Desert Local News - Index

Desert Local News - Desert Local News Print and Virtual Edition April 17 2008 - Index

20 PALM DESERT THEATER
TORCH with Lina Koutrakos and
Rick Jensen comes to Palm Desert
Tim schall and Jerome elliott
productions present the California
premiere of 2007 maC award
(manhattan assoc. of Cabaret &
Clubs) winner for BesT maJor
FemaLe arTisT, Lina Koutrakos,
in her long running new york cabaret
hit TorCh on saturday may
17, 2008 at rsCd spiritual Center
45-630 portola avenue, palm
desert, Ca 92260. Koutrakos is
a multiple award winner who has
performed from greece to paris to
new york. she recently performed
TorCh at The geist Cabaret in
santa Fe, nm and davenports in
Chicago, after completing her successful
long run at new york’s The
metropolitan room Koutrakos is in
palm desert for the weekend to facilitate
the deserT area CaBareT
WorKshop, a three-day intensive
produced by Tim schall and
Jerome elliott productions.
TorCh is Koutrakos, a baby
grand, and the historic and ultimate
female expression of the blues
through this line up of classic and
not-so-classic torch songs. Koutrakos
has been compared to helen
morgan in her style of performance
– big, bold and earthy – taking her
audience on a journey through intelligent,
passionate performances of
torch song favorites such as stormy
Weather, one For my Baby, my
Foolish heart and newly re-imagined
arrangements of more contemporary
fare such as Bob seeger’s
1970’s classic night moves.
multiple award-winning musician
riCK Jensen, who collaborated
on TorCh with Koutrakos,
provides the arrangements and will
perform the show with her. singer
Tim sChaLL will open TorCh
with a short set. Tim sChaLL
has performed his original cabaret
shows at The Cabaret at savor and
The sheldon Concert hall, both in
st. Louis, mo. other appearances
include davenports in Chicago and
santa Fe’s geist Cabaret. he makes
is desert area cabaret debut by opening
TorCh with a short set of contemporary
and classic songs, including
original work by rick Jensen.
Tickets are $20. To reserve,
call (760) 406-5742.
The DESERT AREA CABA-
RET WORKSHOP, a three-day
intensive, takes 16 participants and
guides them in the art of song performance,
culminating in a student
showcase on the final evening.
Koutrakos and Jensen have served
on the faculty of The Cabaret Conference
at yale university, The eugene
o’neill Cabaret symposium,
and The st. Louis Cabaret Conference
and teach ongoing master
classes in new york. The workshop
is held may 16, 17 & 18 at
the rsdC spiritual Center, 45-630
portola avenue, palm desert, Ca
92260. spaces remain available for
the workshop. Call (760) 406-5742
for information.
revieWs For TorCh WiTh
Lina KouTraKos and riCK
Jensen
CaBareT sCenes maga-
Zine, 2006
“Lina Koutrakos is an enthralling
vocalist. she is better then ever.
Koutrakos and Jensen have delved
deep into the lyrics of such masters
as ira gershwin, gus Kahn and
Johnny mercer, and created fresh
arrangements that are moving and
intelligent. Koutrakos wrings more
emotion out of her songs than Barbara
stanwyck and ida Lupino ever
managed in a prison flick. Classics
from the nineteen twenties seem as
immediate as the six o’clock news.
“
BaCKsTage magaZine/
viLLage voiCe revieW may
08.2007 By david Finkle
“Climbing atop the piano during
TorCh… Lina Koutrakos instantly
conjures up helen morgan. not a
new idea. singers have followed
morgan’s example ever since she
set the style during the Jazz age.
in Koutrakos’ case, however, director
mark Waldrop has had the right
idea. reminding patrons of her predecessor
is tantamount to declaring
she is to torch singing in 2007 what
(helen) morgan was in the 1920s
and ‘30s. From anyone else, such
a tacit declaration might seem presumptuous.
From Koutrakos, it’s a
statement of fact.”
“Koutrakos sings these song --
many of them the heart-wrenchers
you’d expect -- as they should be
sung. she understands something
about the selections, something true
of all sorts of tunes: They are one-
sided conversations. yes, she sings
them, but as she sits on the piano or
leans against it or moves away form
it, she also tells them. When she
opens with Billy strayhorn’s ‘Lush
Life’, her throbbing quickly sets the
scene. When she sings ‘my Foolish
heart’ (ned Washington-victor
young), she probes the psychology
of someone realizing her current
romance isn’t another passing
fancy but the real, astonishing thing.
early in the set, with simpatico
rick Jensen doing his own brand of
torching at the keyboard, Koutrakos
offers an explanation of her affinity
for the material. she says that when
she was a youngster mesmerized by
old movies on television, she was
always drawn to ‘the bad girl with a
heart of gold.’ Whatever it was that
impressed her, the from-the-coreof-her-being
versions of ‘stormy
Weather’ (Ted Koehler-harold arlen),
‘it had to Be you’ (gus Kahnisham
Jones), ‘you Fascinate me
so’ (Carolyn Leigh-Cy Coleman),
‘The man That got away’ (ira gershwin
and arlen), and ‘one for my
Baby’ (Johnny mercer and arlen)
represent everything torch singing
can be today.”