RICH GRAY hosts COCKTAIL NUTS!

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Someone give that man a microphone!

Seattle favorite RIchard Gray will be hosting COCKTAIL NUTS at ACT Theatre on Monday September 28.

What would a cabaret or variety show be without a host?

A great host wraps a show up in a big hug and presents it to the audience. A great host is excited by the talent he is hosting and gets a kick out of sharing that talent and enthusiasm with the audience. A great host is charismatic, funny, and a natural performer who is quick on his feet.

Ladies and gentlemen, may I present tonight's host...Richard Gray!

I first met Rich when I worked with him on The 5th Avenue Theatre's Adventure Musical Theatre program production of Northwest Bookshelf 2. I had two musicals in that show (Larry Gets Lost in Seattle, and Daisy the Firecow) and Rich was the director. He was such a pleasure to work with, so funny, so good with the actors and a real respect for the intelligence of his audience. So I thought, hey he's a great director.

Then I found out he had written a bunch of the musicals in that show, so I thought, hey, he's a great writer.

And then I would hear him play and sing stuff at rehearsals, and I thought, hey he's a great piano player and singer.

Then I started seeing Rich perform at ACT (A Marvelous Party) and The 5th Avenue Theatre (The Buddy Holly Story, Hello Dolly, Sunday In The Park With George), and I thought, hey he's a great actor.

And then I thought, hey, who is this guy?

From an article in Seattle magazine:

WHEN RICHARD GRAY SPEAKS, it's as if he is composing a song on the spot; he starts, stops and edits his word choice until he says precisely what he means. If you don't already know when you meet him that he is Seattle's very own Renaissance man—actor, writer, director, composer, pianist, lyricist, librettist—this running wordplay is your first clue.

And it's come in handy in his work. Many recognize Gray from Forbidden Xmas, the popular cabaret-style, 15-year-on-and-off holiday parody of local events and icons that he writes and performs in with other local singer/actors. Initially a scheme to cheer up a friend in mourning, Xmas, with its snappy, leave-you-humming songs such as "Starbucks Coffee Grinder Suite" and "The Bon Star Blues," became one of the key works of Gray's career—and also one that helped him define his own unique skill. After many years of production, however, Gray grew tired of simply parodying other songs. So he started composing his own works, both for Xmas and for other musical theater projects. "I said, 'Well, I’ll just write the whole song,' ' he says, "and I realized I was good at it."

He's so good at it, in fact, that the 42-year-old Gray has decided to sell his skills to the masses with Song Portraits, his custom songwriting service for special occasions. Think This is Your Life meets a pop ballad, musical theater number or country-western song—whatever your inner tune happens to be, Gray will find it.

"You have to trust me as you would a painter," Gray says about writing for a client. "I want my songs to be like the songs on the radio, when you're listening and you think, 'Oh my God! That's my life!'

Before the Song Portraits launch last July, he had already ventured out, writing songs as gifts for his father and his partner {Seattle magazine Flash Talk columnist Ernie Pino), as well as for his brother's wedding and for a tribute to Jack and Becky Benaroya in 2005. But the real success of his idea came when his Song Portrait package went to not one but two of the highest bidders—at $8,000 a pop—at the 5th Avenue Theatre auction this year.

This "musical genius," as Linda Hartzell of Seattle Children's Theatre calls him, has an unstoppable passion for the local arts scene. In the late '80s, when he moved to Seattle from his native Portland, where he also studied acting in college, he began arranging music in his first job for the now-defunct Bathhouse Theater Company in Green Lake. A lifelong pianist and self-professed ham, his combined talent made music arranging and composing easy.

In 1989, he became a frequent performer (as a pianist and singer) at the Rainier Tower's dinner theater restaurant Crepe de Paris, where he created Forbidden Xmas. His nonstop work since then includes serving as composer of the Seattle Children's Theatre musicals Little Rock in ’95 and Time Again in Oz in ‘99; composer and director of The Donk Sisters in '95 at Crepe de Paris; composer and performer of Gray Matter, a revue of his own career and just this year, conductor and musical director for 5th Avenue's The Buddy Holly Story.

And then I thought, hey, he'd be a perfect host for COCKTAIL NUTS!

The Bullitt Cabaret at ACT is a wonderfully intimate cabaret space, and tickets are going fast so I would recommend getting your tickets now!

Here's all you need to know about COCKTAIL NUTS with your host Rich Gray:

For an unforgettable evening of music, comedy, gourmet snacks and cocktails, come join our host Rich Gray as he celebrates "Landing The Gig" with:

Anthony Fedorov (from The 5th Avenue Theatre's upcoming JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT, and AMERICAN IDOL)


Anne Allgood (from ACT Theatre's upcoming ROCK 'N' ROLL)


Jessica Skerritt (from Village Theatre's upcoming CHASING NICOLETTE)


The NightClub Gentlemen (the "almost" Rat Packers)


Also featuring appearances by Bill Robison and Myrna Conn


Tickets for this incredible night of entertainment are only $35.00 which includes complimentary gourmet snacks. And there will be a cash bar featuring an original COCKTAIL NUTS cocktail -- all cocktail and food service is by VESSEL, our neighborhood nightspot that Esquire magazine calls one of the “Best Bars in America.”


WHEN

Monday September 28, 2009

Door: 7pm for cocktails and complimentary gourmet snacks

Show: 8pm to 10pm


WHERE

ACT Theatre

Bullitt Cabaret

Union and 7th, downtown Seattle


TICKETS

For tickets, call the ACT box office at (206) 292-7676 or visit the COCKTAIL NUTS ticket page at acttheatre.org


By Suzy Conn on September 21, 2009 12:35 PM | | Comments (0)


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