I went to New York the other night on 10th Street in Gilroy
– Odyssey Theater productions always do that to me – reminding
me of a cozy nightclub experience in the East Village.
I went to New York the other night on 10th Street in Gilroy – Odyssey Theater productions always do that to me – reminding me of a cozy nightclub experience in the East Village. Forgetting my troubles, I smiled broadly as Sandra Marlowe opened her benefit concert for Odyssey Theater Friday night in the Gilroy High School Theater with a swingin’ rendition of “Get Happy.” How could I not attend the benefit when a good friend, Katie Booth, started the theater company?
Booth went on to finish her doctorate degree recently in Southern California, passing the artistic direction to Dennis Beasley a few years ago. Beasley was on hand Friday night to promote Odyssey Theater but admits he will be stepping down from the position of Artistic Director and heading to U.C. Irvine to complete an a master’s degree in theater.
As Marlowe quoted John Lennon in her monologue discussion with the audience in between songs, “Life is what happens when you’re making plans to do something else.” Thankfully, due to Marlowe’s generosity in donating her talents to Odyssey, Gilroy High Theater will live on.
Marlowe’s one-woman show flowed unsteadily at first as Marlowe struggled with the lyrics for the song of Elphaba from the Broadway show “Wicked,” but she found her groove again with a segue into a jazz rendition of “It’s Ain’t Easy Being Green.” (in case you didn’t catch the production of “Wicked” yet, Elphaba was born green). Jeez, that brings back memories of my little 45 recording of Kermit singing the blues! Marlowe followed with a song from her “naughty cabaret” show in Hollister last year by singing a Judy Garland piece called, “Blues in the Night.” Introducing the Eddie Canter song, “Making Whoopi,” Marlowe explained that she “won’t be climbing onto the piano – that would be embarrassing. My version is more comic than sultry.” The crowd of locals in the audience included Pat and Steve Chambers, Charles and Janice Krahenbuhl, Rich and Becky Kaiser, Carol and Dave Harris, and Gretchen Vandenburg to name a few. Marlowe’s performance was complimented by her accompanist, Tony Davis. Davis jammed on the piano and played the comic backdrop to Marlowe’s shtick. How lucky the South County audience was to have two such fun, big-city talents performing in garlic country.
Luck has nothing to do with finding a great, random Web site like the one I found today. It takes perseverance and a total need to procrastinate. The www.ilovenachocheese.com site is silly and the epitome of time-wasting, yet I found myself intrigued by the thorough discussion of all things nacho.
After exchanging e-mails with one of the founders, Joe McCloud, I found out the site doesn’t make money but it does cause people to smile, because, you know, “It Ain’t Easy Being Orangeish-yellowish.”
Ciao for now.
