by dick kerekes dickkerekes@yahoo.com
To bring in the New Year, I attended the celebration at Player’s By the Sea, called New Year’s Eve at the Pelican Club. The annual awards for the actors and technicians for Players are called the Pelican Awards, thus the name for this event.
This was the first year for this show, and I will go out on a limb and predict that it will become a tradition and will eventually be sold out one or two months in advance.
I arrived at Players’ Theatre at 8:30, to find it decorated for a typical New Year’s Eve party with balloons all over the place and lots of glitter including fancy champagne glasses lined up on top of the piano.
Inside the theatre, the stage was set up like nightclub, with tables on each side on the stage and the piano featuring a large pelican on its side with drawn by artist Anne Roberts. The setting reminded me of the nightclubs I had seen in the movies about the l930s and 40s.
Indeed, the music was a trip down memory lane, and I mean way back on memory lane, with songs from the 20s and the 30s. The most modern number being “Satin Doll” (l953) sung by Josh Waller. Waller also did soulful renditions of “My Funny Valentine” and “The Lady is a Tramp.”
The songs were selected by Lee Hamby, who is responsible for this show happening. He approached Player’s General Manager, Joe Schwartz with the idea to do a something at the theatre on New Year’s Eve that would appeal to theatre folks. Schwartz gave the go ahead, and told Lee he would arrange for the food and beverages and the details of the show were up to him.
Lee Hamby is an actor/singer/director extraordinaire and assembled a cast of singers that almost guaranteed it to be a success. As soon as I saw who was performing, I knew I was going, and I am the type of guy to stay at home for New Year’s.
The show featured 25 songs starting with a rousing “Ain’t Misbehavin” with the entire cast. Other Waller’s songs followed. Hamby, besides directing the show, sang several songs and was very impressive playing Fats himself, in “Your Feets Too Big.”
Staci Cobb, oozing with sex appeal, sang three songs from the early 30s, that made we realize how wide-open that era really was. “Squeeze Me”, “Love for Sale” and “Find Out What They Like”, certainly had the undivided attention of the males in the audience. Oh, you’re a bad bad girl Staci, but we loved it.
Kristin Jewell mesmerized the audience with two offerings Duke Ellington’s “Solitude” and Gerswin’s “Someone to Watch Over Me” and I truly felt I was back in the l930s.
No musical program featuring singers would be complete without Amy Allen, who sells a song like few singers can. I loved her “Embraceable You”, and she and Hamby teamed up for a terrific “Slow Boat to China.”
Miranda Lawson is finishing up a degree in musical theatre at Jacksonville University, but she has appeared in many shows outside of JU with Players, Theatre Jacksonville and The Alhambra.” She was marvelous singing “That Old Black Magic” and “Can’t Help Loving Dat Man.”
David Paul established himself as a serious actor when he first came to Jacksonville, but he soon moved to musicals. Now 30 pounds lighter with several musicals under his belt, he reminds me of Bobby Darin. He was perfect choice to sing Cole Porter’s “Just a Gigolo”
Joey Chancey is back in town for the holidays, and he led the marvelous four-piece band while playing the piano. Chancey, who produced Tick Tick Boom last summer, will be producing The Rocky Horror Show in the summer of 2007.
New Year’s at the Pelican was a fundraiser for Players by the Sea and an example of how local theatres are using their theatre spaces creatively to bring in income to avoid having to raise ticket prices.
ABET recently staged Ian Maris in Santa Land Diaries for one night. Theatre Jacksonville has a number of events on stage besides their scheduled season. In February they will once again present their now traditional Valentine concert. St. Augustine’s Limelight fits in events between shows. They are currently adding a black box theatre, which will allow them to offer even more and diverse plays to their appreciative audiences.
Thanks Players for a great New Year’s Eve Celebration. Thanks as well to Lee Hamby and let me applause you superior musical knowledge in a wonderful evening of songs.
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