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Performances will take place at the Powerhouse on Casual Fridays, July 24, 31 and August 7 at 8:30 PM; Saturdays, July 25, August 1 & 8 at 8:00 PM; and on Sundays, July 26 & August 2 at 2:30 PM. “Casual Fridays” will include light refreshment on the patio at 8:00 PM prior to the show, or audience members can bring their own picnics. Tickets are $20 for adults and $15 for students and seniors (age 62). To reserve seats, please call the Town Players’ box office at (203) 966-7371. The idea for Broadway Café came about nineteen years ago on a summer night when a young Town Players group gathered at a backyard barbecue. As bellies were filled and thirsts were quenched, guests were standing on an unfinished deck and quickly realized they were on a perfect stage. Songs and dance routines were created on the spot and a light went off in the minds of the group. Except for Summer Stageshop, the Powerhouse at that time was always closed for the summer to give Town Players crew and administrators time to recoup from the long performing season. But what a simple concept! Singing and dancing on a blank set to a happy, well-fed audience - no crew needed to build sets or create elaborate lighting designs. Et voilà, the first Broadway Café was conceived. Paul Tocco is back directing and has chosen interesting tunes from popular Broadway shows as well as an obscure musical or two. Paul says, “I am thrilled to be doing Broadway Café again and getting a chance to highlight great songs that may have gotten lost among the standard breakaway Broadway hits – although we are doing some of those as well.” A former Town Players’ president, Mr. Tocco, also a Stage II founder and creator of the first Broadway Café in 1990, is also excited that Yuval Cohen was able to clear his calendar. to be music director. Mr. Cohen is currently pursuing his Ph.D. in music at New York University where he serves ad adjunct faculty. In addition to regular performances of classical music and jazz, Yuval is part of the Israeli music group Sharoshim Ensemble. He works regularly as a musical director for theatre and has been the musical director and arranger of vocal group High Five Vocal Works for the past three years. The Jerusalem Conservatory of Music has invited him to create a jazz department and he leaves the States for Israel soon after Broadway Café’s last performance. Says Mr. Cohen, “With musical theater, I love the process of teaching and watching as everything comes together. I love the challenge of taking a rough concept, teaching people, changing the music along the way to fit the way people sing and act, and finally getting something bigger than you could have imagined before you started.”
Marci Cummings-Vinci of Pound Ridge has appeared with the Town Players as Laurie in Oklahoma, Little Mary in Little Mary Sunshine, Maman in The Happy Time, and directed by Paul Tocco, Miss Holliday in The Uninvited, Astra the Astrologer in Santa in Space, and Helga Forkbeard in Santa and the Vikings. Joining her in “The Song That Goes Like This,” Spamalot’s hilarious parody of love songs about writers like Andrew Lloyd Webber, will be Stratford’s David Sylvia. A Music major at Western Connecticut College, David will perform “Time Warp” from The Rocky Horror Show. “Broadway Babes” Sharland Blanchard of New Canaan, Elayne Cassara of Weston, and Kate Castel of Wilton will bring glamour to their Powerhouse debuts. A Boston University grad, Sharland sang and danced in many productions, concerts and conferences at Madison Square Garden, the Jacob Javits Center and smaller venues. She has choreographed, produced and performed in productions to kickoff Hope-For-Kids health fairs in Norwalk, Bridgeport, Manhattan and the Bronx. She will sing “Maria” from West Side Story and is part of the Jersey Boys Quartet. Elayne is a singer/songwriter, who is currently producing her second album, “Star struck.” Elayne will sing “Every Story Is A Love Story” from the Tim Rice & Elton John’ rock musical version of Verdi’s Aida. Kate has a BFA in Acting from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point where she studied voice and dance. She will lead a spirited song and dance rendition of “Mama Mia” and is a member of the Jersey Boys Quartet.
An accounting major at Housatonic Community College, Aubrey studies voice under Michael Ferraiuolo in Manhattan and most recently appeared in Leading Ladies at Wilton Playshop. He will sing “Hello, Little Girl” from Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s Into the Woods. Fellow Stratford resident Betty McCready will instruct the Broadway Café wait staff, “When You’re Good To Mama, Mama’s Good to You” from Chicago. Betty has appeared with the Town Players in Songs from Our Seasons, Prisoner of Second Avenue, Witness for the Prosecution, All My Sons The Uninvited and Carousel. Singing the doo-wop, rock love song “Suddenly Seymour” from Little Shop of Horrors will be New Canaan High School junior Ashley Pacelli whose earliest theatre experiences took place at the Powerhouse as a camper in Summer Stageshop and Christopher Cavallo of Madison. Christopher recently received his BFA in musical theatre from Five Towns College. He has been performing since he was a child across Connecticut and Long Island and is now pursuing the Big Apple. The fourth member of the Jersey Boys Quartet, he will lead the company in the rousing “Run, Freedom, Run” from Urinetown.
Lindsey Hanelt of Easton attends Catholic University where she is majoring in musical theatre and has been performing since she was eight years old. She will take center stage with Stephen Schwartz’s “Popular” from Wicked. Regina Jardon of New Canaan Reggie is a rising junior at Boston University. Active in high school and college productions on stage and off, she will join David Sylvia and the company in “Time Warp.” Alex Tortora of Fairfield will be a senior at Fairfield Prep where is an avid member of the Prep Players and has appeared on MTV in the music video for Tokyo Police Club’s “Tessellate.” He will perform “Fortune Favor the Brave” from Aida and lead the cast in the title song from James Rado and Gerome Ragni’s American tribal love rock musical Hair. Norwalk residents Melinda Zupaniotis is back on the Powerhouse stage after a 16-year hiatus and Cherise Miller is making her Town Players’ debut. Melinda played Ida the Cockney maid in the Town Players’ production of See How They Run and has a long list of regional and community theatre credits. Melinda will sing “Please Don’t Touch Me” from Mel Brooks’ Young Frankenstein and with Elayne, “Herod’s Song, Walk Across My Swimming Pool” from Jesus Christ, Superstar! Cherise attended Trinity College in Hartford where she appeared in musical theatre productions. She has performed with the Kuni Mikami Jazz Trio in Manhattan. Cherise will sing “Mack the Knife” from Kurt Weill’s Threepenny Opera. A happy Town Players’ welcome mat as a community theatre story is that of Stamford’s Mary Clark who says, “One day in early April I had been thinking to myself how much I had enjoyed the skits and plays of my early grade school days and wondered why I never continued to pursue it. (I have never had that thought before.) Later that day I saw Paul at a party and he said, ‘I’m going to be staging a show this summer, do you want to be in it?’ Coincidence, I think not.” Paul Tocco, Debbie Shields of Norwalk, Wayne Hemstead of Greenwich, Kate Castel and Chris Cavallo will choreograph Broadway Café’s dance numbers. Providing the back stage expertise will be executive producer Patrick Kiley of Fairfield; stage manager Ed Donahue of Bridgeport, light designer Jeff Klein of Norwalk, and costumer Deborah Shields. © Copyright by ConnecticutPlus.com. Some articles and pictures posted on our website, as indicated by their bylines, were submitted as press releases and do not necessarily reflect the position and opinion of ConnecticutPlus.com, Canaiden LLC or any of its associated entities. Articles may have been edited for brevity and grammar. CURRENT HEADLINES:
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