HAPPY SUMMAH, ALL! I cannot believe that my son starts school a month from tomorrow and that the summer is almost over. Things have been a little crazy, hence my severe lack of posting, but tonight I finally got a chance to sit down and share what’s been going on!
SO…one thing I’ve been wanting to do for YEARS is get back to Denmark and see my cousins in person, let alone introduce my son to them. In early July, my son and I got to do just that. it was a short trip, but a great one and I was so happy to return to one of my favorite places AND catch up with family. 
Bookending that trip was a 29-hour reading of a new musical called “Conversations With My Penis”. Yes, you read right. Two urologists have written a musical/song cycle hoping to help men feel more comfortable about…their business. The cast was incredible and happened to star my dear friend and collaborator Richard Binder as well as the fabulous Sierra Rein, who brought me into this project. 
Not long after that, I went up to NH to visit The Barnstormers where I caught their production of Educating Rita starring the ridiculously talented Dale Place and my Sister from Nunsense the ever fabulous Sarah Corey. And of course,  a visit to Barnstormers is not a visit without seeing Doug Shapiro, who not only is featured in their Agatha Christie play, “Come Back For Murder”, but is also running concessions this summer up there. I also got to see the designer run of the wonderful play “Into The Breeches”. Director Sarah Rozene gave it just the right touch along with the perfect cast. Doug and I sat there laughing, crying, sharing all the feels during this play that covers so many different topics without hammering at them.
The day after I got back from NH, it was on to the Catskills for a family break with some great friends, great food, and fab hiking. 
Upon return, it was back to work with standardized patient work at Columbia Nursing, starting rehearsals for dear friend Eric Vetter’s birthday cabaret, Eric Vetter: Delusions and Inspiration, and then…a fitting and time on set for my first co-star. Can’t say which show just yet, but it was a marvelous time. Everyone I dealt with from the PA’s to hair and makeup, to the crew and director were fantastic, really just lovely. There were two scenes and mine was the last of the night and just me. It must ave gone all right as the director closed us out with “If we’ve got to be here late on a Friday night, with one shot to go, it should be with you!” It was a good time and here’s to more of that.
SPEAKING OF MORE OF THAT…A while back I did a reading with fab actor Joyia Bradley. On a break during rehearsal, we ended up talking: “I’ve got agents, but no management,” - “Funny, I have management but no agents.” We made introductions to our people and next thing you know, she is signed with my management The Talent Express, and I am now signed with Will Ball at Vie for Commercials/TV/Film. Woo Hoo! So excited to be part of the team. 
Thank you for reading my essay on what I did on my summer vacation, and if you need this merry mixed mezzo, slap that contact button!
P.S. Check back later for news on a new solo cabaret in November and a holiday BinderSuze show in December. 
​Peace my friends! ☮️

So. Much. Happening. It’s been a happy and busy May so far. I’m gonna throw in one April thing because it was the end of the month and a fun gig. Friend and director Dev Bondarin asked me to do stage directions of a reading of a development project of The York Theater. Kilgallen and Kennedy is musical in progress dealing with a reporter and her hunt for the truth about the assassination of JFK. The following week, I did stage directions, again with Dev, as part of Vinyl Vanguard by fabulous up and coming playwright Marcus Scott, which was part of The National Black Theater’s Keep Soul Alive series. High school! Race! Culture! And all the cool music; can these kids be a band, or will it all blow up? A few days later, as part of the Fresh Draft Series put on by The Latinx Playwright’s Circle, I got to continue my exploration of the role of ‘Alex’ in Kendra Augustin’s play “The Beauty of My Youth is Gone, But The Chemicals Remain” which is a post-apocalyptic tale that has some serious Handmaid’s Tale vibes. And then came BinderSuze: Mashup Mixtape at The Green Room 42. Binder and I debuted this show at Don’t Tell Mama last December and , and, after the response, brought it back. We even added new material and had a great night. Lastly, I just did a reading of MJ Perrin’s The Absurdity of Life as part of New Perspective Theater’s Sweet Noise Festival. This piece covers a lot of ground, from being a black queer woman, to childhood trauma, to parenting; so much to tell and I can’t wait to see how it evolves.
Coming up: Come on over to The Triad for James Beaman in his critically acclaimed solo cabaret Lived Experience. After a fab debut back in October, he is bringing it back June 1st. I’ll be returning with MAC Award winners Sierra Rein and Goldie Dver as back up singers for the show.
*6/14 I’ll be back at Otto’s Shrunken Head, back behind the kit for the June No Name..And A Bag O’Chips show. There might be a BinderSuze appearance as well!
In the meantime, I hope your are able to get out and enjoy the good weather while we got it. 
And if you need this merry mezzo for your next project, go on and smash that CONTACT button!
​Peace ✌🏽

