The Pima County Fair Ground are located on Houghton Rd, in Tucson AZ, North of I-10 and south of Sahuarita Rd. Monday, April 18th is Senior Celebration Day at the Fair.

For more information and the Daily Schedule for the Pima County Fair visit their website. Click on the Daily Highlights on the left side bar to see the daily highlights for the 18th. Pima County Fair Website

This show will allow me to utilize some of the material that I have been rehearsing for my big Christmas show in December at Tucson Estates. The December show will be both a variety and Christmas show, but this show at the VA here in March will just include a few of the songs planned for the variety portion of that show and some of the music I have performed in previous shows. I’m planning on including music from two of my favorite stars, Julie Andrews and Liza Minnelli.

For those of you associated with the hospital, check the GECC Dining hall bulletin board for the exact date and time. Or contact me through the website for more information.

As the title might suggest the show will feature the Broadway music of Rogers and Hammerstein. Suzanne and Rick also selected some of their all time favorite music from other composers like George Gershwin, Cole Porter, and international favorites. For the Christmas segment, Suzanne and Rick Selected song that represent their favorite things about Christmas. Suzanne and Rick are sure that their favorite things about Christmas are yours as well.

With first spectacular musical performances, sing-a-longs, and audience participation, this show is great fun for all ages.

Show Time: Wednesday, Dec 16th 2009, 7:00 pm
Where: Tucson Estates Multipurpose Room

http://www.tucsonestates.com/

This series is sponsored by American Legion Post 102. Proceeds benefit the VA, Youth and Auxiliary. Tickets are available at the Tucson Estates Ticket Office. Ticket Office hours of operations are Mon., Wed, & Fri 9:30AM to 11:30AM only. (520) 883-1440. Tickets, if available, will also be sold at the door.

To update Suzanne’s performance schedule, she has a few minor engagements between now and December, but her big event is her return engagement at Tucson Estates to present another Holiday and Christmas Spectacular. Once again she will be joined by jazz pianist and singer Rick Stahl. This year’s collaboration is titled “My Favorite Things”. The first half will be an all new variety performance featuring singing, dancing and spectacular costumes all set to the music of the Broadway and Jazz favorites like Roger & Hammerstein, Cole Porter, and many more. The show will also feature a variety international selections from Mexico, Spain and around the world. Rick and Suzanne also plan to involve the audience through sing-a-longs and interactive musical improvisation. The second act of the show will put everyone in a Christmas mood with sacred and contemporary Christmas favorites. Contact us at Sonoita Singer for Ticket Information.

October 11th, 7:00 Buena Auditorium, Sierra Vista, AZ, The Annual Forgach Benefit Show. This years them will be Salute To Our Troops.

December 17th, 6:00 pm, Tucson Estates Multipurpose Room, Tucson AZ. “Christmas in New York.” accompanied by Rick Stahl. This show will feature Broadway favorites and both Traditional and Contemporary Christmas music.

The evening was a musical journey around the world through song and dance, with Suzanne providing the vocals and the Alma Dolores Dancers providing the footwork. Suzanne even joined them for the Mexican Folklorico dances. The dancers were all happy to share their talents for a worthy cause and Suzanne was thrilled with the positive response from the audience members. Suzanne sang songs from many different Broadway shows including Cats, Evita, Les Miserables, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Oklahoma and South Pacific.

The dancers performed Flamenco, Irish, Polynesian, Hip Hop, Clogging and Mexican dances. Audience members commented that enjoyed Suzanne’s singing, and loved the costumes and energy of the show. Some of the other parish members are interested in having Suzanne perform another show in Patagonia in September or October to help raise money for the church’s general fund. Suzanne is excited about another opportunity to volunteer her time to help out her church community.

I’ve also put together the list of songs and a performance order for the show. New to this show will be a medley of songs from two great Rogers and Hammerstein musicals, South Pacific and Oklahoma. I included the Oklahoma medley because the show will take place at the Elgin Club in Elgin, Arizona where much of the movie version of the musical was filmed. In addition to songs from these and other Broadway shows, the benefit will include dances from Spain, Ireland, Polynesia and Mexico.

Ticket sales are also picking up as we move closer to the performance date and it looks like we have a strong possibility of a sell out. Please contact us here at Sonoita Singer if you are interested in purchasing tickets. Showtime is 6:00 pm Saturday March 8th, at the Elgin Club in Elgin, Az. Ticket price includes a Mexican Dinner and the Show, and are priced at $20 per person. All proceeds benefit the Our Lady of the Angels Building Foundation.

My first engagement was my long planned cabaret style show at Tucson Estates. You might call it a “Matinee Cabaret” as the show was at 2:00 in the afternoon. One of many clubs in this active retirement community, “The Cat Mountain Jamboree” which usually hosts weekly Blue Grass, Gospel, Folk and Country Jams, booked me for the performance and handles all of the business aspects of the show. The members were wonderful hosts, helping me set up all my sound equipment and emceeing the show. Then challenge for me was singing for nearly two hours. The show was divided into two segments with a 15 minute intermission between. That intermissions allowed for the audience to stretch their legs and get refreshments while I rested my voice for a few minutes and changed costumes for the second act.

