Rubicon Theatre Company presents MY LIFE UPON THE WICKED STAGE
By: A.A. Cristi May. 16, 2017
On the heels of a thrilling performance by Phantom star Davis Gaines, the 2017 Janet and Mark L. Goldenson Broadway Concert Series at Rubicon Theatre Company continues with a concert starring Emmy Award-winner and multiple-Tony nominee Nancy Dussault in MY LIFE...UPON THE WICKED STAGE. Perhaps best known to audiences as the first host of "Good Morning America," and for her co-starring role on TV on "Too Close for Comfort," Dussault's remarkable career began on the stage. Her concert includes anecdotes about Dussault's remarkable career and songs by many of her favorite composers, such as Richard Rodgers, Jule Styne, Burton Lane and Stephen Sondheim. Dussault's extraordinary musicality and comedic storytelling infuse new meaning into beloved classics such as "Getting Married Today," "Look to the Rainbow," "Old Friend" and her iconic "Make Someone Happy." Nancy is joined by Musical Director Christopher Marlowe and Director Valentine Mayer. Nancy Dussault: MY LIFE...UPON THE WICKED STAGE comes to Ventura for three-performances-only: Saturday, May 20 at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. and Sunday, May 21 at 2 p.m.
Nancy Dussault began attracting national attention at Northwestern University when her junior year photo as "Miss Student Body," appeared in "Life" Magazine. While still at Northwestern, she performed as a guest soloist with The Chicago Symphony Orchestra, winning two Young Artist Awards from the American Society of Musicians. After graduation, Dussault appeared in N.Y. clubs like The Blue Angel and The Upstairs at the Downstairs.
Dussault received sensational reviews and was warmly embraced by New York audiences for her Broadway debut in the Jule Styne, Comden & Green musical Do Re Mi. Critics responded to her voice, her versatility and her ability to confidently clown alongside established comedians and co-stars Phil Silvers and Nancy Walker. She earned her first Tony Award nomination, and was tapped to appear on America's most-watched TV program, "The Ed Sullivan Show," where she was heralded as Broadway's brightest new star. She was only 19.
The next year, she stepped into the role of Maria on Broadway in The Sound of Music. She followed with roles in Bajour, Side by Side by Sondheim and Into the Woods, receiving the Theatre World Award and multiple Tony nominations.
In the years that followed, Dussault performed on many television variety shows, such as "The Garry Moore Show," The Bell Telephone Hour," " The HallMark Hall of Fame," "The Dinah Shore Show," "The Carol Burnett Show," " The Tony Awards," "The Emmy Awards," "The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson," "The Merv Griffin Show," " The Mike Douglas Show," "Night of 100 Stars, Pts 1 &2, "The Lily Tomlin Special," "The Bert Reynolds Special," PBS TV's "Cabaret Tonight, (earning her an Emmy Award), and "Happy Birthday Hollywood," as well as Northwestern University's Star-Packed Alumni Special, "The Way They Were" and many others. The crystal-clarity of her vocal performances combined with Dussault's instinctive, intuitive comic touch set her apart and earned her repeated national appearances.
When not on a TV sound stage, Nancy could be found on the Off-Broadway stages of New York in The Boyfriend, starring in Carousel and Finian's Rainbow at the City Center, Street Scene, The Cradle Will Rock and The Mikado at The New York City Opera.
Stages all across the country welcomed her in a wide range of plays and musicals from Somerset Maugham's, The Constant Wife, Follies,Mame, The King and I, I'm Getting My Act Together and Taking it on the Road, Shirley Valentine, Peter Pan, The Sisters Rosensweig, Candideat The Ahmanson, (winning an Ovation Award) and The Three Penny Opera, and The Imaginary Invalid for ACT in San Francisco to David Rambo's The Lady with All the Answers in Phoenix and Tucson.
Carl Reiner first saw her in in Joseph Papp's New York Public Theatre's Trelawney of the Wells, and immediately added her to his cast of "The New Dick Van Dyke Show."
Another first followed in the world of television when Fred Silverman put ABC's flagship, morning program "Good Morning, America" into the hosting hands of Dussault and David Hartman. The two actors took on roles that had traditionally been filled by journalists in a news-format time slot.
Dussault's romance with the television camera continued with ABC's "Too Close for Comfort," on which she spent six years with the inimitable, Ted Knight, making another TV first when "Too Close" was cancelled by the network, but continued on the air as TV's first comedy made-for first-run syndication. Time of day didn't seem to matter, Nancy was welcomed into America's living rooms.