The link is LIVE thus it is OFFICIAL. If you missed us in December at Don’t Tell Mama, or want to see us again, come on over to The Green Room 42 MAY 17th @ 7pm. There will be fan favorites, there will be new material, there will be a not-so-secret special guest. We are so excited to bring this show back and continue to bring what started out as videos recorded at the church where we work, beyond the screen to the stage! You can get your tickets HERE. 
In the meantime…I got to be a percussionist this past weekend, playing drums this past Friday and Saturday and then cajon on Sunday. Friday, I was back behind the kit with The Summer Replacements for our April No Name…And A Bag O’Chips show, which was also a tribute show for our late bassist Fernando Morales, whom we lost to Covid in 2020. Fernando loved haikus and metal music and we had plenty of both. Friends read his haikus, We played Radiohead’s Creep, Metallica’s Enter Sandman, and, to further prove the brilliance of my collaborator Richard Binder, we did a mashup of Buddy Holly and Cannibal Corpse; and it worked. 
Saturday was the MCS Jam. Yes, there is a parent band at my son’s school, and we do a monthly jam and it is always a good time. These people are sick musicians and it’s always a joy to share the music with the MCS families and to do it at Shrine in Harlem. I apparently was drumming enough that watch asked me if I was doing an indoor run. 🤣
Sunday, it was another wonderful session of Musical Theater Bookclub. It’s a great way to keep the chops up, learn scores and just have a good time. The host of this months show, La Cage Aux Folles, wanted to have a band, thus, we ended up with trombone, trumpet, French horn, bass, piano, keyboard, and then me, on cajon (box drum). It was so fun to play this music, let alone sing it, I’m tempted to have folks do the same should I finally host a show. 
Coming up!
May 3rd - I’ll be back at Otto’s for our May No Name 
May 17th - BinderSuze @ The Green Room 42
Keep it here for more info! And if you need this merry mixed mezzo for your project, click the CONTACT button. 
Peace to you all on this Sox home opener! #RedSox #49 #2004 ✌🏽🧡

Hey there, all! Why does it feel like January went as quickly as February usually does? Well, as we head toward Valentine’s Day, here’s what is coming up!
A couple of weeks back, I was cast in a short play by Matthew J. Kaplan for the latest in-person volume of The Playground Experiment. Next thing we know, the play has been accepted into a short play fest in Queens! As a big fan of Matthew’s work, I am very excited to take this piece to the next level. Come on out at the end of the month and check out A Haunting Melody, along with other fab original work at the Queens Short Play Festival at The Secret Theater.
Also, in March, The Rigano Songbook will be back at it for their annual Ides of March Extravaganza! It’s the 10th (Xth?) and thus, it’s gonna be extra fabulous. Look out for details here!
​All right, time to get back to audition madness. Peace, my friends 🧡✌🏽

