Artistic Differences Preview & Review Show

Left: Maggie Hollinbeck, Ian Cullity, Michael R.J. Campbell, and Kevin Caravalho sing 'Quartet' from "Chess".


Sunday night featured singular delights, as Artistic Differences' performers sang tunes from "bare", "Falsettos", "Hair", "Chess", and other shows that hopefully may be staged by Artistic Differences in the near future. Various fund-raising devices to help launch these projects included a raffle and a silent auction.

The show, hosted by Ryan Adame & Kristen Wagner, was presented at the Benvenuti Performing Arts Center at 7 p.m. The hosts regaled the audience with amusing patter, often along the lines of: Musical theater is so gay, isn't it? And boy, is it ever! But that's another topic for another day. What mattered was that they were funny. And funny is hard.

I wondered how long Artistic Differences had in order to work out their routines, presumably rehearsed elsewhere, on this particular stage. Probably not long: Lighting Designer Nic Candito said he had started working on lights at 3 p.m. and was busy right till opening. Nic clearly loves the rush of deadline adrenalin: myself, nothing is quite so chilling as running out of time!

The show seemed to be late starting: I arrived ten minutes late, as is my flagrant custom, but I was still too early: the audience sat waiting for the show to start. I wondered fleetingly if Erik Daniells had staged this entire event just to deprive me of time with my clogged sewage line at home. But then, after a while, I wondered if lateness served a purpose. Maybe the show had already started, unbeknownst to the audience?

Ensemble members, dressed for the opening number of the show ('Epiphany' from "bare") gathered on the fringe of the audience, speaking and acting rather flamboyantly. Waiting for the show, they were the show. Two people were close enough that I could hear a portion of the extravagant stream-of-consciousness flowing forth:

....I was talking to my priest, and he told me to stop, but I didn't. But he knows what he is talking about!.....Everyone calls me Jungle Jim, but actually my name is Allan. It's not Jim. Or Jungle.....

Very odd! Very amusing!

Here are some pictures from Act I (before the camera's battery failed):

Left: Kelly Daniells as Sally Bowles in 'Mein Herr', from "Cabaret".

Left: 'Mein Herr' ending tableaux, from "Cabaret". Starting from second from left; Joelle Wirth, Kelly Daniells, and Maggie Hollinbeck. The other three, I don't know, but may be (from the program, in no particular order) as Sara Perry, Stephanie McCall, Whitney Claire Roeder, or Amanda Galang.

Left: 'Epiphany' from "bare".

Left: 'Epiphany' from "bare".

Left: Kevin Caravalho sings 'Marriage Proposal' from "Falsettos".

Left: Joelle Wirth sings 'Hippie Life' from "Hair".