All Doll’d up

New group set for WWII boogie-woogie

The Victory Dolls are just about ready to march.

The nine women who make up the newly formed patriotic vocal ensemble — all familiar performers on the South Florida theater circuit — have spent nearly a year perfecting their vintage, Andrews Sisters-inspired harmonies with a modern twist. They are already booked for two performances in September and hope to schedule more as their melodies, talents, and stories about the 1940s era and the Greatest Generation gain popularity.

The group — the first of its kind in South Florida — is planning annual tours of the Sunshine State and beyond, and will call several regional theaters home each season, including the Delray Beach Playhouse, Mizner Park Cultural Arts Center in Boca Raton, and the Lauderhill Performing Arts Center.

A meeting between a longtime theater manager and an award-winning singer who had created a World War II-style production led to the creation of a troupe that will sing tunes from the decade of war bonds, FDR’s “fireside chats,” ration stamps, victory gardens and a radio in every home.

Kevin Barrett, manager of the Delray Beach Playhouse and former director of the Coral Springs Performing Arts Center earlier this year traveled to New Orleans for the opening of the National World War II Museum.

Formerly the National D-Day Museum, the New Orleans venue recreated the legendary Stage Door Canteen, which features a production of World War II-era songs by the resident musical group, the Victory Belles.

“I thought, this would kill in Florida,” Barrett said.

“I remembered that Shelley Keelor did a World War II show here [at the Delray Playhouse] two years ago, so I pitched her the idea of creating one similar to the museum production. She loved it.”

Keelor, a stage and musical theater veteran who created the popular one-woman show Sentimental Journey: Songs of WWII, gathered a group of talented singer/actresses together and dubbed them the Victory Dolls. They’ve been rehearsing a program of 1940’s-era tunes since then.

The Victory Dolls, scheduled for two shows in Palm Beach County in September, will feature some of the best songs from the WWII era.

The Victory Dolls roster of performers includes Keelor, of Jupiter, as leader of the pack, along with Sabrina Lynn Gore, Amy Miller Brennan, Leah Marie Sessa, Julie Kleiner, Jeanine Levy, Aaron Bower, Katie Angell Thomas, Jinon Deeb, and Ann Marie Olsen.

Phil Hinton creates original arrangements for the troop-praising troupe, and Carbonell Award-winning keyboardist Caryl Fantel is musical director.

Shows will feature classic hits from the war years: “When the Lights Go on Again,” “We’ll Meet Again,” “Hot time in the Town of Berlin,” “White Plains of Dover” and many of the Andrews Sisters’ hits such as “Rum and Coca Cola,” “Shoo Shoo Baby,” “Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen” and “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy.”

Performances will benefit organizations including Honor Flight of South Florida, Gary Sinise Foundation, and Wounded Warriors Families Support.

The Victory Dolls’ signature show, I Left My Heart at the Stage Door Canteen, will debut Fri., Sept. 20 in Delray Beach (DelrayBeachPlayhouse.com). The group will perform in Boca Raton (MiznerParkCulturalCenter.com) on Sat., Sept. 21. Tickets are $35 and $45. Future shows will have different themes, such as Rockin’ with the Dolls (1950s/’60s top hits), Home for the Holidays and All Dolled Up (Great American Songbook selections).

True grunge

Exhibition reveals pre-stardom Cobain, Nirvana

Most people know two, maybe three things about Kurt Cobain. He founded the band Nirvana in Seattle, ground zero for grunge music. He was married to former stripper and punk-grunge bad girl Courtney Love. And he died at age 27 of a suicide said to be fueled by drug use and depression, just as the band reached its pinnacle.

Cobain was the straw-haired Nirvana front man who made his mark with crazed on-stage antics and blazing guitar riffs punctuating the band’s performances throughout the U.S. and Europe. Despite his and the band’s meteoric rise to super stardom, Cobain had a somber, lonely side —one not shown on stage or to the public until now.

