THEATER PRODUCTIONS

A SOUTHAMPTON SALUTE TO SUMMER: CRISTINA FONTANELLI AND HER FABULOUS FRIENDS”

Cognac Interviews Tenor Matthew Cerillo

COGNAC INTERVIEWS

Tenor Stephanos Andreotti 'Pop-Opera' tenor

COGNAC INTERVIEWS DANCER Christina Tsaveras

COGNAC INTERVIEWS Singer Faith Mullaly

COGNAC WELLERLANE POSES FOR A PHOTO-OP AT CLAUDE'S RESTAURANT AT THE SOUTHAMPTON INN BEFORE THE SHOW

Opera & Broadway of the Hamptons returned to the East End bringing the great “chestnuts” of the Opera and Broadway favorites in their program “A SOUTHAMPTON SALUTE TO SUMMER: CRISTINA FONTANELLI AND HER FABULOUS FRIENDS” tOOK place for the 4th year in a row in the magnificent Basilica of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary in the heart of the Village of Southampton, within walking distance of shops and restaurants.

Starring and hosted by the award-winning singer/PBS-TV/WLIW and CBS-TV host, Cristina Fontanelli performed (“The best work came from Soprano, Cristina Fontanelli.”- the New York Times; “Vocal genius“- NY Sun; “Cristina Fontanelli at Feinstein’s at the Regency is like seeing a cross between Maria Callas and Ethel Merman. She has no equal.” – Forbes Magazine); along with her guest tenor, Matthew Cerillo. Making a Lincoln Center solo debut at age 24, Matthew is one of opera’s most sought after young tenors. Russian pianist Alexander Chaplinskiy (from St.Petersburg) piano performances include a performance at Carnegie Hall as a winner in the Moscow Piano Competition. 13 year-old Faith Mullaly of the Montauk School sang from the broadway hit ‘Les Miserables’. Due to the quality of her outstanding voice young Faith has been invited to sing at the Bay Street Theatre, the Old Whaler’s Church, the Montauk Lighthouse for the restoration ribbon cutting ceremony (attended by Governor Kathy Hochul) and now, for the 2nd year in a row, Faith has been invited to Cristina Fontanelli and her world-class artist guest performers on-stage on August 17. Christina Tsaveras (21 year-old) who choreographs and trains local youth for the Southampton Youth Services, Inc. performed her dance number.

Soprano Cristina Fontanelli (www.cristinafontanelli.com) is a highly acclaimed singer and PBS-TV/WLIW host for Andrea Bocelli “Live From Central Park“; Il Volo and Michael Buble: Tour Stop; Cristina last appeared at Guild Hall with Opera of the Hamptons, in the title role of Madame Butterfly. Cristina recently won her 2nd Best Actress Award at the Venus International Film Festival in Las Vegas, NV for her role in SANTINO, a Russo Brothers Grantee film (DJ Higgins, Director/writer) through the National Italian American Foundation in Washington DC. She has appeared on CBS-TV, FOX, Discover, Bloomberg, and Sirius Satellite Radio and has sung throughout the United States, Europe, Far East, and the Middle East. Ms. Fontanelli has sung at the Clinton White House and for the Inauguration of President George W. Bush, with the Palm Beach, Cairo, NY, and New Jersey State Opera, has received the Lifetime Achievement Award in the Arts from the Order Sons of Italy in America (previous honoree Luciano Pavarotti).

(Opera & Broadway of the Hamptons is a 501 c-3 project produced by www.thecristinafontanellifoundation.org giving performance opportunities and scholarships to local children and providing tickets to underprivileged families and Veterans.)

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Patrick Christiano Reprises the Role of Truman Capote at Southampton Arts Center

After his performance Patrick Christiano spoke to me about his love of theater and his love for the arts. When Patrick was just 12 years old, he sat down in his godmother’s backyard and read all 180 pages of Truman Capote’s “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” in one sitting. Christiano says that Capote has been “weaved into his consciousness” ever since.

Christiano performed the role of Truman Capote at the Southampton Arts Center on Saturday and Sunday, June 22 and 23, in a staged reading of “Tru,” a play written by Jay Presson Allen and directed by Will Pomerantz. Set on Christmas Eve 1975, the one-man show details the fallout surrounding the drama inside Capote’s thinly veiled (and very gossipy) unfinished tell-all book “Answered Prayers,” which was published posthumously and at the time the play is set, had appeared as an excerpt in Esquire magazine. Its publication offended a number of Capote’s closest friends and confidantes including Babe Paley, wife of CBS president William Paley. The show, a two-act drama, is composed entirely of Capote’s writings.

