Spotlight Cabaret Series featuring Janine Klein.

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 Janine Klein returns to the Winter Park Playhouse Spotlight Cabaret Series
premiering her latest solo cabaret, “Nobody Does It Better.” From “Dr.
No” to “Spectre,” James Bond films have given us some of the most iconic
movie themes of the past 50 years. Janine takes her audience through an
evening of popular Bond theme songs and stories that will definitely cause some laughs.

Pam Schwartz and I went to a rehearsal. It turned out that it was Janine Klein’s birthday. She put on a gorgeous sequin gown and had Christopher Leavy, the musical director at Playhouse Theater, zip her up. He was wearing an orange t-shirt and asked me to sketch him in a dress shirt. He then discovered that he had a dress shirt in his office. In theater you always have to be ready with a change of costume.

Janine gave a hilarious and irreverent performance. She gave a hilarious list of some of the Bond Girls, like Pussy Galore, Plenty O’Toole, Holly Goodhead, Xenia Onatopp and her favorite Octo Pussy. She was at ease and the show became largely a comedy as she lambasted the Bond mystique. She might reign in the irreverent jokes when there is a full house, but I hope not. The microphone was only a prop. It wasn’t live, so for some numbers she spared her voice. Even as she glossed over the difficult passages she was always entertaining. She was even more entertaining as she growled out some lyrics and held the microphone provocatively.

The cabaret
showcases a different professional singer each month up front in the
beautiful lobby bar. A truly “New York-style” cabaret, each performance
is approximately 55 minutes in length with no intermission. Shows are September 27th and 28th at 7:30pm. Doors open
at 6:30pm for General Seating. Tickets are $20 for general seating.

5 Course Love

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Mark Baratelli,the producer of The Daily City, invited me to attend a performance of Five Course Love at the Winter Park Playhouse (711-C Orange Ave., Winter Park). In this play, three actors each got to play five different parts. The music was fun and the action comical as mismatched couples met at restaurants. Mark was hilarious as a waiter at each of the restaurants and each scene would invariable be punctuated by the sound dishes crashing to the floor in the off stage kitchen and Mark world offer the comic refrain, ” Oops, there is trouble in the kitchen!”

Michelle Knight was absolutely fantastic as the female lead. Her singing voice is amazing. I had sketched her once before when she performed in “My Fair Lady“. As Barbie she played a Saucy Texas gal who would do anything to woo her man, a blind date named Matt played by Christopher Alan Norton. Unfortunately her date was actually at the next table which left Matt frustratingly alone.

I sketched Christopher Leavy on piano and Sam Forrest on drums since I knew the action on stage was going to change often. When Mark came out on stage in lederhosen, I laughed out loud. Michelle, playing Gretchen, was in a hot tight red leather outfit and she had a whip. She climbed up on the piano and sang her lament. Stricken, I stopped sketching and listened. In the final scene, she played kitty who spent all her time reading about love yet never experienced life. It turns out she was perfect for Matt, a young man who was also unlucky in love. When they meet each other, Mark Bartelli came out on stage as cupid with large white angels wings pirouetting like a ballet dancer. It turns out Mark is classically trained in ballet but I was laughing too loud to care.

Five Course Love is playing through February 13th 7:30 p.m. Fridays, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays. Tickets are $35 evenings, $33 seniors, $26 matinees, $20 students and entertainment-industry professionals. Bring your love right before Valentines Day. You will laugh so hard it hurts and y0u might fall in love all over again.

Poetry in Motion

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Emotions Dance Company held two performances of Poetry in Motion at the Winter Park Playhouse (711-C Orange Avenue, Winter Park). Local poets recited their work as the dancers bought the words to life with expressive dance. I asked Larissa Humiston the dance company’s choriographer and founder if I could sketch in the sound and lighting booth. She agreed and escorted me back through the dressing rooms and up a crude ladder made from nailed together two by fours. I knew it would be dark up there so I got out my book light. The entire show was dimly illuminated with simple spot lights on the poets and the main stage.

