LINA KOUTRAKOS AND LENNIE WATTS AND COMPANY
August 9, 2008
Don't Tell Mama
A class program became an event. For their annual workshop, Summer in the City, cabaret's popular singer/directors, Lina Koutrakos and Lennie Watts, offered the promise, "We Can Work It Out," and a theme. The theme was The Beatles and the venue was Don't Tell Mama.
Briefly stated, Koutrakos and Watts offered each of their experienced workshop students a Beatles tunes to learn. Afterwards they would meet with either Watts or Koutrakos and arrangers/accompanists Rick Jensen, Tracy Stark, or Stephen Ray Watkins to nail down a point of view and delivery. Jensen and Stark were on hand at the club to accompany the singers.
Don't Tell Mama's sold-out audience was treated to a creative display of personal interpretations of songs stamped with Beatles familiarity. Some singers zoned into the humor of the lyric. Two knockouts were Susan Dymond who perched Marlene Dietrich-like on a chair and growled, "Do You Want to know a Secret?" When Dezur Kenna appeared onstage, she clasped her hands before her and in her resonant soprano voice suitable for a Valkyrie, she scolded the audience with "Revolution." Also notable was Justin Ritchie, whose tenor talent soared to the raunchy rock spirit of "Baby, You Can Drive My Car." Morgan delivered a sassy with "Ob-La-De, Ob-La-Da." Doug Sheppard closed the show with a sly political gibe, a crowd-pleasing introduction to, "Nowhere Man."
There were also the ballads, like Jennifer Gregson's standout, "All My Lovin'," that aimed for the heart with the poignant honesty of young romance. Rick Peets was confident and moving with "Something," and Jenna Esposito's "Fool On The Hill" simmered with a saucy swing. Faye Lane astutely set up a reflective mood surrounding "Eleanor Rigby," one of the lonely women Lane obviously knew and cared about.
Phyllis Mollen perched on the piano and aimed for the blues spirit in, "Can't Buy Me Love," and Maria Ottavia reflectively rendered a delicate "Yesterday."
The show moved crisply, the performers introduced briefly, approaching up one aisle and leaving down the other.
Koutrakos and Watts offered their students one lifeline song to punch up the interpretation, if needed. The song was "Help!" Some students incorporated it into their selections. Others did not, but no one really needed "help" delivering this slickly directed, delightful program of promising performers who took the time to learn from the some of the best.
Briefly stated, Koutrakos and Watts offered each of their experienced workshop students a Beatles tunes to learn. Afterwards they would meet with either Watts or Koutrakos and arrangers/accompanists Rick Jensen, Tracy Stark, or Stephen Ray Watkins to nail down a point of view and delivery. Jensen and Stark were on hand at the club to accompany the singers.
Don't Tell Mama's sold-out audience was treated to a creative display of personal interpretations of songs stamped with Beatles familiarity. Some singers zoned into the humor of the lyric. Two knockouts were Susan Dymond who perched Marlene Dietrich-like on a chair and growled, "Do You Want to know a Secret?" When Dezur Kenna appeared onstage, she clasped her hands before her and in her resonant soprano voice suitable for a Valkyrie, she scolded the audience with "Revolution." Also notable was Justin Ritchie, whose tenor talent soared to the raunchy rock spirit of "Baby, You Can Drive My Car." Morgan delivered a sassy with "Ob-La-De, Ob-La-Da." Doug Sheppard closed the show with a sly political gibe, a crowd-pleasing introduction to, "Nowhere Man."
There were also the ballads, like Jennifer Gregson's standout, "All My Lovin'," that aimed for the heart with the poignant honesty of young romance. Rick Peets was confident and moving with "Something," and Jenna Esposito's "Fool On The Hill" simmered with a saucy swing. Faye Lane astutely set up a reflective mood surrounding "Eleanor Rigby," one of the lonely women Lane obviously knew and cared about.
Phyllis Mollen perched on the piano and aimed for the blues spirit in, "Can't Buy Me Love," and Maria Ottavia reflectively rendered a delicate "Yesterday."
The show moved crisply, the performers introduced briefly, approaching up one aisle and leaving down the other.
Koutrakos and Watts offered their students one lifeline song to punch up the interpretation, if needed. The song was "Help!" Some students incorporated it into their selections. Others did not, but no one really needed "help" delivering this slickly directed, delightful program of promising performers who took the time to learn from the some of the best.
Elizabeth Ahlfors
August 9, 2008