This is not the first time Christiano will be performing “Tru.” In 2011, the New York-based actor played the same role at Players by the Sea in Jacksonville Beach, Florida.

“When I got the opportunity to play Truman, I jumped at it,” he said, adding that he studied speech theater in college and acted at HB studio when has a teenager, where he worked under celebrated acting coach Alice Spivak. “She laid the foundation for everything I know as an actor.

Christiano took a break from acting as an adult to embark a career in real estate on the East End. After a while, the resolute nature of the job started to take a toll.

“In real estate, you have to be serious all the time. I realized I wasn’t playing enough,” said Christiano, who went back to acting by taking part in a workshop every Tuesday for the next 20 years.

It wasn’t until recently that the opportunity to play Truman Capote again popped up.

Christiano has a group of friends that formed after Christiano got a puppy, appropriately named Truman, and started taking him out into the city to socialize. His “dog friends,” as Christiano calls them, were the ones who encouraged him to take another look at “Tru.”

From there, Christiano reached out to Christina Mossaides Strassfield, the executive director at Southampton Arts Center, and relayed his interest in putting the show up as one of this season’s staged readings. After securing Bay Street Theater’s associate artistic director Will Pomerantz to direct, everything was set.

Even though he has performed the role previously, it was still quite a challenge. Even though the role is, as Christiano puts it, “in his bones,” he still has to do a lot to prepare.

“The biggest challenge,” Christiano revealed, is “not to make it static, to keep it interesting.” But he isn’t worried. “Will Pomerantz has a lot of interesting ideas,” he continued.

Getting into character of Truman is easy for Christiano. “I’ve always identified with him a little bit,” he said. He relates to Capote in that they were both only children who grew up in the South and loved to write.

“I feel connected because I’ve found the similarities that make him come to life,” he said. “You learn to find aspects of yourself that serve the role. He’s a big character, he’s very alive and very out there, and that makes me game as an actor.”

Christiano was thrilled to be revisiting this role that has always meant so much to him.

“Truman is my muse,” he said. “I feel like I was destined to do this. It’s very stimulating to be reviving something like this that was such an artistic achievement for me. I’m excited and grateful for the opportunity.”

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"IF ITS MAY ITS CABARET"

"IF ITS MAY ITS CABARET"

Enjoyed covering the Cabaret Festival and interviewing Cabaret Star and Recipient of The Cabaret 2024 Bistro Award Jason Henderson in Long Beach NY! Jason Henderson is Currently performing in his critically-acclaimed cabaret show ‘Getting To Noël You’ in New York City. Also enjoyed interviewing Actress, Broadway Actress and Cabaret Star Margaret Curry. Ms. Curry performed her cabaret show "The Space In-Between" also winner of Cabaret 2024 Bistro Award.

JASON HENDERSON

Jason Henderson is currently performing Getting To Noël You at the storied New York cabaret institution Don’t Tell Mama in New York City.

Created with Musical Director Christopher Denny and Director Barry Kleinbort, the show has been critically acclaimed.

“…one of Coward’s top interpreters…” raved BistroAward.com as it proclaimed “…the ascendance of a new and hopefully lasting star in the cabaret firmament.”

Cabaret Scenes agreed: “It’s a happy surprise in cabaret when an artist and a saluted composer blend together so well that the pairing seems inevitable.”

His 2018 New York Cabaret debut was enthusiastically greeted by full-houses and rave reviews.

“Henderson obviously belongs on the Don’t Tell Mama list of performers who arrived there as unknowns and left as artists.”
– TheatrePizzaz.com

Jason was nominated Most Promising Emerging Artist at the 2016 New Zealand Fringe Festival where he performed I think you’ll like this… and debuted Cake Tea & Courtship: Songs of the 1920’s and There’s Nothing on TV which he also toured to the 2016 Dunedin Fringe Festival.

With famed New Zealand pianist Terence Dennis, he performed Coward in the Office at Arts Festival Dunedin, 2016

In 2015 Jason made his Cabaret debut in Dunedin, New Zealand with his one-man show I think you’ll like this… The Star reviewed: “Henderson was likeable indeed in an original show filled with self-deprecating humour and music from shows, films and even oratorio.”