Man, I am so grateful. Last year started with finishing my cabaret run at Don't Tell Mama and getting a couple of stunning reviews, and went out with just as much of a bang.  At the end of October, just before the Halloween Parade, I was asked to be backup James Beaman's cabaret comeback show Lived Experience, which was a marvelous show where Jamie, after playing so many characters over his decades long career, finally got to show us himself. Shortly after, I got to sing the music of one of my favorite composers, Rachel Peters, in a new work with collaborator Kevin Townley, Jr. called Manor of Speaking. Based on Oscar Wilde's first speaking tour across America, the piece is a commission for Blythley Oratonio, internationally known mezzo Stephanie Blythe's tenor alter ego. To sing with an incredible cast, including a favorite mezzo was a dream come true. I can't wait to see what happens next with this piece. 
Next I was asked by marvelous cabaret artist Goldie Dver to be part of her holiday benefit for St. Jude's, Tis The Season: With A Twist. It was a night of cabaret legends, featuring Lennie Watts, Meg Flather, Tanya Moberly, Aaron Lee Battle, Sidney Meyer, and many more. Goldie raised around $2K for St. Judes and I was so happy to be part of it. And then: BINDERSUZE!
For eight years we've been making mashups and, after being asked if we were ever going to do a show, we finally did! We had a nearly full house at Don't Tell Mama for our show, and had a great reaction from the friends and family who came. The plan is to do it again in the spring so keep an eye out here for the latest. 
As for THIS year, it started with an appearance as a wealthy Senator in a 20 minute musical as part of the NYPL's series Across A Crowded Room. Timothy Leech (book, lyrics & music), Nicholas Radu-Blackburn (book & lyrics), and Cheryl Chin (music) met at Across A Crowded Room last summer, and decided to write Polar Excess, a marvelous satire loosely based on the Titanic submarine fiasco. 
1/22, I'll be back with the Playground Experiment live in Matt Kaplan's A Haunting Melody. 
Hope you all are well and have a happy, healthy, joyful, and prosperous 2024.

What do you mean I have not posted since JULY? 
Well, life has been busy with readings and concerts and HALLOWEEN...here's the lowdown friends:
*We did two No Name Shows at QED in August and September (An keep an eye here as there is a chance for a monthly regular spot there.)
*50th Annual Village Halloween Parade - Yes, this year was the 50th Anniversary of this fantastic night of creativity in the city. Marching with Processional Arts is always a joy, particularly after spending Saturdays up there helping build the puppets. This year, the theme was Inside Out/Upside Down because, who isn't these days, and the puppet performance was called Mirror/Mirror. It's a time of reflection, as well as a way for the audience to see themselves in the parade. When Ralph Lee first created the parade, he started with a number of "sweepers" who swept away the bad energy of the day before the creative flow of the evening. The Sweepers were brought back, but this time as 15 foot high illuminated ladies, one of which I had the honor of carrying. "Angela Lansbury" (as I called her) and I had a great night with our fellow sweepers and the mirror shards we had to sweep up. It's always a good crowd and good time. 

*11/9 Madison Sounds will feature the MABC Choir in a concert as part of the church's 175th anniversary celebration. We'll do some church favorites, but also show you what else we do. Link with more info, HERE. 

*11/14 We all know what a fan I am of the work of composer Rachel Peters. Well, now I will be part of a reading of a work she has put together with librettist Kevin Thomas Townley, Jr featuring Stephanie Blythe as Blthely Oratonio as Oscar Wilde in Manor of Speaking. Manor of Speaking follows Oscar through a tour of the states he made in 1882 discussing home decor. this will be a trip and I am so excited to hear all this out loud. (This is a private reading, otherwise, there would be a link for sure.)

12/8: One night only with BINDERSUZE: Mashup Mixtape. We're taking our mashups on the ro- okay over to Don't Tell Mama for a one night set. We'll have favorites and new ones, so come on down! link for reservations is HERE. 

There are a couple of things awaiting full confirmation, which I will surely get up on here when, you know, confirmed. 

