   |
||||
| Vol. XVII, Issue X MARCH 2008 |
||||
|
Top o’ the Mornin’ to Ya, Darlin’s,
With so many truly sacred days in the coming week, we’ve altered our show schedule slightly to better accommodate the various holiday observances, so please click here to view our performance calendar. There are only nine shows between now and March 22 which, sadly, And while saying good-bye to a new friend is always difficult, we are always happy to welcome back a past one. Anna Maria Alberghetti hasn’t graced our stage since season 11, but patrons keep asking me to bring her back for an encore engagement. This wondrous talent will be appearing from March 26 through our season finale on May 17. You’ll learn more about her incredible career below and we’ve included some wonderful audio and video clips for your enjoyment. It was inevitable. What you ask? The Follies now has its own MySpace page. What’s that? Please read the story below or just ask your grandkids. We hope you enjoy all the fun things we’ve included. And for Follies Favorites members, we’ve even gone a step further. The kids aren’t the only ones who can irritate the rest of the family by spending an entire day in cyberspace. The Follies Favorites section now has instructions on how to navigate a number of travel and entertainment websites and even how to post your own comments. The screen name “CrochetingGranny” is already taken, though, by my mother. If you haven’t already done so, I encourage you to become a Follies Favorites member. There’s no cost, and you’ll be entitled to many additional benefits. Finally, there’s a special message below just for our Red Hatters and So, whether you’ll be donnin’ your bunny ears, puttin’ on your red bonnet or wearin’ the green, we hope the coming week leads you to peace, fun and your own pot o’ gold. All, I quite naturally believe, can be found somewhere in the vicinity of our Plaza Theatre here in beautiful downtown Palm Springs where the sun always shines. (If you don’t believe me, just click here.)
 Anna Maria Alberghetti Wows With Wondrous Sounds
She was born in Pesaro, Italy, the daughter of a concert master father and a pianist mother. She began her career at age 6 when she performed on the Isle of Rhodes accompanied by a 100-piece orchestra. Her father was her only vocal instructor. At age 13, she made her groundbreaking Carnegie Hall debut prompting one New York Times reviewer to write “some of the purest, loveliest sounds that I have ever heard.” She went on to Ed Sullivan introduced Alberghetti to television audiences and she appeared on his show for a record 53 times! She has, also, had many starring television roles- both dramatic and musical. On stage, she has performed in West Side Story, The Sound of Music, Cabaret, Fanny, Side By Side By Sondheim and, most notably, Carnival. In the latter, she won a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her interpretation of the role- Lili. Most Her film credits include Here Comes The Groom with Bing Crosby, Cinderfella with Jerry Lewis, and The Medium with famed Danish tenor, Lauritz Melchoir. More recent film appearances have included roles in the comedies Friends and Family and The Whole Shebang. Alberghetti was reintroduced to younger audiences when she appeared in a series of Good Seasons television commercials, which increased her familiarity and the demand for concert appearances around the world. While music may be her inspiration, Alberghetti’s daughters, Alexandra and Pilar, are her passion. Now that they are grown, she keeps busy with an international schedule of concerts, lectures and personal appearances.
Here are some Anna Maria Alberghetti video and audio clips for your enjoyment: Here Comes the Groom with Bing Crosby (video) on YouTube Ten Thousand Bedrooms with Dean Martin (video) on YouTube “Love Makes the World Go Round” from Carnival (audio)  WE WANT YOU TO BECOME OUR FRIEND...ON MYSPACE THAT IS!
But for you, it’s a great way to stay connected with friends. Or to make new friends. Or to tell folks about things you find interesting. Or to share photos. Or to view videos. Or to listen to audio clips. Oh, it’s easier just to show you than explain. But, first, we are happy to announce that the Follies has now also joined MySpace with a lot of cool stuff (“kid-speak”) for you to enjoy. We’ll be adding new photos, recordings and video on a regular basis, but we especially want you to become one of our friends. And to help you do so and explain how to navigate MySpace, we’ve included some easy instructions. Just click here to start surfin’! Demystifying the Communications Gap (AARP) Social Networking on the Internet (AARP)
 The Follies box office is open seven days a week and can be reached by calling 760-327-0225 or you can purchase tickets online 24 hours a day at www.psfollies.com and see your exact seat location at the time of booking. The Follies box office, located at the entrance to The Historic Plaza Theatre, is also open seven days a week.
Shown above is “Riff Markowitz” (center in top hat) a.k.a. Palm Springs Mayor Steve Pougnet surrounded by his “Dapper Dans and Long-Legged Lovelies” a.k.a. Follies Co-Founder Mary Jardin, Follies staffers, Palm Springs City Council, City staffers, and civic and business leaders. This annual event raised over $60,000 for this most deserving charity. |
||||
Just a few more days until that most important of all holidays...at least for me dear mother. Not Passover and not even Chanukah, but St. Patrick’s Day! That’s the one day everyone – family, friends, neighbors, the milkman - MUST address her as “Mrs. O’Markowitz.” We indulge her because – with a single whack of her shalaylee – you wish you would’ve!
is the final performance of guest star extraordinaire Melba Moore. On her opening day, watching our audience clap along to her many Broadway and recording hits, made me truly proud to have her share our stage.
the “first view” of our Long-Legged Lovelies Chapter official club portrait for 2008. Aren’t my Lovelies lovely!
Once in a great while, Follies audiences demand a return engagement by a truly favorite guest star. By popular demand, Anna Maria Alberghetti, 72, who wowed us in the Follies’ ninth and eleventh seasons, is back to close our seventeenth spectacular season.
perform with the New York Philharmonic and other distinguished symphonies, paving the way for a tremendous soloist career that still flourishes today.
recently, she appeared as Carlotta in the national tour of the Kopit-Yeston production of Phantom.
“I cannot remember a time when music wasn’t a part of my life,” recalls Alberghetti. Fortunately, for Follies audiences, she is a part of ours once again.
300 million MySpace users and you’re not one yet? Your grandkids are and according to AARP (please see links below), that may be the best way of communicating with them (translated: find out what they’re doing?).
Each year, Red Hat Day is observed on April 25, but this year also marks the Society’s tenth anniversary. And to help celebrate, we’re offering all Hatters a special rate for groups of ten or more to any Follies performance between April 23 – 27, 2008. 