Jason is proud to be a graduate of the Neighborhood Playhouse (class of ’23). He holds a Master of Music (awarded with distinction) in Contemporary Voice – University of Otago, is a former member of the New Zealand Opera Chorus (2012-2016), and an alumna of five New Zealand Singing Schools, the St. Louis Cabaret Conference and The Circle in the Square Theatre School summer workshop.

Jason is based in New York City. for more info please visit https://jasonhenderson.nz/

MARGARET CURRY

An award-winning multidisciplinary performer and creator, Margaret has extensive training and experience on stage, including over 300 performances as Titania in the Off-Broadway hit Fools in Love, The Musical and two Equity National tours playing Karin in the musical Church Basement Ladies. She’s captured attention on screen starring as the grief-stricken Lily in the family drama Starfish, the cutthroat Attorney Andrews in the action film Diamond Ruff, and as the pesky friend Susan Baker in the newly released streaming comedy Merry Good Enough. She's appeared in national and regional commercials, including Carnival Cruises, Spike TV, Jello Mousse and Cuisinart. Favorite directing credits include directing, co-writing and -producing the one-woman short play “An Evening with Eva: Waiting for Adolf”, starring Maxine Muster, as well as directing the US premiere of Brian Eley’s "Some Things are Just Too Big for Numbers" starring actress Nina Lainville. Up next, with On the Nose Productions, Curry is co-creating an original web series with producing partners Burke Adams and Lindy Rogers. As a vocalist, she has performed in major venues and is the recipient of a 2024 Bistro Award as "Outstanding Vocalist," the Andy Anselmo Achievement Award and a Joyce Dutka Foundation for the Arts Grant. She’s currently completing her first album, including arrangements by Gregory Toroian, Rick Jensen, Mike Renzi, Tedd Firth and Sean Harkness. Margaret’s second solo cabaret show, The Space In-Between, successfully debuted last year and will return on April 6th and May 4th, 2024.

It’s Margaret's mission to collaborate deeply and bravely to create stories that inspire, entertain, educate, elicit and evoke. To give voice to the voiceless and help the invisible to be seen. To wake people up so that they may embrace their lives to live life more fully and authentically. FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE VISIT https://www.margaretcurry.com/

"If Its May It's Cabaret" was presented by Artists in Partnership Inc.

Their mission is to RAISE THE VISIBILITY OF THE ARTS in Long Beach, New York and the surrounding area, and thus support current efforts and create new avenues of collaboration and develop venues for exhibits and performance.

Artists in Partnership, Inc. is proud to have served the local community since 2000.

DONATE TO AIP TODAY
They are looking forward to the year ahead and to continuing our cultural arts programming. They have introduced a number of valuable arts events, collaborations, and artist opportunities-- some listed here:

Art of Wellness Weekend

Cabaret Festival

Women in the Arts Awards

One Act Play Festival

Four Funny Females Comedy Show

Lunar New Year Celebration

Harriet Tubman Herself, One Woman Performance

Long Beach Centennial Concert Events

Black History Educational Events

Toro Nagashi Multi Cultural Lantern Festival

Light Up Long Beach Winter Festival

Porch Fest

Photo Pop-Up Fence Art

Your 100 percent tax deductible donation will insure that AIP programming continues to grow in 2024. and that you will have the opportunity to continue your relationship with an innovative, creative and local organization supporting the arts and artists.

For more information please visit https://www.aip4arts.org/

Keep reading Cognac's Corner Magazine for the very best in Entertainment in Manhattan, Long Island and the Hamptons.

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ANTHONY'S LIVE

WINDOWS ON THE LAKE

MURDER MYSTERY MANHATTAN

KEITH DOUGHERTY PRODUCTIONS

EL PELLEGRINO RANDY FREIDER AND COGNAC WELLERLANE ANDREA PEPONAKIS.jpg

EL PELLEGRINO, RANDY FREIDER. COGNAC WELLERLANE AND ANDREA PEPONAKIS

TV HOST COGNAC WELLERLANE INTERVIEWS THEATRICAL PRODUCER KEITH DOUGHERTY

Was happy to interview Writer Keith Dougherty from MurderMysteryManhattan.com and The Sopranos” actor and chef Joseph R Gannascoli for a very special Dinner Theater at Windows on the Lake in Ronkonoma, NY on Friday May 3rd. The production "Soupranos
“Gravy or Sauce” is a production produced also by Keith
Dougherty.

