Langfield
Entertainment
88
Bloor Street E., Suite 2908, Toronto, ON
M4W 3G9
(416)
677-5883
langfieldent@rogers.com
www.langfieldentertainment.com
NEWSLETTER
Updated: August 17, 2006
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So much to do in our great
city of Toronto during the summer! Toronto hosts the International Aids Conference that began last weekend and there is lots of coverage
below. Canada is both host and witness to some of the most global
discussions and performances to bring awareness to the AIDS epidemic.
Ironically, Canada's political presence has been missing which has been
highly criticized. |
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::TOP
STORIES::
Alana Bridgewater Now A “Powerful” Part
Of All-Canadian Cast of Menopause Out Loud! ™
(Aug. 14, 2006) Toronto will soon feel the heat of an all-Canadian
Hot
Flash as Alana Bridgewater joins the cast of Menopause Out Loud! ™ in the role of Power Woman. Alana is currently wrapping up
rehearsals for the part and officially greets audiences Tuesday August 22.
Ticket sales for the hit musical about women and The Change have also
been hot, reaching a high average sell-out rate of 90 per cent. Menopause
Out Loud! is playing at the Capitol Theatre, 2492 Yonge Street.
Alana Bridgewater is known as the voice of the 2008 Olympic Bid Song and she
brings an outstanding musical background to Menopause Out Loud!™ Alana
is an accomplished jazz singer and songwriter who began her career as a child
with the Canadian Children’s Opera Chorus and the National Ballet. She has
toured the east coast with jazz great Joe Sealy and his quartet as a member of
the Nathaniel Dett Chorale. Recent credits include Smokey Joe’s Café, Little
Shop of Horrors, Peter Gzowski’s Celebrity Golf Tournament, Best
Little Whorehouse in Texas and CBC Television’s In a Jam.Alana
assumes the role of Power Woman along side Jayne Lewis (Soap Star), Nicole
Robert (Earth Mother) and Rose Ryan (Iowa Housewife). Cynthia Jones, who has
performed as Power Woman with Menopause Out Loud! ™ since its July 12
opening, will return home to Seattle to resume her role with the show’s Seattle
production. Menopause Out Loud!™ unites four women: an aging TV
soap star, a lost-in-the-sixties hippie, a power professional and a naïve Iowa
housewife with seemingly nothing in common but a black lace bra. A parody of
songs and dance quickly proves to the women their similarities are greater than
initially assumed. This fast paced musical parody pokes fun at hot flashes,
memory loss, mood swings, too much sex, not enough sex, wrinkles and night
sweats and a whole lot more.
Inspired by a hot flash and a bottle of wine, writer/producer Jeanie Linders,
created the show featuring 26 re-lyricized pop hit tunes from the ‘60s, ‘70s
and ‘80s. Popular baby boomer hits include: Lookin’ for Food in All
the Wrong Places, Puff My God I’m Dragging, Change, Change,
Change, Thank You Doctor, My Thighs and the disco favourite Stayin’
Awake, Stayin’ Awake, and are hilariously performed with the audience singing,
dancing and laughing out loud.It’s a party every night as the doors of
Toronto’s Capitol Theatre swing open to celebrate women. Happy Hot Flash
Hour begins at 6:30 p.m. Wednesdays to Saturdays and features complimentary
hors d’oeuvres provided by some of Toronto’s top restaurants: Centro
Restaurant, Daniel et Daniel, Encore Food with Elegance and Sequel Restaurant
& Catering. Themed drinks such as EstroGin & Tonic, Meno-Shots,
Mood-Swing Martinis and I’m So Whiney Spritzers are also
available for purchase at the Capitol Theatre Bar.
Ticket Information:
Tickets are on sale now through Ticketmaster outlets and may be
purchased online at www.ticketmaster.ca or by calling 416-872-1111. Tickets are
$49.95 +GST. For Groups of 15+ people call Group Sales at 416-438-5559
for special offers.
