Cabaret Crème Santa Rosa show post mortem

Lisa Carlson, Judy Breakstone, and Raymonde McCoy sing "Le Tourbillon de La Vie" from the Truffaut movie, "Jules et Jim." Photo by Hilary Kaiser.

When I emailed several friends over the weekend about last Friday's Santa Rosa Cabaret Crème performance at the lovely Vista del Lago, it was still raw, unprocessed. I was feeling great that we had shown up and managed to perform, although Tom, our only male, was out sick, and our dancer, Naomi, had a foot injury, requiring her choreography to be handled while seated on a chair, foot in a therapeutic boot!

 

Naomi's right foot during dress rehearsal. Photo by Lisa Carlson.

 

Naomi Puro, Valerie Herr at piano, Tom Flynn, and Judy Breakstone rehearse. Photo by Lisa Carlson.

Judy Breakstone dances in for Tom Flynn, with Hilary Kaiser, in a scene from Hilary's play about French war brides. Photo by Lisa Carlson

I had suggested postponing the gig, but the majority vote was that the show must go on. All the theatrical pieces were well done (see the Santa Rosa program to the right of this post for details). The actors knew their lines, had pretty good costumes: basically, they walked on water.

Jane Schoenfeld as a young noblewoman taking her first English lesson, in a scene from Shakespeare's "Henry V." Photo courtesy of Hilary Kaiser.

The musical ensemble pieces needed more work. It's strange how our finale piece, although we've done it successfully in the past, just feels lackluster. The scarf-waving thing holds us back, and it always seems to be over just as we're getting into it. 

I did not rehearse nearly enough to get to where I needed to be - a seamless, no-lyrics-in- hand, performance. I hope to do better next time. But, I did get compliments on my nascent voice.

Lisa reads the opening stanza of  "La Seine."  L to R: Raymonde McCoy, Hilary Kaiser, Charmaine Hitchcox, Naomi Puro, and Jane Schoenfeld. Photo courtesy of Hilary Kaiser.

Then, there was Friday night's background kerfluffle. I was not witness to the unnerving moments, but, apparently, there had been miscommunication from our host, the Alliance Française de Santa Rosa. First, it was about the chairs: would the audience just mill around and eat their crepes, or would they be seated, so they could watch our show? Then, it was about an intermission: would there be one? Then, it was about the tickets required to get a crepe or glass of vino. What struck me, was that our gang had not even been told that the theme of the evening would be Mardis Gras! We surely would have added something to honor that choice, had we known about it.

 

Revelers in front of the CC Paris poster. Photo by Lisa Carlson.

The crepe makers. Photo courtesy of Hilary Kaiser.

In the end, we were glad we pulled through. We had enormous esprit de corps, and we all drove home safely on Friday night, ready to take Cabaret Crème higher.

Jane Schoenfeld, Judy Breakstone, and Raymonde McCoy. Santa Rosa audience of 60. Photo by Lisa Carlson.