The event also included
Special Guest Appearance for meet and greet and autograph session from the hit tv show
“The Sopranos” actor and chef Mr. Joseph R. Gannascoli about his vodka Rocavaka Vodka.

Mr. Joseph R. Gannascoli (born February 15, 1959) is an American actor. He portrayed Gino in a supporting role of The Sopranos. He also portrayed a different character, Vito Spatafore, throughout the show.

For more information about his vodka please visit https://rocavaka.com/

During our interview Writer Keith Dougherty explained the synopsis of this particulary unique Mystery Dinner Show.

The Souprano’s Last Anniversary
The Soupranos become moon struck in this laugh-out-loud, “diss”-functional family farce. Pony and Hormella Souprano invite you to the party of the season to celebrate their anniversary. Become part of the famiglia as a guest at the party, and find out who the real bosses are – the men or their mama’s? Pony tries to keep the peace between the rival crime families but instead, watch the ziti fly, and see who survives.

KEITH DOUGHERTY
Creator, Producer, Writer and Director

"WE DON’T JUST ENTERTAIN –
WE KNOCK ‘EM DEAD!
Welcome to Murder Mystery Manhattan and the start to a one-of-a-kind event that you and your guests will be talking about for years to come. Our one-night shows run anywhere from 2 to 3 hours, and most shows are performed at a dinner setting, sit-down or buffet, allowing breaks for service and music/dancing. Our shows can be performed for all occasions, including corporate and team building events, fundraisers, and all types of private parties. We work very well with bands and DJ’s, as well as karaoke.

Our stock scenarios can be adjusted to the size of your audience, space and occasion. Many of our scripts spoof popular TV shows and film such as The Golden Girls, I Love Lucy, The Honeymooners, The Real Housewives, The Sopranos, Tiger King, Mommie, Dearest, Dr. Who, Sunset Blvd, Clue, The Kardashians, Harry Potter, Grease, and Casablanca. We also have fun, interactive wedding, engagement and wake scenarios, and had three ten-week, sold out runs of Carmine and Carmella’s Wedding, The Golden Girls Gone Wild, and Carmine and Carmella’s Anniversary Party at The Villa Roma Resort. We have Halloween themed shows, and children’s scenarios that often involve a theft instead of a murder. Drag Bingo has now become a popular event, as well.

Any private show, especially corporate and team-building events, can be completely customized to suit the business and occasion as well as employees and guests. We ask for some names, hobbies, jobs, funny stories, etc., and completely incorporate them into the script. There is a great deal of interaction with the guests, in addition to the scripted scenario, and we get audience members as much, or as little, involved as instructed. We take the first half hour or so to introduce the characters and scenario to make sure the guests are comfortable and aware of what’s going on.

Shows start at $1200 for smaller, in-home/apt. shows, or private parties, and we also offer Nana or Bubbegrams (a lovable, personalized roast for your guest of honor) starting at $500. Price increases with a larger audience, a customized script, longer travel distance, and holiday parties. All shows are different, so a customized quote is given once we find out all the above information. We are very adaptable and can always provide you with a fun show within your budget, so feel free to bring up any alternate ideas.

For restaurants, we often work on a per person fee basis, based on how much the restaurant needs to cover their expenses, then our fee. Again, we are flexible and willing to discuss what kind of arrangement works best. We use our extensive mailing list to promote the show and have developed a nice following in the tri-state and upstate NY areas, and now in South Florida. For public shows we send out press releases in addition to the restaurant or venues mailing list and hope to benefit from any advertising they decide to do. We are a professional company that strives to bring fun, professional entertainment to your event. We look forward to working with you."

For more information please visit https://murdermysterymanhattan.com/

Anthony's Live includes:
Live Music and Event Calendar
Live Music on The Water and Performances Including:
Live Bands, Tribute Bands, Freestyle Events, Comedy Night, Jazz,
Murder Mystery Dinner, Princess Brunch, Sip & Paint Parties

For more information about Anthony's Live at Windows On The Lake please visit https://www.anthonyslive.com/