WESTFIELD – Westfield on Weekends (WOW) opens the 2018 edition of WOW … It’s Cabaret on Saturday, May 19 at 8 pm in a new location, the banquet hall of the Shortstop Bar and Grill at 99 Springfield Road in Westfield. Back by popular demand for the season opener is Canoe: The Musical, which features four area residents whose professional resumes as musical artists reflect an impressive amount of experience on stages beyond the Greater Westfield area.
Mezzo-soprano Mary Brown Bonacci of Westfield. (Photo submitted)
Canoe: The Musical, will spotlight the talents of Westfield residents Mary Brown Bonacci, Bob Plasse, and James Homan, as well as Michael Rheault of Springfield.
Originally created and produced by its cast for the Buffalo Canoe Club on Lake Erie, the show received rave reviews from a sold-out audience when it debuted during last year’s cabaret staging at the Westfield Senior Center.
Canoe: The Musical is a scripted entertainment that traces the course of a marriage through dialogue and songs from Broadway, Hollywood and the American Songbook.
“Many of the audience members urged us to bring back this exceptional show and we are happy to oblige,” said Amy Tosi, WOW’s Program Director. “Its musical score, hilarious and surprisingly moving storyline and creative use of slide projections make it especially memorable.”
“Canoe’s engaging cast may be familiar to area residents, but audiences at the Shortstop may not be aware of the extensive theatrical backgrounds, each of these performers has,” Tosi continued.
Mezzo-soprano Mary Brown Bonacci has appeared with companies across the United States and in Europe, including Opera Company Brooklyn, the Utah Festival Opera, the Kansas City Lyric Opera, the Hampshire Choral Society, the Arcadia Players and Opera Perigord (La Perichole).
She has also appeared with the American Pops Orchestra at the Plaza Hotel in New York, and with Wynton Marsalis for the Jazz at Lincoln Center series. Ms. Bonacci is Associate Professor of Music at Westfield State University.
Westfield’s own Bob Plasse will appear in Canoe: The Musical on Saturday, May 19. (Photo submitted)
Bob Plasse is known as the host of a popular Tuesday radio morning talk show on WSKB (Westfield State’s radio station) and as WOW’s former president. In addition to appearances with candles atop his head as the “Narrator” at WOW’s Dickens Dinners, he has performed professionally in summer stock and regional theatre. He has also been seen in commercials, soap operas (One Life to Live, All My Children and Guiding Light) and several movies, including Big, Wall Street, The Age of Innocence, New York Stories and Age of Innocence
James Homan has had a successful career as an actor/singer/ dancer with three Broadway shows to his credit, including Hello Dolly with Carol Channing, Little Johnny Jones with Donny Osmond and The Five O’Clock Girl, a Goodspeed Opera House import. He has also sung and danced with the likes of Ginger Rogers, Carol Laurence, Don Ameche, Margaret Hamilton and the Radio City Rockettes.
Composer/arranger/pianist Michael Rheault’s resume includes his Off-Broadway musical Fabulous: The Queen of Musical Comedies, that had an extended run in 2014 at the Times Square Arts Center; The Birth, a Christmas musical; and musical direction for scores of area musicals for local colleges and theatre groups.
Tickets for the WOW… It’s Cabaret series are $30 per individual show with a series subscription at $55. Reservations may be made by calling WOW at 413-579-5967, online at westfieldonweekends.com or at the door, given availability. Tickets are also available at Blue Umbrella Books at 2 Main Street in Westfield.
Doors will open for a cocktail hour at 7:00 pm featuring sweet and savory hors d’oeuvres, especially created for the series by Shortstop Executive Chef Monica Hannoush
The series is produced by Westfield on Weekends in association with the Shortstop Bar and Grill and the Music Department of Westfield State.
Funding for the series has been provided in part with a grant from the Westfield Cultural Council, a program of the Massachusetts Cultural Council.
Westfield on Weekends is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that supports the revitalization of Downtown Westfield, sustain arts and cultural activities and provides resources for groups with like-minded missions in branding Westfield as a dynamic community.
For more information on the series and WOW’s other community programming, including MusicFest summer concerts on the green, visit www.westfieldonweekends.com.