Enjoy the fall weathah, and hope to see you! ✌🏽
​

Hey there, all! Long time no type! I somehow forgot to mention that there was a BinderSuze sighting at QED for No Name's first show at QED in FOREVAH in May, probably because school was coming to a close, and I remembered that auditions were still happening, and oh hey I have a gig coming up starting rehearsals in mid June(!), so yes, life happened, but what a sweet life. 
June 18th: Did my church gig and then drove 7 hours with the delightful Darien Crago up to Tamworth, NH. (Seriously, if you have to spend 7 hours in a car with someone you've just met, Darien's IT.)
June 19th, we started rehearsals and, man, not gonna lie, it was not an easy process. A show gets learned and put together in essentially 6 days, and for someone who had not done a full blown production for some time, I was worried my brain was not going to handle it. But this ridiculous cast (Aimee Doherty, Darien Crago, Cheryl Mullins and Sarah Corey) and production team (Dir. Sarah Rozene, Chor. Alex Davis, MD Michael Ursua, PSM Dierdre Benson) was extremely patient, generous and supportive, and next thing you know, we had a SHOW. 
It was a such a joy to watch, learn from, and play with these women on stage and already miss them and the show terribly. It's not every day you get to bring some joy and laughter AND be in the definitively bucolic environs of Tamworth, NH. Here's to more of that for next year!
Sunday was spent visiting my sister and her boo at the J&M diner and then checking out the final day of the Ralph Lee exhibit at the Ballard Museum of Puppetry at UConn, all on the way back to NYC. After having a place to park on a regular basis and nothing louder than some crickets at night, I came back home to hunting down a parking spot in POURING rain, and having to make a noise complaint about a car alarm that kept going off. At least there was getting to hit the Halal truck for dinner. 
Monday morning, I got to do a table read of a play in progress then headed downtown to help Doug Shapiro (surely you've heard of Doug Shapiro?) run lines for Fully Committed which he'll be starring in for his 23rd Season at Barnstormers, and then went to get my son at graffiti camp.
Now it's back to singing at MABC (Christmas in July this coming weekend!), being of service to budding doctors at NYMC, a Summer Replacements gig at Word Up Recirculation, and auditions.  If you could use this merry mixed mezzo, head over to the contact page and click that button! Peace to you all ✌🏽🧡

In the before times, I got the opportunity, thanks in no small part to the wonderful Doug Shapiro (pictured above in the coffee cup attire), to be an off-stage singer for the opening number of what is now called The Red Bucket Follies, a fabulous fundraising event by the theatre community for those in the theatre community. I did three of those before I finally was able to join the other wonder Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS puts on, The Easter Bonnet Competition. In this event, Broadway (and off-broadway, touring, and affiliate organizations) compete in fundraising, but also with sketches and musical or dance numbers as well as bonnets: great big, beautiful Easter Bonnets. 
The last time they did the Bonnet live was 2019, so it was such a thrill to be able to bring it back and be part of it once more. It was so great to join friends old and new as an offstage singer not only for the opening number, but also for the winning Phantom sketch (which included Phantom alum). And then, I got to return as a "bonnet walker". If a show doesn't have sketch, they'll have someone walk their bonnet for the Bonnet Parade mid show. I got to walk a bonnet in 2019, representing Revolucion Latina, but this year, not only did I walk it, I built it! 
After years of helping build puppets and lanterns with Processional Arts Workshop, my husband offered to put those skills to use for The Easter Bonnet. We weren't sure we'd hear back at all, assuming all the shows' props or costume departments would be all over this, but then we got an email: could we build a bonnet for a show. And not just any show, but for Broadway sensation SIX. My son LOVES this show and was thrilled to be able to be part of the design process. Jeff, Ben, and I figured out a design, the show gave us fabric from the costumes to use as accents, and thus, using Coro-plast and hot glue, the "Crowning Glory" was born. It may not have won Best Bonnet, but I heard the cast jumped up and down when they saw it, so that is quite enough for me. :)
And it doesn't hurt to share the stage with Aaron Harrington of Little Shop of Horrors, Doug Shapiro, and J Harrison Ghee, and sing with James Jackson, and Howard McGillan among others. Hence the title of this post.
To see more about the event, including video with a soundtrack of the offstage singers(!) click HERE. 
If you want to know more about, and donate to, Broadway Cares and all the good work they do, click HERE.

So, Binder wanted to mash up this one song with Butch Walker's "Can We Just Not Talk About Last Night", but realized that it was not going to work. THEN, Binder went to a brunch, brought up our plight to a couple of the folks there and one of them said, "Shallow," as in DUH. And then Charlie Puth came out with one heck of a breakup album which includes the song  "Smells Like Me". After far too long, there was time to finally put it all together and thus, the "mashup of shame" was born. And you can check it out, HERE.