Tod Caviness recited a fabulous poem about a Punch and Judy puppet show in a park. “Everyone went home happy. Even the kids with swollen knuckles like wedding rings.” When ever Dion Smith performed, I had to stop sketching and just watch. She has the delicate features of a ballerina but fully embraced the modern dance she performed. Curtis X Meyer’s poem about a disfigured photographer was amazing when accompanied by dance. I had watched this piece in rehearsals and knew that Larissa had to step in to dance the part of the photographer since the male dancer kept missing rehearsals. She had an amazing ability to get completely lost in the music and she immediately made the role hers.

The whole cast did an amazing job. I am so happy I live in a town where such cutting edge, collaborative, expressive work is being created and performed.

Poetry in Motion

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I went to Starz Dance Studio on 436 in Casselberry, to see one of the final rehearsals before “Poetry in Motion” hits the stage at the Winter Park playhouse. When I walked in, Larissa Humiston, the choreographer and founder of Emotions Dance, welcomed me and made sure all the dancers knew who I was. Dancers were filling out paper work committing themselves to Nude Nite in February and Element Earth in April. Larissa surprised the dancers when she announced that they would not be doing a run through of the whole show. One dancer expressed concerns as her face flushed red. She was visibly upset . She pointed out that the show was only three days away. Larissa wanted to give the dancers a rest but she decided to put the issue up for a vote. She told the dancers to discuss and she stepped out into the hall. I was in the midst of a possible mutiny. Larissa re-entered the room before a final verdict was decided on. She joined the discussion and finally put it up for vote again. This time she told all the dancers to close their eyes and raise their hand to vote. Only two dancers wanted to run through the show.
Larissa lead the dancers in some warm up exercises and then spent the rest of the evening helping the dancers feel connected to one another like a family. She had all the dancers sit in a circle. She asked each dancer to then tell two truths about themselves and one lie. Everyone then had to guess the lie. Rather than hard work, they began to play and in the process learn about each other. Listening in as I sketched, I found out Larissa hates socks and likes tiny collectible things.
A second game involved the dancers picking one of four songs and then standing in a corner of the room designated for that song. No one went to the corner of the room where I happened to be sitting. Either the song sucked or the dancers didn’t want to stand near the creepy artist.
One of the songs assigned was Time Warp from the Rocky Horror picture show. The two dancers in that corner had 5 minutes to choreograph a dance routine to the music. The dance they came up with was lively and entertaining. There were the required hip thrusts but the rest of the routine was spontaneous and fun, performed with constant laughter. The other two songs offered equally fun and spontaneous results. The important thing was that everyone was laughing and having a great time. Worries about the big performance in three days were gone.
The last exercise that Larissa pulled out, was to have all the dancers walk as a group to the Mexican place right up the street. With my sketch finished, I packed up and went home.
Larissa manages to bring plenty of truth and sincerity to the choreography, with dancers who are committed to the performance and each other. Emotions Dance will be performing “Poetry in Motion” tonight (October 1) and tomorrow (October 2), at the Winter Park Playhouse (711 North Orange Avenue, Winter Park). Tickets are only $20. Tickets can be purchased online at www.emotionsdance.org with a credit card OR
From an Emotions Dance dancer or representative for cash or check OR
Cash or check the night of the performance (as long as tickets don’t sell out) Get your tickets NOW as they are going fast!

