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August 11 , 2006

Toxic Audio did it again! The awesome acapella group jammed Birdland with screaming fans from all over the world (some flew in from as far as Japan...) and gave us one of the most entertaining, musically diverse shows ever! The good news is that they'll be back on Monday, December 18, just in time for the holidays! You might wanna make your reservations now - so you don't miss them! As you can see, they had the good taste to wear the latest in Cast Party apparel at their sound check (left)...all the kids are wearing them, you know. And you can have one too, if you click "Get the goods!!" The group stuck around for Cast Party, singing their hearts out once again. It was a big night, with lots of celebrating going on. It was Bob Dolphin's 82nd birthday, Natalie Douglas and Billy Jo Young's anniversary, and Delisco's return from Vegas. Drowsy Chaperone's Garth Kravits did his best Joe Cocker impression with a little help from the Toxins! Michael Feinstein and Roslyn Kind showed up for the second week in a row. Celeste Holm was there, too, toasting the 50th Anniversary of “High Society,” one of my all-time favorite movies. Everyone was thrilled when she and hubby Frank Basile, sang “True Love.” We don't get that many Oscar-winners at Cast Party! Check out all the great photos on FLICKR, with many thanks to Mark Rupp for all the wonderful shots! Next week, we do it all again, with Tedd Firth and Steve Doyle making up the Cast Party Symphony Orchestra! Sure hope to see you!

As Brian Scott Lipton wrote in TheaterMania, few actresses work as consistently as Nancy Anderson (left)! This year alone, the Broadway goddess has been in Fanny Hill (and got a Drama Desk nomination) and Burleigh Grime$. It's been three years since her last Bistro Award-winning concert appearance, but this coming Monday, she will be celebrating her beautiful new CD of 20's and 30's music, “Ten Cents A Dance” with a 7pm concert at Birdland. You just have to be there! Ms. Anderson will be joined by musical director Ross Patterson and his Little Big Band, and will perform standards and lost treasures including "The Trouble with Me is You," "My Romance," "But Not for Me," and the title track "Ten Cents a Dance." There will be a $30 cover and $10 food/drink minimum. Call the club (212-581-3080) or click on Birdland, The Jazz Corner of the World!

Here it is, the Question of the Week! You may have been watching Jim's video column on Theatermania.com, Jim Caruso is...Prying!, wherein Jim asks various glitterati personal questions. If you haven't seen it yet, catch up with the archive, here!

Last week, we asked you: What's the most memorable live performance you've ever witnessed and why?

We got such a beautiful answer from Andrew Lippa, one of our favorite composers, that we decided just to let you read it for yourselves:

"I was on the bill of a benefit for which Betty Buckley was supposed to be the finale. I'm a big fan of Betty's but had never seen her on stage singing a theater song (I only knew her from TV and from recordings. I did see her club act once, loved it, but that's different from singing in a show). I was excited to hear she'd be there. I lost my excitement, however, when I heard she was going to sing 'Memory'. I mean, it's a lovely song, right?, but it felt like an old war-horse being trotted out rather than Betty tackling something new, or something with an exciting spin on it as only she could do it. So, she strides in (from the house!) from having taught a class somewhere (she barely made it!) and she gets up and says hello and everyone, of course, goes wild. Then, the familiar vamp, and we wait. She begins, as we all know, 'midnight/not a sound from the pavement' and I swear it was as if she had just written the music and lyric right then, right there. She didn't sing the song, she invented it. She inhabited every sung moment, every non-sung moment, every every moment. It was as if all of time had stood still and what she was singing was more important than the thoughts of the world, the sound of my heart, the space between her and God. It was the purest, most honest, most involving rendering of not only that song but of any song I've ever seen/heard someone do. It was that good. She knew what the song was about - even if I didn't - and she, by the quiet force of her immense talent, taught the rest of us. Thanks, Betty. I'll never forget it." -- Andrew Lippa

Thank you, Andrew...your answer gave us such a case of the happy chills, we're just going to let it sink in for a week.

AMANDA GREEN CALLED BILL WESTMORELAND TO PHOTOGRAPH HER CD, PUT A LITTLE LOVE IN YOUR MOUTH. “I was excited about photographing Amanda again since I had taken a beautiful shot of her a few months earlier. (pictured here). Then in her true “tongue-in-cheek” form she said, ‘Oh, and by the way we need to photograph Brooks Ashmanskas, Mario Cantone, Jonathan Dokuchitz, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Kim Lindsay, Jessica Molaskey, Billy Stritch, and Mary Testa.’ We had a blast even though scheduling the crew in groups of three became a nightmare. We ended up putting Amanda in the “group picture” 5 times in five different costumes...it was quite hilarious!” You can see more about Amanda at Greenpiecemusic.com. You can contact Bill Westmoreland at bwphotography@aol.com.

WHAT DO MICHAEL C. HALL, KERRY BUTLER, CHEYENNE JACKSON, ESTELLE PARSONS, JULIA MURNEY, DEVEN MAY, HUNTER FOSTER, MICHAEL ARDEN, JAMES BLUNT and the GOO GOO DOLLS all have in common? Their secret weapon -- voice teacher Liz Caplan! Her student ANA GASTEYER (upcoming Threepenny Opera) says, “Studying with Liz has changed my approach to singing on every level. In the two years we have worked together, she has combined phenomenal technique with tailor-made specifications to meet a huge variety of professional demands. Her tireless enthusiasm and expertise have empowered me physiologically and emotionally to become a better singer than I had ever imagined. It's like physical therapy and good, old-fashioned psycho-therapy for your vocal chords!” Visit http://www.LizCaplan.com for more information, but tell Liz you heard about her at Cast Party!

OUR UPDATED T-SHIRT is now available in Tootsie-Roll brown with safety-cone orange trim, as seen at left, where Jim reveals his secret identity as -- Superhost! Show your love for a certain Monday night Open Mic extravaganza by wearing this 100% cotton, Peruvian-made, American-printed piece of art! The wry "Got Mic?" logo is on the front, and our logo is on the back. They're only $20 and available if you click http://www.castpartynyc.com/Goods.htm.

As always, many thanks to our corporate and private sponsors:
Gianni Valente & Hilary Kole, Randy Swartz & Stage Step, Jamie deRoy & friends, Michael Estwanik, Piper-Heidsieck Champagne, Todd Forman, Steven Minichiello, Matthew Gilbert and Wild Oats Productions, as well as our Birdland sound guru Sean Corcoran and Brian Wilson at SoHa Media. We can't do it without you!

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"The Party simply glows with New York nightlife ambiance. It feels like a throwback to another era but it has this era's top-notch entertainers dropping in to schmooze, sing, eat, and drink. Caruso consistently provides a flow of exciting singers, and he's definitely hip, cool and classy all by himself."

-THEATERMANIA

When: Every Monday at 9:30pm!

Where:

BIRDLAND
315 West 44th Street (between 8th & 9th), NYC
212.581.3080

Bookings for Jim Caruso's Cast Party® for theaters, arts presenters,
corporations and private events:

Ligeti Artists LLC
Peter Ligeti
mrligeti@aol.com
212.396.1111

For online booking information, click: The Show Store

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