Kurt Cobain waves, from a collection of photos by Bruce Pavitt, whose work is on display at the Pompano Beach Cultural Center. (Bruce Pavitt/Courtesy)

“I was a friend of Kurt. He was a very sensitive, quiet, gentle person,” said Bruce Pavitt, co-founder of Sub Pop Records which put Nirvana’s early tunes on disc. The record man and former DJ spent eight days touring with the band in 1989, taking candid photos throughout, including some that capture Cobain in private, unguarded moments.

Pavitt’s photos have been published in Experiencing Nirvana, a book of 350 images. Selections from the book are on display at Pompano Beach Cultural Center, which on July 12 premiered the exhibition of 13 large-format frames from Pavitt’s collection.

Book cover. (Bruce Pavitt/Courtesy)

“We were touring in Europe with two other grunge bands, Tad and Mudhoney,” Pavitt said. “The tour took a toll on Kurt. He was somewhat depressed in Rome and he had a breakdown. He smashed a guitar and climbed a 14-foot speaker tower, threatening to jump off.”

Cobain, exhausted from a dizzying zig-zag of European tour dates, worried the band might not perform up to par at an important concert in London.

“Spending six months on the road was pretty tough on Kurt. He was exhausted and downcast. But the tour brought the band together in a super tight way. When they played England, it was great.”

Not just great. The usually jaded British press proclaimed Nirvana was “Sub Pop’s answer to the Beatles.” The performance rocketed Nirvana and grunge to fame and is a seminal moment in rock ‘n’ roll history.

Pavitt’s exhibit is a photographic story of an iconic music breakthrough amid the early stages of what would become an equally iconic mental breakdown.

One particularly expressive photo in the display of 16-by-20-inch prints on aluminum shows Cobain outside a hotel in Rome, sitting with his head in his hands. Pavitt said it was taken the morning after Cobain’s meltdown.

In early 1994, Cobain went missing for six days after returning home from touring. On April 5, an electrician found his body. Dead of a head wound, Cobain had a shotgun lying across his chest and, nearby, a scrawled suicide note. An autopsy showed Valium in his bloodstream along with a high concentration of heroin.

Pavitt said Cobain’s passing was a death knell for grunge music, though other groups in the genre, Soundgarden in particular, continued to succeed.  “Kurt was a recluse,” he said, “he was not seen much socially. The more famous he got, the more reclusive he became.”

Two Faces of The Lion King

Back in the 1960s, vocalist Lou Christie sang a pop tune called Two Faces Have I. In the ‘90s, two famed puppet/mask designers took that concept to create masks for the live stage version of Disney’s The Lion King.

The idea not only worked, it roared.

Since The Lion King debuted on Broadway in 1997, more than 90 million people worldwide have experienced its visual artistry and reveled in its award-winning score.

Based on the eponymous animated Disney film, the stage adaptation features music by Elton John and lyrics by Tim Rice. Six indigenous African languages are spoken throughout the show and extraordinary costumes often exceed the expectations of show planners and audiences.

The Lion King has just passed through South Florida. In mid-spring, the Serengeti was recreated behind the footlights at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts in West Palm Beach. The production, with its array of performers and elegant scenery, completed its run at the Adrienne Arsht Center in Miami on May 26.

The show that packed those two venues combined the talents of Disney Theatrical Productions with the redoubtable capabilities of Julie Taymor, the show’s director, costume designer, and —with Michael Curry — mask co-designer.

Julie Taymor, director of The Lion King and co-creator of the masks used in the stage show. (Photo courtesy of Broadway World)

Taymor is the first woman to win a Tony Award for Direction of a Musical. Curry is owner and operator of Michael Curry Design, which creates live performance-oriented devices for Cirque du Soleil, Super Bowl shows, the Olympics, and was the creative force behind New York City’s millennium event in 2000.

With a nod to Christie’s song title, the masks for most lead characters are attached to the top of the actors’ heads, meaning their faces as well as their animal avatars can be identified. The masks drop to cover faces when characters reveal their more animalistic sides.

Background performers are fitted with more stylized devices or puppet-style gear, including bicycle-like equipment for herds of running gazelles; stilts and neck extensions for giraffes, and a vast amount of rigging and structuring for elephants. The stampede, critical to the plot, is artfully crafted in a manner that defies explanation. But it appears so real and works so well in the show.