Evening performances are Tuesday to Saturday at 8 p.m. Matinee performances are
Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday at 2 p.m. Discounts are available
through Ticketmaster for Girls Night Out for 10 - 14 people.
Guests attending the 8 p.m. show Wednesday through Saturday are invited
to arrive at The Capitol Theatre at 6:30 p.m. for Happy Hot Flash Hour
featuring complimentary hors d’oeuvres provided by some of Toronto’s best
restaurants and caterers. Themed drinks are available for purchase at the
Capitol Theatre Bar.
For more information on the show please visit www.menopauseoutloud.com.
Carey Shows Fans How To Shake It Off
Excerpt from The Toronto Star
(Aug. 14, 2006) You gotta love Mariah
Carey. What other performer.jpg)
would stop their show to point out a hole on the floor of the
stage "about the size of a stiletto heel," then admit to having
missed the first line of the song anyway, further acknowledge various goofs —
including almost falling down — in the first quarter of the 90-minute set, and
shrug it all off with a sweetly confident "You know how I am?"
It could be that Carey, 36, has learned the dangers of perfectionism,
given the exhaustion to which she attributed her very public emotional
breakdown a few years back. Or perhaps, she's been nudged about some of
the unflattering reviews (citing late starts and uneven singing) of The
Adventures of Mimi: The Voice, the Hits, the Tour, which kicked off in Miami
last weekend. "I didn't want Toronto to think I didn't want to put
on a good show," she said of her confessions, which came at the tour's
fifth outing last night at the Air Canada Centre. It helped that the New
York native made these admissions clad in a butter yellow, low cut, bare back,
midriff baring gown and then delivered a standout version of 1990's
"Vision of Love" — the first of her 17 No. 1 singles.
And to the reassurance of those holding tickets for Carey's Aug. 29 return
date, as last night's sold-out crowd can attest, the pop songstress remains in
the fine five-octave form that made last year's The Emancipation of Mimi
a three-Grammy winner that moved 10 million copies — besting rapper 50 Cent for
the year's top seller. The concert began with video footage of a
roller-coaster ride with a Carey voiceover that alluded to the ups and down
that marred her personal and professional life for the first half of this
decade: divorce from then-Sony boss Tommy Mottola, starring in the movie
musical Glitter which tanked, being released from Virgin Records and
erratic public behaviour that was widely documented and labelled a meltdown.
With the taped announcement, "after all the hysteria everything is
up," Carey stepped out in a glittery black bikini top, matching boy shorts
and a transparent cape, singing "It's Like That." Backed by an
elaborate stage, six dancers and a seven-piece band, she performed many of her
hits, including "Heartbreaker," "Dream Lover" and
"Fantasy." She was joined by erstwhile R&B crooner Trey
Lorenz, with whom she'd recorded the Jackson 5's "I'll Be There" for
a pleasing rendition of the song. Unfortunately, she then conceded the stage to
him to showcase a song from his forthcoming album. Momentum lagged, since few
know the South Carolina native outside of the 1992 collaboration with Carey and
he didn't even try to make nice by removing the I'm-so-cool sunglasses.
The other downside was a videotaped skit of a quartet of catty women
dissing Carey in a washroom about her emotional problems and possibly fake
boobs and legs. That was overkill for someone who's shaken off the naysayers to
come within three songs of the Beatles No. 1 hits record. And let's face it —
she didn't have such a substantial bosom in her 1990 debut. But overall,
Carey is a delight. She is a bit quirky, and she can't really dance — her
tendency is to preen and prance — but she sings her ass off and is a whole lot
of fun to watch. And she really does try to connect with her fans, even
performing two songs on a ministage in their midst. Costume changes were
well down from the eight on her 2000 tour and the healthy looking, no skinny
Mimi has toned down the skank. In fact, it was dancehall reggae opener Sean
Paul and his sexy frenetic dancers who pushed the boundaries of decency last
night.
