Loose Leaf Notes

~ The following first appeared in The Floyd Press on March 31, 2011.

About 50 people gathered at Natasha’s Market Café last Saturday for an Evening of Cabaret to benefit the upcoming inaugural season of The National Music Festival (NMF) to be held in Floyd.   The cabaret featured performances of classic and comical songs from the Golden Age of Cinema, Broadway and Television, performed by musicians from Floyd and Blacksburg.

“We live in Floyd now. We just bought our first chickens but are still trying to figure out Floyd etiquette,” said NMF co-founder and director Richard Rosenberg before donning a straw hat and grabbing pitch fork for a number titled Fall River Hoedown about Massachusetts axe murder Lizzy Borden.  He was joined by his NMF co-founder Caitlin Patton for the tongue-in-cheek number.

Keeping with the cabaret humor, opera singer and teacher Mr. Ed Cohn sang the theme song from the old TV show about a talking horse named Mr. Ed.  Rosenberg performed a Danny Kaye tongue twister, written by Kaye and his wife Sylvia Fine, and other songs.

There was plenty of spoof and satire, but there were also love songs.   Cohn sang Some Enchanted Evening from the musical South Pacific.  Carolyn Romano bewitched the audience with her version of the song Bewitched from Pal Joey.  Patton, who wore a sequined gown, sang a contemporary song by Sarah McLachlan. Blacksburg musicians performing were Theodore Sipes, Erica Sipes and Paige Russell.

Along with the musical entertainment, cabaret attendees enjoyed dinner and dessert hors d’oeuvres prepared by Chef Natasha Shishkevish.   These included Thai sea bass with rice, eggplant patties with trout, crab cakes, new potatoes with ginger caviar, key lime cheesecake, orange cake, ginger pastry and more.

At the close of the evening a “mandatory encore” featured a group rendition of the 1965 satirical song by Tom Lehrer, “Who’s Next?”  First we got the bomb, and that was good, ‘Cause we love peace and motherhood. Then Russia got the bomb, but that’s okay, ‘Cause the balance of power’s maintained that way. Who’s next?

Organizers thanked the audience for coming and the café for hosting the event.  Patton said the money raised from the cabaret will be used to help pay for 25 apprentice scholarships and 25 teachers for the upcoming festival.  But more will need to be raised.  Seed grants are being looked into and volunteers are being requested.

Apprentices and teacher mentors will come together for the festival from May 29 the June 11^th.  They will rehearse and perform in orchestral, chamber, solo recital, vocal, choral and chamber opera repertoire in more than 20 concerts and over 250 free open rehearsals throughout Floyd. ~ Colleen Redman

Note: Watch a video of the cabaret HERE. Visit the NMF on Facebook and at their webpage HERE.