Taymor said once she discovered she needed to show both the human and animal traits of The Lion King characters, she labored to convince Disney of her concept. That involved creating three versions of the character Scar, three Zazus, and two Timons, and presenting all to Disney’s then-CEO, Michael Eisner. He gave the thumbs-up.

The musical is a sweet love story between a father and son — Mufasa, the lion king at the opening and his son and successor, Simba. Later comes the sweetheart tale of the mature Simba getting to know his betrothed, Nala.

Masks used in The Lion King, on display at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts.
(Photo by Dale King)

Taymor explained the imagery of the masks. “Obviously, Mufasa is the sun. That’s why you have the circle [the song, Circle of Life]. He’s very much about symmetry and radiation, the sun god. Simba and Nala are in that world of Mufasa.” Of her experience with The Lion King, Taymor said: “It’s the most fun thing I’ve ever done in my life.”

Spacing Out – Exhibit showcases astronaut’s year in photos

Neil Armstrong notched a singular spot in history as the first man to walk on the moon.

But astronaut Scott Kelly has made his own impressions on the space-time continuum. Not only are he and Mark Edward Kelly the only identical twin astronauts ever to serve with NASA in the U.S. space program, but Commander Kelly has also logged more time in the “final frontier” than any other American spaceman.

August 15, 2015 – ISS, Low Earth Orbit: Astronaut Scott Joseph Kelly posted this photo of an aurora taken from the International Space Station with the caption, ‘Another pass through Aurora. The sun is very active today, apparently. YearInSpace.’
(All images: © Scott Joseph Kelly/NASA via ZUMA Wire)

Kelly is about to share with the public dozens of digital photographs he took during his year aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Space Odyssey 2019, a display of images taken during that 12-month mission from 2015 to 2016, will open June 20 and run through Aug. 3 at the Palm Beach Photographic Centre in West Palm Beach.

“One’s perspective shifts when one lives for an entire year — as Commander Scott Kelly and no other American astronaut in history has — in the isolating, grueling and utterly unforgiving vacuum of space,” Fatima NeJame, the Centre’s president and CEO, said.

Kelly is a former military fighter pilot and test pilot, an engineer, a now-retired astronaut, and retired Navy captain. A veteran of four space flights, he commanded the ISS on three expeditions. He is also the brother-in-law of former U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords (D-Ariz.), who survived a gunshot wound to the head after an attack at a constituent event in 2011.

NeJame said the Space Odyssey 2019 exhibition will feature between 40 and 60 frames, all reproduced using the center’s digital printer. “We are making them large so visitors can see the detail.”

“Kelly mastered the rare art of microgravity photography,” NeJame said.

Microgravity photography? “Using a Nikon D4 with an 800-millimeter lens and a 1.4x magnifying zoom lens, he panned the camera as the shutter released to compensate for the space station’s velocity: 17,500 miles per hour relative to the earth.”

In the display, his photos will be accompanied by personal commentary to put the images into their proper contexts.

During the ISS mission, while breaking records for time spent in outer space, Kelly spoke with President Barack Obama about what he was seeing and the pictures he was taking. The President encouraged him to share the photos with the world via Twitter and Instagram, which he did. Kelly’s artistic eye helped make him a social media sensation.

Looking down at a frozen Himalayan lake from space.

Through his lens, Kelly captured sunsets, moonrises, the Aurora Borealis, and the luminous, hazy tapestry of the Milky Way. “There are hurricanes, wrinkled mountains, New York City shining like a galaxy,” NeJame said. “Glorious photographs that are, in themselves, a passionate argument for the preservation of our planet in the face of climate change and environmental destruction.” In one of the images taken over South Asia as the Expedition 46 crew orbited high above Earth, Kelly looked down on a vivid blue body of water shot through with white. “Cool frozen lake in #Himalayas! #YearInSpace” he tweeted on Jan. 6, 2016, to his more than 5.6 million followers.

