CASINO RAMA CHRISTMAS SHOWS
Phenomenal food, spectacular decor, white-glove attending wait staff and a beautiful wintery holiday evening - what more could you ask for? How about great performances by wonderful performing artists! Then add in a fantastic crew, a monitor system to die for, more lights than you've ever had and a simple mission - put on a show to remember. That pretty much sums up a Casino Holiday Party. Over the past couple of years it has been my privilege to write/produce and perform these shows at Casino Rama in Ontario Canada.
In year one the show featured individual artists in 13 individually designed vignette looks, performing 13 individual songs - and oh yeah - a planned 45 second turnaround between looks/artists. And I suppose that might not have been such a challenge if the design hadn't called for going directly from full orchestra to jazz trio at one point! That's when you thank your luck stars that the Tech Director is as nuts as you are! The show was cool - with the notion being that the room could be filled with people of every possible taste, the design was to serve a buffet of talent - from Opera to Ballet to Jazz to Country to Rock - all in one evening. From intimate solo's to a closing that included full cast, full orchestra and cascading risers - it was quite a ride. A couple of those performances are capture elsewhere here in my site (see MIKELLE and ALFIE ZAPPACOSTA in the MUSIC section of the site.)
Year two allowed me to present some of the most inspiring performances I've heard in ages. From the amazing TORCHMEN, when we were blessed with an award-winning rendition of MARY DO YOU KNOW to closing the show with my friend STERLING JARVIS leading the entire cast in a moving closing chorus of "...soon it will be Christmas Day" it was a very memorable experience - I hope you enjoy these highlights!