For twelve years, along with Henry Winkler and John Ritter, Dussault co-hosted United Cerebral Palsy's marathon 45-hour Fund Raising Telethon. Other TV appearances include "Barney Miller," "Full House," "The Love Boat," "Hotel," "Jack of Hearts," "Matlock," "Murder, She Wrote," "Dream On," "Mad About You," "Providence," "Family Law," "Judging Amy," and "Alias."
Dussault has appeared as a guest soloist with every major symphony and pops orchestra in America, most recently appearing with George Hearn in an All Sondheim Celebration with the 105-piece Pittsburgh Pops Orchestra. She has sold out NY's Russian Tea Room and The Firebird Café, San Francisco's Plush Room and the Razz Room, L.A.'s Cinegrill and Gardenia Rooms, as well as Boston's Les Zygomates, The Jazz Side.
Her most recent appearance at Michael Feinstein's 54 Below, New York City's current premiere Cabaret Supper Club, was a sold-out triumph. Her "Cabaret Tonight" for Los Angeles' KCET earned her an Emmy Award.
Dussault conceived, produced and starred in ASCAP's "American Women of Notes" at UCLA's Schoenberg Hall. She inaugurated UCLA's Ray Bolger School of Musical Theatre Program and taught there for five years. Northwestern University Alumni Association named Nancy "Woman of the Year" in 1990, and she was appointed to the "Council of 100 Outstanding Women" by its President. Nancy was thrilled to have been asked originally to be a part of what turned out to be Arthur Hiller's cult classic, "The In-Laws" starring Peter Falk and Alan Arkin. Today, she is honored that her interview is included in the re-release of the enhanced Blu-Ray DVD by The Criterion Collection. Her first solo CD, "HEART and SOUL" was received with both commercial success and critical praise, and she continues to sell it from the backseat of her Honda Hybrid Sedan.
She is very happy to return home to the stage at Rubicon Theatre Company where her performance of Love, Loss ...and What I Wore in 2014 introduced Nancy to the joys of life in Ventura County, and she, her husband and dog moved here the following year.
Christopher Marlowe (Musical Director) was born in a trunk in Washington, D.C., and was the recipient of the 1996 Manhattan Association of Cabaret's Award for Music Director of the Year. For many years, Chris was principally associated with singer Nancy Lamott. Their eight albums have been the recipients of both Backstage's BISTRO Award and the MAC Award for Recording of the Year. The most recent release "Ask Me Again" spent three weeks at the top of the Billboard charts in March of 2008. He has music directed/ arranged and co-produced 50 CD's of 30 different vocalists. In 2008, Hal Leonard published his best-known arrangements.
He conducted and arranged with Kathie Lee Gifford; worked on developing a pre-Broadway one woman show with Bernadette Peters, music directed David Zippel's All Girl Band at Joe's Pub at The Public Theatre in New York, and music directed It's Better With a Band at The Prince Music Theater in Philadelphia. In 2013, Christopher music directed and played for Elaine Paige's first U.S. concert tour, and music directed "Marvin Hamlisch: They're Playing His Songs at the Cape Playhouse in Dennis, Massachusetts and the McCallum Theater in Palm Desert, California. This past April, he music directed Michael Childer's production of One Night Only: Hello Jerry, A Musical Tribute to Jerry Herman. Christopher has performed on "Good Morning America," "The Today Show," "Live with Regis and Kathie Lee," "The View," "The Rosie O'Donnell Show," "Late Night with David Letterman" and "American Idol." He has performed at Carnegie Hall and twice at the Clinton White House.
Valentine Mayer (Director) arrived in New York City after completing a Master of Arts degree at the University of Pittsburgh and a two-year residency at The Pittsburgh Playhouse and Point Park College. He acted in and/or stage managed 12 Broadway plays and musicals in the ten years he lived in the city, including The Visit, Chemin de Fer, Holiday, The Ritz, Fiddler on the Roof (X2), Side by Side by Sondheim, The Heiress, Legend, Harold and Maude, Damn Yankees and The West Side Waltz; being privileged to work with Katharine Hepburn, Zero Mostel, Rachel Roberts, John McMartin, Richard Kiley, Jane Alexander, Jack Weston, Jerry Stiller, Rita Moreno, Herschel Bernardi, Nancy Dussault, Larry Kert, Georgia Brown, Hermione Gingold, Janet Gaynor, and Dorothy Loudon, while working for Harold Prince, Ruth Mitchell, Robert Whitehead, Roger Stevens, T. Edward Hambleton and Jerome Robbins to name but a few. Since New York, Mayer has made his home in L.A., and has directed multi-camera comedies for all the networks, including "The Facts of Life," "Too Close for Comfort," "My Two Dads," "Everything's Relative," "Sweet Surrender," "The Thorns," and "Karen's Song" as well as directing for cable and first-run syndication.