Astronaut Scott Kelly shared the last sunrise of his yearlong mission on space on
March 1, 2016, aboard ISS.

MSD Benefit Concerts

Students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland are still recovering from the horrific act of an irrational gunman who shot and killed 17 students and staff – and wounded an equal number of innocents – in a vile and violent attack Feb. 14 that shattered the joy of a Valentine’s Day and the solemnity of Ash Wednesday.

 

But those impacted by the shooting haven’t respond in kind. The spirited and courageous student body, staff and parents turned to their strong suit — visual and performing arts — to stem the drumbeat of anger and steady the will to seek vengeance for a senseless act.

 

In the short span from mid-February to the end of the school year, a barrage of volunteers worked feverishly to organize two concerts to memorialize those who died and underscore the determination of the young men and women, teachers, administrators, mothers and fathers who are leading MSD High into the future. They built their campaign around a quote from conductor and musical luminary Leonard Bernstein, who believed that music was one of the most effective means of creating understanding and peace in the world.

 

By nurturing music and arts, he said, we can actualize a world “in which the mind will have triumphed over violence.”

 

On the night of May 22, the first of two response events took place. Called “What We Play is Life,” a Jazz Night concert, took place at the Coral Springs Performing Arts Center. Joining three MSD jazz bands were three world-renowned musicians: Jazz pianist Herbie Hancock, trombonist Wycliffe Gordon, and Cuban clarinet and sax player Paquito D’Rivera.

 

On June 1, the Church by the Glades on Lakeview Drive, Coral Springs, was filled nearly to capacity for the more classical version of Jazz Night called “Our Reply.”

 

“This featured the MDS Wind Symphony, which just performed in New York at Carnegie Hall; the MSD Clarinet Choir, Brass Choir, Trombone Choir, and Color Guard,” said Luis Piccinelli, director of instrumental music at Coral Springs Middle School and one of those who helped organize the performance.

 

The show drew thunderous applause and a multitude of standing ovations as student musicians and guest performers provided what Piccinelli called “an amazing musical experience.”

 

“We hope this performance will help with healing, as well as raise money for the Alex Schachter and Gina Montalto funds, two band students we tragically lost in the shooting.” Memorial foundations have been set up for each.

 

To honor Alex, one of the opening numbers featured trombonists lined up across the entire stage. Alex’s dad, Max, was seated in the front row with other Schachter family members.

 

Later, they took to the stage and Max talked about “my little boy.” He told how his 14-year-old son loved music. “He wanted to play trombone in one class and euphonium in another.”

 

Max also recounted how he joined the band parents, and “I got to see Alex mature and grow. All his band work paid off.” Dad cried as he thought back to the terrible Valentine’s Day when “17 families descended into hell. That monster shot my son through a window.” He swore he would not halt his campaign for improved security “until all schools are safe.”

 

Before leaving the stage, he announced he was giving a $25,000 gift to his son’s scholarship fund.

 

To honor their fallen colleague, Gina Montalto, 14, the MSD Color Guard presented a feature performance of “Hallelujah” in her memory. The touching tribute ended with the girls surrounding and saluting an empty chair with a flower placed on the seat.

 

Her father, Tony, and brother, Anthony, spoke to the crowd. “As this community moves forward and heals, our families will never be the same.” He thanked the musicians and color guard members “who gave to the memorial foundation for Gina Rose Montalto.”

 

He concluded his talk by reading one of Gina’s poems, and told how happy she was to have become a member of the Eagle Regiment in 2017.

 

Taking part in the performance on the expansive stage of the church abutting the Everglades were Joseph Alessi, principal trombonist, and Anthony McGill, principal clarinetist, both from the New York Philharmonic Orchestra.

 

The June 1 show featured a world premiere of a piece composed and dedicated to the MSD students. Called “Until Morning Come,” the composition was written by Andrew Boss, who was present in the audience. The arrangement was said to “convey a peaceful message, a homage to those who passed away and for those who live on.”

 

Other guests who came to be part of the concert were Gary Green, director of bands emeritus at the University of Miami, and Frank Ticheli and Johan de Meij, both composer/conductors.

