WESTFIELD – Westfield on Weekends (WOW) presents “Up Close and Unpredictable” starring Carol O’Shaughnessy on Friday, June 2 at 8 pm in the Great Room of the Westfield Senior Center, 45 Noble Street in Westfield. For the second performance in the “WOW!… It’s Cabaret” musical series featuring professional cabaret artists, the Great Room will be transformed by theatrical curtains, lighting and sound, tables and chairs into an intimate club-like atmosphere.
“Boston’s First Lady of Cabaret” Carol O’Shaughnessy
For her show, Carol O’ Shaughnessy, who has been dubbed “Boston’s First Lady of Cabaret,” will mix music, impressions and comic characters, like “Mama Scugliachi.” O’ Shaughnessy was also a popular fixture on the bill during the cabaret series at the former Piccolo’s restaurant in Westfield. Her songs come from the Great American Songbook and Broadway, “from Sinatra to Sondheim,” she said.
“Cabaret will make you laugh and cry. It’s a very intimate thing. It’s sort of small Broadway. People who attend become part of the show, there is no fourth wall,” O’Shaughnessy said. She said she doesn’t always know herself what she is going to do until a few days before, saying she is unpredictable. “I like going to a show not knowing what to expect. I want to be entertained,” she added.
With several awards to her credit including Boston’s “Cabaret Entertainer of the Year,” she has taken her one-woman shows from Town Hall in New York City to Boston’s Jordan Hall, The Regattabar Jazz Club, Scullers Jazz Club and Club Café. She has also appeared with such stars as Joan Rivers, David Brenner and Pat Cooper; and as an actor, has portrayed “Mama Morton,” the show-stopping prison matron in the musical Chicago for the Worcester Foothills Theatre Company. She has also taken her shows abroad to Europe and South America on cruises and with RSVP.
Her pianist/arranger Tom LaMark is a respected musician in the Boston area, who has accompanied such notables as Aretha Franklin, Donna Summer and the Smothers Brothers. and has played with such jazz greats as Dizzy Gillespie, Phil Woods and Buddy Rich. The Tom LaMark Orchestra frequently performs at The Ritz Boston Common, The Four Seasons Hotel, The Seaport Hotel, The Boston Harbor Hotel, The Copley Plaza and The Taj Boston.
O’Shaughnessy and LaMark have performed together for twenty years, and have made three CD’s, “The Way I See It,” “Live at Scullers,” and “Ring-A-Ding-Ding: The Music of the Rat Pack.” They are currently working on a fourth CD of Christmas music, and are in the process of choosing songs. “This guy, he’s the top,” she said of LaMark.
“Here’s the deal. Friday night, you’re done with work. Do something you don’t do all the time. Come have a drink, and be entertained. Music is supposed to change the atmosphere,” O’Shaughnessy said.
Tickets are $25 for an individual show, with a two-show package for both “Up Close and Unpredictable” and the July 7th performance of “Canoe: the Musical” available for $40. Reservations may be made by calling 413-579-5967 or by visiting westfieldonweekends.com. Doors will open at 7:00 pm with beverages and desserts available for sale.
Funding for the series has been provided in part with a grant from the Westfield Cultural Council, a program of the Massachusetts Cultural Council and with in-kind assistance of the Westfield Council on Aging.
This event is open to the public. For more information, and to purchase tickets, visit http://www.westfieldonweekends.com/up-close-and-unpredictable.html
