Ensemble Theatre Company was celebrating 45 years of its professional theater in Santa Barbara with its Curtain Up! Gala — an evening of entertainment in two acts.
Act One was in the New Vic Theatre.
Here they told us of the theme for ETC’s 46th season, “Legends and Legacies.”
Get ready for DRACULA: A Comedy of Terrors, Hamlet (Ooh, it’ll be interesting to see what they do with that!), and Justice, about the first female justices to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court.
And ETC will again feature two shows on America’s beloved musicians. To prep us in that frame of mind, ETC paid tribute to the musical legends of Santa Barbara.
What fun was this! We had sumptuous songs written by legendary Santa Barbara residents while showcasing the remarkable music performers of the community.
Here was the setup: director Jenny Sullivan introduced each song, the singer(s) and the band (talk about the Wrecking Crew of Santa Barbara!): John Enrico Douglas (who served as music director/arranger), guitar guys Maitland Ward and Tariqh Akoni, bass Randy Tico, George Friedenthal on keyboard, saxman Justin Claveria and drummer Austin Beede.
Yes, you are right, you wish you could have been there. But wait, there’s more!
I haven’t told you who was singing: Jackson Gillies, Lois Mahalia, Miriam Dance and the classic blues man Morganfield Burnett. They sang both ensemble and in harmony and as duets and soloists. Now you’ll really wish you had been there!
The groups sang compositions by local songwriters Kenny Loggins (“Celebrate Me Home”), Katy Perry (“You’re going to Hear me Roar”), Jackson Browne (“Doctor my Eyes”), Friedenthal delivered the vocals on Michael McDonald’s “Taking it to the Street” with an awesome solo on sax by Claveria. Loggins’ “Conviction of the Heart” showcased Gillies.
Next season ETC will present Million Dollar Quartet, the Tony Award-winning musical set in 1956 in a Memphis studio.
It was there that Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis recorded their legendary jam session. Considering the huge popularity of last year’s Ring of Fire: The Music of Johnny Cash, I suspect this show will sell out in a quarter note.
SO our Gala Band showcased some of these songs as well:
Some songs from the show had our uber-music-babe Lois Mahalia pop out and play on a ukulele of all things … showcased along with her sensational smooth vocals.
Burnett gave us the opening solo on the spiritual “Down by the Riverside” … and then he just sang and sang through his harmonica like a virtuoso.
The other musical offering I am soooo looking forward to is Hershey Felder as George Gershwin Alone.
This drama with music tells the story of America’s great composer, and his groundbreaking work, “A Rhapsody in Blue,” which Douglas arranged with our stupendous sax man Claveria, artfully bending the reed on the opening notes.
Miriam Dance (is that a cool name or what!) is new on the scene but, man, she packs a wallop with a big vocal talent.
When she sang Gershwin’s “The Man I Love,” I noted she had all the power to belt it through; instead she intelligently backed off and artfully caressed the high notes.
Happy in the audience were longtime supporters such as Mary Dorra, Sybil Rosen, Meg and Dan Burnham, and Gwen and Henry Baker.
Meanwhile, Missy Sheldon and I cheered like high school kids encouraging our favorite band.
ACT TWO featured an elegant dinner at the Santa Barbara Club. They do such a great job there. Classy Classy.
Here ETC patrons included Ellen and Bob Lilley, Ron Morris, Paula Bruice, Rod Lathim, Bob Johnson and Lisa Reich, Mercedes Millington, Val and Bob Montgomery, Chris Holland, Trish Gainey, and Ruth and Alan Heeger.
I chatted with Paul Longanbach, Helene Segal and George Konstatinov and Joan Rutkowski, who were all on the planning committee.
Scott Devine, ETC’s new executive director, gave us the stats: ETC has presented 248 shows in 45 years. (That’s a lot of pancake, props and Fresnels!)
Then, he reported, tickets sales continue to climb — in fact were up 12% this year. AND two of the shows this year were in the top 10 tickets sales of ETC’s entire history!
So things are looking good for ETC, because, as Billy Shakespeare once said, “The plays the thing.”
Fiesta Ranchera
It was a more manageable crowd size this year but the fun and talent went over big at Stow House for Fiesta Ranchera presented by the Goleta Valley Historical Society and Old Spanish Days Fiesta.
Past Fiesta presidentes in attendance included Clay Dickens, Denise Sanford, Eric Davis and Stephanie Petlow, who was there with her sister, Paula Bottiani, who is president of the Goleta Valley Historical Society!
Boppin’ out on the dance floor we find Shirley and Ted Blankenship, Diane Replogle-Purinton and Father Larry Gosselin from the Santa Barbara Mission.
Area 51, my favorite favorite dance band, has been playing for Fiesta Ranchera pretty much every year since the beginning.
They have the best dance covers ever (R & B! Motown! Stevie! Earth Wind & Fire! M.J.!) They played at the Santa Barbara Historical Museum opening of its Project Fiesta Centennial exhibit (open now through Nov. 1!) and they perform for the Santa Barbara Association of Realtors’ annual Fiesta Party.
And super super musicians here: George Friedenthal back in again on keyboards, and “flying-fingers-Ray Fennel” on gee-tar.
I am totally in awe of Laura Schlieske on vocals. She may look like a quiet, unassuming acupuncturist by day, but for any night dance party, that girl can SAAANG.
And the front man, Michael Andrews, is a wonderfully charismatic and entertaining performer who engages the audience — with tremendous vocal chops to match.
And herein is a sweet Fiesta tradition of our popular bands over the century of Old Spanish Days.
How many remember the undulating Latin rhythms of Lencho Martinez? He was especially popular during the 1960s, ’70s, even into the ’80s. For decades, his marimbas were the iconic “sound of Fiesta.”
And you can still find his talented sons — Lorenzo, Ruben and Rene — continuing the music in Santa Barbara during Fiesta (most notably in the Profant Foundation for the Arts’ annual Fiesta Finale Sunday night at El Paseo.
During the 1950 and into the ’70s, the I. Newton Perry orchestra was big for ballroom and swing during the Fiesta season, especially popular playing at the “Baille del Mar” dances every night on West Beach.
“Mr. Musica” as he was called and his instrumentalists performed for the dances at Noches de Gala at the Coral Casino Beach & Cabana Club in Montecito.
Before that we had Fred Craviotto, who was a founder of the Old Spanish Days String Orchestra, and his group played the popular dance tunes during the 1930s and ’40s as well as traditional old Spanish songs.
Craviotto was co-director of the group with a multitalented musician named Loring Andrews, who sang, played guitar and also the accordion.
More to the point, Andrews just happened to be the grandfather of Michael Andrews from Area 51.
So this family of musicians has been providing dance tunes for Old Spanish Days over the century of these summer celebrations. Viva!