 

Alexander Kaminsky, director of bands at Marjory Stoneman Douglas, conducted many of the musical numbers at the “Our Reply” show as well as during the “What We Play is Life” concert. “Bad things happen in this world,” he told the audience on May 22. “We have to make the world a better place, and this is going to do that.”

 

The earlier show included a prologue, with the Coral Springs Middle School jazz band performing in the courtyard while food was served to the audience from the Cheesecake Factory. Volunteer staff members provided goodly portions of sliders, salads, pot stickers, and cheesecake options. Money raised at the event benefited the MSD and Coral Springs Middle School music programs and the Alex Schachter Scholarship Fund.

And the winner is . . .

Melody Herzfeld has known countless dramatic moments. Director of the drama department at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland since 2003, she has transformed a multitude of theatrical wannabes into stage-worthy actors brimming with confidence in their craft.

But Herzfeld faced an unspeakable, heart-pounding moment of personal drama barely four months ago when a former student armed with a rifle and bearing a thirst to kill ran into the school building. The instructor kept 65 of her charges safe in her small office for two hours while Nikolas Cruz murdered 14 young learners and three teachers, and wounded 17 more, in a senseless massacre on Valentine’s Day.

Douglas students quickly rose from the depths of their despair. Revived and revved by the rallying cry, #MSD Strong, they fought back with music and art, raised their voices against gun violence across the nation and demanded assurances of student safety – and nothing less.

MSD’s recovery reached a new plateau the night of June 10 when Herzfeld stepped onto the stage of Radio City Music Hall in New York City, just steps from Broadway, to accept a prestigious Tony Award for Excellence in Theatre Education. The honor, given by the Tony Awards and Carnegie Mellon University, recognizes a K-12 theater educator who has made a monumental impact on the lives of students and who embodies the highest standards of the profession.

Still, that wasn’t the evening’s main New York moment. MSD drama students surprised the crowd by singing an emotional rendition of “Seasons of Love,” from the musical Rent. Their center stage performance received a standing ovation and moved many in the audience to tears.

A first-rate break-out solo by Kali Cloughery grabbed the attention of a gallery filled mainly with Broadway, music and film performers.

Applause echoed through the storied chamber as Herzfeld stepped into the spotlight with the Tony in her hand.

“Next to the passing of my dear parents and in-laws, marrying the love of my life, and the birth of my amazing sons and reuniting with my theater students, there has never been a more defining moment of my life,” said the MSD drama instructor.

 

“As theater teachers, we teach kids by giving them space to be critiqued, yet not judged; giving them a spot in the light, yet not full stage; creating a circle of trust in which to fail; telling them long drawn-out stories so they can be better listeners and giving students simple responsibilities that are beneath them to encourage character,” she said.

 

Perhaps those comments brought special memories to Elijah Word, a young singer, dancer, and actor who was one of Herzfeld’s students at MSD. He stressed that he drew his theatrical inspiration and drive from her.

 

While at Douglas, Word said he attended a get-together for potential drama students. “We were in there one day, playing a game and getting to know each other. We all had to sing, and, after I did, the teacher came over to me and said, ‘You have to audition for the drama club.’ ”

 

Herzfeld “put me in the play, Pippin,” a show he dearly loves. “From there, I got the acting bug. Ms. Herzfeld saw that I had talent and she nurtured it. She really helped me. And she made sure I kept my grades up.”

 

Coincidentally, in early April, Word won a Carbonell – the South Florida theater community’s equivalent of a Tony – for Best Supporting Actor/Music for portraying James “Thunder” Early in the musical, Dreamgirls at the Broward Stage Door Theater. “It was so funny.” Word said, “Ms. Herzfeld was there on Carbonell Night because some MSD students were performing.”

 

Overall, Word said with a special pride, Melody Herzfeld “really deserved the Tony award.”

 

In her acceptance speech, the drama teacher shared some lessons she gave her students before the tragic event. “I remember, on Feb. 7, sharing a circle with my beloved students and encouraging them to be good to each other when times were trying, to keep the family together, accept everyone, and make a difference.”