His award-winning revival of Fiddler on the Roof, starring Theodore Bikel and Lainie Kazan, earned him the Best Director of a Musical Award by the Greater Phoenix Theatre Critics. Other theatre directing includes a National Tour of I'm Getting My Act Together and Taking it on the Road, The Butter and Egg Man, Seven Keys to Baldpate, Lettice and Lovage, I Do! I Do!, Stop the World: I Want to Get Off, West Side Story, and, with Sandy Duncan, The Belle of Amherst, for the Commonwealth Theatre Company in Norfolk, VA.
Mayer's teaching includes Acting for the Camera for the UCLA Extension, Theatre History for Pepperdine University and Point Park College, and Introduction to Acting for the University of Fine Arts, San Francisco. For twelve years, he was a member of the permanent acting faculty of Anne Reinking's Broadway Theatre Project in Tampa, FL.
Nancy Dussault: MY LIFE UPON THE WICKED STAGE will be presented for three-performances-only on Saturday, May 20 at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. and Sunday, May 21 at 2 p.m. Tickets for the general public are $55. Tickets for students with ID are $25; Equity members and military are $30. There is a $5 discount for seniors 65 and older. Discounts of 10% to 20% are available for groups of 10 or more, depending on the size of the group. A VIP experience, limited to 25 individuals following the Sunday matinee, is $135, and includes a post-show reception with concert stars, a complimentary 5 oz. glass of premium Rubicon estate grown wine created by film director Francis Ford Coppola, and gourmet hors d'oeuvres.
Tickets may be purchased in person through the Rubicon Theatre Company Box Office at the corner of Main and Laurel in Ventura (Laurel entrance and downstairs) or online at www.rubicontheatre.org. To charge by phone, call 805.667.2900.
Upcoming concerts in the Janet and Mark L. Goldenson Broadway Concert Series
Teri Bibb in ONCE UPON A SONG
Aug. 19 at 2 and 8 p.m. and Aug. 20 at 2 p.m.
Bibb's soaring soprano has thrilled audiences across the continent and throughout the world. In addition to performing on Broadway and tour as Christine in The Phantom of the Opera (more than 1,000 performances), she has given a command performance at the White House, sung on ABC's "Dancing with the Stars," and performed at Radio City Music Hall, Carnegie Hall and London's Royal Albert Hall. In this new show, Bibb shares personal stories about her career and pays tribute to the stars of Hollywood's movie musicals who shaped her career: Jane Powell, Kathryn Grayson, Judy Garland, Julie Andrews and Shirley Jones. Don't miss this glorious evening of story and song and expect a special surprise (or two)!
Liz Callaway and Ann Hampton Callaway in SIBLING REVELRY
Nov. 18 at 2 and 8 p.m. and Nov. 19 at 2 p.m.
When Broadway's Liz Callaway and cabaret's Ann Hampton Callaway blend their voices together in perfect harmony, the sound is, simply put, exquisite. Ann's dark, husky and jazz-flavored sound is the perfect complement for Liz's clear bell tones in their acclaimed sister act, Sibling Revelry. The award-winning show was originally presented at New York's iconic cabaret venue Rainbow and Stars and has delighted audiences at the Donmar Warehouse in London and throughout Europe. This dynamic duo from Chicago proves they're one singular sensation, singing the best of the American Songbook from show tunes to jazz and pop. Separately, of course, they have made big names for themselves -- Ann as an acclaimed jazz and cabaret singer/songwriter and Liz as an Emmy Award Winning and Tony-nominated actress, whose Broadway credits include Merrily We Roll Along, Baby, and Grizabella in Cats, where her rendition of "Memory" was unforgettable. The Callaway sisters, with Alex Rybeck on piano, promise an evening of wit and humor combined with some of the best songs America has produced. Songs include "Happy Days are Here Again," "It's Today," "The Sweetest Sounds," "Friendship," "Meadowlark," and many more!
Sponsorship opportunities are available for these final two concerts. Those interested in joining Janet and Mark L. Goldenson to make more music at Rubicon, may contact Amber Landis-Stover at (805) 667-2912, ext. 237 or e-mail her at alandis-stover@rubicontheatre.org.
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