff made the call to stop the show — we all agreed! (Even though some of our best material was ahead of us!)
We told our audience members we anticipate doing the show again — and hope we will!
A SHOUT OUT from Michael Miyazaki on his blog the Miyazaki Cabaret Update: DC & Beyond
A kind blog write up by Michael Miyazaki!
Favorite Quote:
“The show presented four performers in a joyous romp through contemporary cabaret material.”
http://cabaretdc.wordpress.com/2010/07/24/a-fringe-double-feature/
That’s what we’ve been shootin’ for, A JOYOUS ROMP.
Thanks Michael!
A Great Review for “Run Away With Me” from Sabrina Daly of DC Theatre Scene
Run Away with Me!: A Contemporary Cabaret
July 15, 2010
By Sabrina Daly
http://dctheatrescene.com/2010/07/15/run-away-with-me-a-contemporary-cabaret/
Run Away with Me! is a high energy, fun-filled hour of amazing singing! Terri Allen, Emily Leatha Everson, Justin Ritchie, and Lonny Smith razzle and dazzle the audience in this engaging and highly enjoyable cabaret show in the Baldacchino Gypsy Bar Tent. If you love pop, jazz, country and Broadway show tunes, this show is a must see!
The ensemble opens with a full-voiced, fun rendition of “Crayola Doesn’t Make a Color.” I was instantly blown away by the energy and the quality of their voices. Everson follows with a powerful solo of Lyle Lovett’s “If I had a Boat.” Her facial expressions and eye-contact with the audience make the tune a fun and intimate experience. She returns later in the show with the hilarious “Toll” and the evening’s stand-out performance of “Defying Gravity” from the smash Broadway musical, Wicked. This is a personal favorite song of mine and I got chills listening to her belt out this high-flying and vocally challenging number.
Smith’s clear, deep voice was perfect for the very humorous “I Wanna Talk About Me.” His energetic delivery and comedic acting made the audience roll with laughter. He was also enjoyable in his later song “Run Away with Me.” In “Larger than Life,” his final solo song, Smith delivers an outstanding, emotional performance. It was his best solo of the show.
Both Allen and Ritchie also deliver superb vocal performances throughout the eighteen-song show. Allen’s “Song of Bernadette” showed off her vocal range as a DC rainstorm began to pour down onto the tent. “May I Suggest” was particularly lovely, allowing Allen to showcase her amazing emotional delivery. Ritchie’s clear, expressive voice was a stand-out in his humorous “Billions of Beautiful Boys” and the poignant “Hold On.” But his amazing vocals in Marc Cohen’s classic “Walking in Memphis” had the audience swaying and singing along .
The ensemble songs were also a lot of fun, especially the Muppet classic “Rainbow Connection.” Although I love the original, simple version sung by Kermit the Frog, this arrangement was lovely and sung beautifully. I found I could not stop myself from joining in. The cast all seemed to be having a great time together, which only further added to the enjoyment of the audience.
Run Away with Me! is a truly enjoyable evening of great songs sung by great singers. What more could an audience ask for?
Run Away with Me!: A Contemporary Cabaret
Music Direction by Justin Ritchie and Mary Sugar
Accompanist: Mary Sugar
Produced by Terri Allen and Lyros Productions
Reviewed by Sabrina C. Daly
Running time: 60 minutes
A great review of “Run Away With Me (A Contemporary Cabaret) from allartsreview4u.com
Four excellent singers (Terri Allen, Emily Leatha Everson, Justin Richie and Lonny Smith) presented “RUN AWAY WITH ME” and they remained in control even with the sweltering heat under the Fringe tent and a raging thunderstorm during their one hour on stage. The quartet singing was less accomplished…some bad notes and shifting individual pitches…but the solos were all totally superb. Since there were no standards, it is fascinating that such rarely known songs could be rendered so dramatically and effectively. The tops for each singer was: Terri presenting “May I Suggest” with smooth velvety intonation; Emily’s comic rendering of “If I Had A Boat”; Lonny’s delightfully challenging “I Wanna Talk About Me”; and Justin’s superb jazz-like “Walking Through Memphis”. They are all local singers so we hope that we will hear more of their singing on future shows on stages around town. Most are regulars around local cabarets. There is definitely a recommend for this well rehearsed and expertly presented show. (Reviewed by Bob Anthony)
From allartsreview4u.com
4 Performances Remain for “Run Away With Me (A Contemporary Cabaret)”
Join us and get away from it all for an hour of wonderful songs.
We have four performances left:
Su Jul 18 @ 2:30pm
Fr Jul 23 @ 7:15pm
Sat Jul 24 @ 12:30pm
Su Jul 25 @ 3:15pm
Venue: Baldacchino Gypsy Tent and Bar, 607 New York Avenue, NW, WDC (AKA “Fort Fringe”)
Run Away With Me (A Contemporary Cabaret), performance photo
Cast from Left: Terri Allen, Justin Ritchie, Emily Leatha Everson, Lonny Smith
This photo taken by a friend of the cast.