“And I remember only a week later, on Feb. 14, a perfect day, where all these lessons in my life and in their short lives would be called upon to set into action.”

She recalled other meaningful words: “[I] stressed to them to be selective as they formulate relationships while welcoming every single side that exists in the world. And also, how to begin again.”

MSD students followed her advice. Just a week after the shooting, Herzfeld’s students performed “Shine,” an original song, at a CNN town hall meeting on gun violence.

 

In fact, since February, Stoneman Douglas students have organized a national school walkout and a march on Washington and continue to call for changes to ensure safety and security of students

As she concluded her address, the drama director said: “Thank you, Stoneman Douglas High School and my fellow Eagles. We have all known the future of the world is about collaborative creativity and here we are, the future, changed for good. MSD Strong…thank you.”

Herzfeld is the fourth person to receive the Excellence in Theatre Education Award which comes with a $10,000 prize, which goes to the Stoneman Douglas theater program.

A Big Performing Family

In the performing arts field, Emily Tarallo is considered a “triple threat,” that is, “a performer who excels at acting, singing and dancing.” The Manhattan-born, auburn-haired young woman who grew up and still lives in Davie, admits she’s part of “a big performing family.” But to say her parents are just entertainers is a minimization.

Her dad, Barry Tarallo, has spent 40 years on stages across the nation. An actor, singer and guitarist, he performed on and off Broadway in Grease and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. He toured in Cotton Patch Gospel, a show featuring music and lyrics by Harry Chapin. He’s been in regional shows far away and just up the road, at Arts Garage in Delray Beach, the Maltz in Jupiter, FAU Summer Rep, and the Wick Theatre in Boca Raton among others.

Emily’s mom, Amy London, has also trod dramatic venues as an actor, but often works as an artistic or stage director or a stage manager, most recently at Slow Burn Theatre and the Wick. A voice talent and freelance artist, she has even directed her daughter in dance shows.

But Barry and Emily jointly lament the fact they’ve never appeared in the same show together.

They nearly shattered that bit of theatrical history last month when they performed at two locations in Boca Raton. Emily portrayed Babette in the Wick Theatre’s production of Beauty and the Beast. And Barry, for the third consecutive year, was one of four Equity actors who joined Master of Fine Arts students at Florida Atlantic University for their two Summer Repertory productions – Sense and Sensibility and Into the Woods.

Emily has learned from her parents’ on-stage skills and pronounces them “my biggest inspiration.”

“My mother is a brilliant director/stage manager and my father is an actor/musician with one of the best voices I’ve ever heard,” she said. “I remember growing up, watching them perform in various theaters. It’s all I’ve ever known. They are amazing. They always give me insight from their own work experience, but they encourage me to create by own voice and craft. They are my biggest fans,” Emily said.

Barry also acknowledges his daughter’s skills. “A few performers have that extra little spark, something innate and natural. I always say that Emily has that.”

“I feel I have that because of my Dad and Mom,” Emily responded.

Though no longer married, Barry and Amy “are still very good friends,” he said. “She has stage-managed me and directed shows that I have been in.  I run a lot of things by her.”

While Emily’s passion is definitely for dance, she has learned the full range of stage performance by observing her parents. Emily smiles with much pride about how she loves walking the rear stairway of the Actors Playhouse in Coral Gables and seeing photos of her father in various stage performances hanging along the wall.

Still in her mid-20s, Emily has performed in Cabaret, A Chorus Line, Peter Pan, West Side Story, Footloose, Hair and other shows throughout the area. A choreographer and dance instructor, she has often served as dance captain in productions. “I’m responsible for conducting brush-up rehearsals, teaching choreography and making sure all the dance numbers look clean and sharp.”

When she completed the run of Beauty and the Beast, Emily moved on to another Disney-inspired show Tarzan, the Musical, which opens in October at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts, in conjunction with Slow Burn Theater.

What’s the future hold for the young dancer/actress? “I have always dreamed of being on Broadway,” she said. “And I know that, one day, I will make it there.”