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Ready To Go Supernova
Excerpt from The Globe and Mail
-Alexandra Shimo
(Aug. 15, 06) He may look like Pepé Le Pew and talk in trite tautologies,
but one has to admit, the boy has one fine set of pipes. And
those pipes and his star presence are what have made Toronto boy Lukas Rossi the one to watch on Rock Star: Supernova.
“What's special about me is that I'm just being myself and I believe that I'm
the real deal,” says Rossi, on the phone from the Rock Star mansion in the
Hollywood Hills. Those who know the industry concur. “He's fabulous,” says
voice coach Elaine Overholt, who gave private singing lessons to Kalan Porter in the run-up
to his Canadian Idol win and helped Porter prepare for his world tour.
“A rock star has to be so in touch with themselves that nothing is phoney. It's
all authentic. That's what's what I feel about him. And he sings in tune! Which
is more than I can say for some of the others.”
To shed light on why Rock Star is the most popular show on Canadian
television among the 18-to-49 audience, consider the numbers. The star search
was worldwide; more than 25,000 contestants entered from Canada, New Zealand,
Australia, Iceland, Malaysia, Hong Kong and the United States. The audience is
also global — the show airs in 40 different countries. Its predecessor, Rock
Star: INXS, propelled the winner, Torontonian JD Fortune, to immediate
stardom, and revived the fortunes of the Australian band. Whoever takes the
helm of Supernova will join a rock group that already has A-list celebrity
appeal with Mötley Crüe's Tommy Lee on drums, ex-Metallica bassist Jason
Newsted and the former Guns N' Roses guitarist Gilby Clarke. Currently, eight
contestants remain. However, Rossi has emerged as the one to beat, says Jeff
Melanson, dean of the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto. “In his last
performance, singing [Radiohead's] Creep, the judges moved him away from
the pack into being a front-runner,” Melanson says. “The music business, whether
it is classical, jazz or pop, is about having a unique voice. This is where
Rossi stands out. He's showing more range in the genres and styles of music
than the others.” On camera, Rossi leans more to monosyllabic euphemisms than
lucid locution. Lyrics such as “I hate you and you hate me/ I guess we
understand/ You follow me like shadows/ Sorry I've made my plans,” or
pronouncements such as “Songs that you overthink, they tend to be overthought,”
are not clear indications of an overactive cerebrum, but inventive invective is
not the point of the competition. The aim is to sing, to strut, to wail with
woe, and Rossi does all of these with the utmost conviction. When he sang Creep,
he seemed as angry, pained and mucked-up as the best of them. “He's raw,” Overholt
says. “I sense a little anger in his performance. He holds it back, and then he
lets us see it. That's very exciting.”
Rossi, 29, grew up near the intersection of Jane Street and Lawrence Avenue in
Toronto, a neighbourhood he describes as rough. “I learned about life on the
streets. You have to watch your back. Otherwise, you get squashed pretty
quickly.” Early inspiration came from his brother Jonas Marcoechio. “My brother
and I are really different, but we have one thing in common in that we would
both die for music. When he would play his records, like Billy Idol and The
Cult, I would get goose bumps and I knew I wanted to pursue a career in music.”
In Grade 11, he quit his North York Catholic boys' high school to focus on his
band, Cleavage. In 1996, he trained at the Royans School For the Musical
Performing Arts. Four years later, Cleavage was selected as Canada's Best
Unsigned Band by the North by Northeast Music Festival, and released its
self-titled six-song debut CD the following year. But shortly after signing
with EMI Music Canada in 2004, Rossi left Cleavage and formed his latest band,
Rise Electric. These days, Rossi phones his brother from L.A., though he no
longer speaks to his parents. He says his friends and fans in Toronto are following
his progress on Rock Star avidly.
“He's very charismatic. You know, the way he walks. He does this shoulder
strut,” says Vito Petrucci, 29, who grew up in the same neighbourhood as Rossi.