Improv Full House

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Of all the theatrical events I have sketched, I have never seen a sold out house. When I entered the Winter Park Playhouse on the second night of the festival, Brian Feldman seated in the front row said to me, “Get up on stage and sketch, this is the audience we should have had.” He was referring to “Thomas Thorspecken Sketches the Audience” where we only filled at most a quarter of the seats. Tonight every seat was taken. I watched “The Arm” improv group from Atlanta. I was there to spend time with Terry since she had left early the night before without seeing a show. She recognized some of the the scene structure since we lived in NYC. We laughed the whole show, even when one comedian during a fast-paced routine stood center stage and blurted out, “I got nothing.” He laughed, was pushed aside and someone else took over.
We decided to stay for the next performance which was “Some Like it Improvised” from Austin, Texas. This act consisted of the duo of Roy Janik and Kaci Beeler. I wanted to sketch this go around, so I asked Mark Baratelli about sketching the audience from the sound and lighting booth. Mark pointed out Cody Bush, the tech, and so I followed him up to the booth. We walked through the dressing room past a couple in 1930s period clothes. In the back room there was a rickety ladder made of two-by-fours that ascended into a hole cut in the ceiling. It was a tight squeeze with my backpack of art supplies. It was dark up there so I pulled out my book light. The audience poured in as I sketched lightly in pencil. Every seat was filled. People finally had to sit in the center aisle.
Roy and Kaci were amazing. They performed one long improv show that involved them being bootleggers after the prohibition. Kaci would change characters on a dime. Some of the remarks made were so absurd it is amazing they kept their forward momentum. Since probably half the audience were improv comedians, it felt like the room was rooting for them. This was like watching a feature film being improvised on the fly. A stunning performance.
I knew I only had about 45 minutes to sketch so I rushed. After the show everyone crowded into the lobby. Brian Feldman was talking to Terry. He pulled me aside and said, “You should have been sketching the performers. Kaci is a sketch artist just like you.” He insisted I walk up to Kaci and ask her if she was an artist. I did so while Mark filmed the meeting on his digital camera. It turns out Kaci sketches set designs besides being an improv actress. She has a girlish charm while on stage, and can be the femme fatale as well as a comic. After this show, Terry was tired and wanted to go home. For once I joined her, since I had my sketch and an amazing success story.

Orlando Improv Festival

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Mark Baratelli of theDailyCity.com organized the first annual Orlando Improv Festival. I know he has been organizing the event for months so I had to stop by the Winter Park Playhouse and see how the inaugural night played out. When I arrived Mark seemed a little harried but from the start I could see that the event was a success. The lobby of the playhouse is warm and inviting. There are comfortable couches and a full service bar. It has what I consider a Parisian flair. I sketched the box office where Dina Peterson and Ileana “Blue” Johns, were greeting people as they entered. Dina would chime in with, “So, are you here to see a show?” The lobby quickly filled up. Hannah Miller who was also a volunteer sat with her handmade high heeled bunny slippers, working diligently at sidoku on her cell phone. Rabbits that resembled Betsy Die’s wonderful quirky creations were everywhere. I texted Betsy and she explained that Mark had asked her to create rabbits as improv mascots. She didn’t want to spend the 2 hours needed to sew each rabbit. Mark recruited the mom of a friend who ended up sewing the lookalikes. Betsy did have final approval of the final product but some of the demonic charm was lost.
I heard a woman seated at the bar say to her friend, “I think that is Thor.” Since it is a small lobby, I heard her and walked over to say hello. Terry stopped in after work, but she had to get up early the next morning so she didn’t stick around for a show . Hannah and Mike Maples sat at my table and we talked and laughed for the longest time while I finished my sketch. Hannah and Mike went to get some sandwiches and we had dinner before finally heading in to see a show. when we entered the theater, it was pitch dark. I got my iPhone out to use as a flashlight and Hannah shouted out, “Hey help guide us in with your cell phones! ” I believe Sultana or Brian guided us to some seats in the third row.
Mark bounded on the stage and the crowd hooted and hollered . He introduced Boston Improv and everyone cheered. They had me laughing out loud from the start. Scenes changed quickly and the fast pace never slackened. 0ne scene was at a dating service where one woman was training another on how to act when first meeting her date. Someone was pulled from the audience and he was seated next to her. She pushed up right next to him and rubbed her head on his chest like a cat. when she was reprimanded she clutched his knee refusing to give him any space. When she was prompted to say something about herself she said, “I like to drug people while they are asleep.” I couldn’t stop laughing.
The second act I went to see was Droll Academy from Orlando. I was told they perform every week at “The Funky Monkey”. They started with musical improv which had me bopping my head to the beat while I laughed . They too pulled an audience member on the stage. They chose a beautiful Asian woman who they serenaded gently till the lyrics showed the truth, that they wanted to make love to her. As she stood embarrassed one actor writhed on the ground as he continued to sing.
Both performances I went to were packed and people lingered in the lobby between shows. I hope this festival grows and returns bigger and better each year.