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SINGING ON A STAR 2 - March 8, 11, 16 & 18 5:30-8pm La Bodega
A Dinner Show Broadway Revue

Favorite Broadway hits in two acts, performed by Lake Chapala Chorale
Produced and Directed by Cindy Paul
Advance tickets $300 at Diane Pearl's ($350 door) - includes dinner and show 

Review by Sandi Gelles-Cole

 The Lake Chapala Chorale returned this weekend with a new version of their hit Broad-way revue. We must thank Ms. Paul, La Bodega, and the LCC for giving us an evening to sate ourselves with nostalgia, reminisce about our younger days, and laugh when the performers poke fun at aging bodies still chasing the dream.

Let’s put aside #metoo for a moment. “There Is Nothing Like a Dame,” from South Pacific harkens back to a more innocent time. The company’s men make the song gleeful and humorous, a scene acted as well as sung. Not to be outdone, the women in the company, led by Mary Cordes, sing “I’m Gonna Wash that Man Right Outta my Hair,” also from South Pacific, in a performance that speaks louder than court dates and depositions. For this one evening I longed for those days before things between men and women became so contentious, when the battle between the sexes could be fought and won on a stage.

Somehow Paul manages to move sixteen people up and down stage stairs and throughout the entire restaurant, using those performers not currently on stage as extras and as a chorus. Performers are singing, dancing, acting, changing costumes, moving sets—a well-oiled machine in constant motion—with wonderful voices, some beautiful, some funny and growly just when that is what we need.

A few special mentions: “I Feel Pretty,” from West Side Story and sung by Cindy Paul and the LCC women, is another example of the group somehow managing to act as well as sing in a space the size of my master bedroom. Kudos to Dave Salyers and to the whole company for enhancing the concept of “Mr. Cellophane,” from Chicago. I was unfamiliar with this piece, but with the entire group around the soloist variously talking on the phone, chatting amongst themselves, walking practically right through him, the point that we can be invisible was brought home emphatically and with economy of motion. Mary Cordes and Don Lott performed “Hey Big Spender” from Sweet Charity, and this was no razzle-dazzle dance number. Instead, it was a riot. Cordes and Lott brought out what is funny about us older folks still kicking up our heels and attempting to seduce with fuchsia boa feathers.
 

This show works so well because the LCC is a team, not a group of individuals trying to upstage one another. They are in this together and they bring the audience right along with them. By the end of the night when the audience joins in to sing “Edelweiss,” everyone in the building is part of the show.

If you saw the similar show last fall, see it again because much of it is new and what you have seen before has evolved. If you haven’t seen it, get tickets at Diane Pearl’s soon, because there are only two shows left, on March 16 and 18. Just $300 ($350 at door) includes dinner, the two-act show and the keen addition of a cappella musical appetizers before the performance.                ~  Review by Sandi Gelles-Cole

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