“He's always had that star presence.” Other followers say the appeal is more
about his singing talent and wonderful looks. “Seeing him for the first time on
Rock Star,” says Ramona Thompson, 27, of Texas, “he had not yet sang
[sic] or even spoken but just from looking at him you could tell a star had
been born.” Thompson now runs a fan site called The Rossi Possi. That stage
persona, the presence — and of course the pipes — are all helping him stand out
from the other musicians, Melanson says. But even if Rossi doesn't go all the
way, he adds, don't rule him out. “I expect some label will sign and promote
him even if he doesn't lead Supernova. Whether or not he wins, we will hear
some interesting things from him in the future.”
Hayden A Homegrown Ballet Star
Excerpt from The Toronto Star - Susan
Walker, Dance Writer
(Aug. 15, 2006) Melissa Hayden was a dancer whose powerful
personality equalled her technical expertise, a genuine ballet
star whose career began in Toronto. When she retired from New York City
Ballet in 1973, Hayden had danced with the company longer than any other
ballerina, having arrived in the 1949-50 season. Hayden, who died last week of
pancreatic cancer at the age of 83, exuded a passion onstage that came from a
never-ending love of dancing for an audience. "She was an
extraordinary artist, with astonishing range. She could dance a powerhouse role
and then be a piece of feather," says former National Ballet of Canada
principal dancer Joysanne Sidimus, who remembers admiring Hayden from the wings
and eventually dancing on the same stage as her during her years with George
Balanchine's New York company. Balanchine created dozens of roles for
her, in some of his most loved ballets: Theme and Variations, Stars
and Stripes, Episodes, Trois Valses Romantiques and Agon.
Hayden also premiered works by Jerome Robbins in her formative years in New
York. Lincoln Kirstein, co-founder of the New York City Ballet, estimated
she appeared before audiences more than any other performer of her time.
For her farewell show, Balanchine created Cortège hongrois for her. The
dance remains in the company's repertoire. "He came out and personally
presented her with flowers," says Sidimus. "That was unheard
of." Then New York mayor John Lindsay gave her a medal and
proclaimed her an "extraordinary ballerina who has filled the hearts of
her audiences with joy."
Born in Toronto on April 25, 1923, Mildred Herman, as she was then, was a
student of Boris Volkov and worked with his Canadian Ballet. In the early '40s,
she went to New York City and joined the Radio City Music Hall dancers before
entering the American Ballet Theatre, where she danced from 1945 to 1948. When
that company went on hiatus, Hayden was invited to do a South American tour
with Cuban ballerina Alicia Alonso. After Balanchine brought her into his
company, she trained with him, transforming herself. In an interview for Balanchine's
Ballerinas, she described the process: "You make yourself a
Balanchine dancer by dancing his ballets. Your legs change, your body changes,
you become a filly." "Milly wasn't born with the body to
dance," Sidimus remembers. "She had beautiful feet, but she worked to
make them beautiful. She was absolutely a role model for all of us, watching
the way she worked on a role. She kept to a certain standard and dignity every
day." When her stage years were over, Hayden took up teaching, and
continued right up to a month before her death. She taught in Seattle and for a
time ran her own school in New York. From 1983 onwards, she was a faculty
member at the North Carolina School of the Arts in Winston-Salem. During
a two-year period when she was not dancing with New York City Ballet, Hayden
married a businessman, Don Coleman. She was unusual for her time in having a
family in mid-career. Her daughter Jennifer also danced. Her son Stuart is a
lawyer. Hayden returned to dance with American Ballet Theatre for a
while, but "then I was ready to go back to Balanchine. I knew that other
than having a good marriage with someone you trust the most exciting
relationship is with him, being the instrument of his creative powers,"
she said in 1982. Sidimus praised Hayden for her contributions onstage
and off. "Everything she did was so thought out, but she had a layer of
spontaneity on stage. As a dancer, a human being and a teacher she had so much
to offer."