During the first act, I sang standards with jazz style arrangements. I like these arrangements because they allow for a more informal and personal connection with the audience. When I sing song like “It Had To Be You” and “Someone To Watch Over Me”, I try to pick different members of the audience and make a personal connection with them as I sing. The stage was set up so that I could come down and walk among the audience. It also gave me a chance to shake hands with a few of the people that I knew in the audience. Several of the audience members commented that they loved hearing those old songs and that they brought back many good memories.

The second section of the show had a more theatrical mood. It included songs from Broadway shows with more dramatic, theatrical arrangements. With each song I tried to create the mood of the original Broadway show. The audience members seemed very familiar with most of the songs in this segment also.

I finished the show with one of my favorites, “The Girl In 14 G”, a really fun song about a girl who gets what she thinks will be a quiet apartment and then she finds she’s got an apartment between an opera singer and a jazz singer who seem to practice day and night. It is a fun song that works really well for singers like me who like to sing both Jazz and Classical music, as well as show tunes.

After packing up all my sound equipment and saying my goodbyes to my gracious hosts, I headed for Sierra Vista to perform for the Cochise Children’s Choir Benefit Gala. They too were very gracious hosts, and I also saw a few familiar faces around the audience and also in the entertainment line-up. Our jazz trio of Rick Stahl on key board and vocals, Pete on the Saxophone, and me, providing additional vocals preformed around 8:00 pm. We sang some of the songs from my earlier show, but this time with live instruments. I really liked singing with the live instruments, especially when the saxophone and I seemed to resonate together. There were many fund raising activities going on through out the evening including a silent auction and “job shadowing” auction. The evening seemed to be a big success in raising money for the children’s choir, and I was glad to have the opportunity to contribute to the entertainment portion of the show.

I hope to post some pictures and video from the Tucson Estates show soon.

I’ll have to pack up right after my show in Tucson and head straight to Sierra Vista, but I should be able to make it in plenty of time for our time slot which will be no earlier than 6:30. The theme for the event is “Love is in the Air”, so we are going to pull love songs from my Broadway and Standards repertoire for us to perform together.

The event raises funds for the Cochise Children’s Choir’s general fund. I am very much looking forward for the opportunity to work with Rick and helping out this worthy organization.

The festivities of the night will include a Broadway Review singing performance by Suzanne and dances by the award winning dancers from the Alma Dolores International Dance Centre. The food for the night will be catered by La Vist de Sonoita.

Tickets are $20 in advance and $25 at the door. For more information, contact Sonoita Singer at 520-455-5412.

Saturday, September 15th, the Huachuca Youth Football and Cheer Association will be holding their Season Opening Ceremony around 12:00 between the Mighty Might and Pee Wee football games. They plan to have a Color Guard there and have asked me to sing the National Anthem. This will be my third year in a row to have this honor. I am always thrilled when groups asked me to sing anything patriotic, especially the National Anthem.

The dancers from the Alma Dolores International Dance Center will be performing several numbers with the band including High School Musical and Greased Lightening. Alma has asked me to sing “All That Jazz” from the musical Chicago in a production number with the band and dancers. We’ve been rehearsing for several weeks and we are all very excited about tonight’s show. In addition, there will be other guest artist joining the Buena Jazz Band.

I am very excited to be part of this fun variety show.

The group was made up of former and active members of the U. S. Navy, Marines and Coast Guard and their spouses ranging in age from around 40 to their late 80′s. Many of the member of the group have known each other for many years through the association. Their familiarity with each-other made this show especially fun for me.

I printed out a list of the songs that I sing in my “Sentimental Journey” show and had the event’s organizer suggest audience members to which we could dedicate each song. Having an extra meaning to each of the songs in the show really personalized the songs and added a bit of humor to the show. My personal favorite was singing “Some One to Watch Over Me” and dedicating it to the two gentlemen in the audience who were Pearl Harbor survivors.

This was such a friendly warm group of people for which to sing I couldn’t have had a better time, especially when they were kind enough to give me a standing ovation at the end of the show.

The performance will be in the clubhouse area of the Tucson Estates neighborhood from roughly 2 pm to 4 pm. The show will be a combination of my Sentimental Journey collection with a smattering of Broadway numbers.

The recital will be at the Buena Performing Arts Center in Sierra Vista at 7:00 pm.

My next singing performance will be Friday June 8th at the Alma Dolores International Dance Center Spring Recital. As part of the Flamenco section of the show, I will be performing a solo song and dance to the music of Bizet’s Carmen. I plan to perform this same song and dance at the Showstoppers competition in Anaheim.

Looking way into the future, I have booking for Saturday Feb 9th, 2008 at Tucson Estates. One of my friends from the Veterans Hospital lives there and has booked me for show at the clubhouse.

I met with the couple a few weeks ago to allow them to custom select songs from my repertoire. In addition to songs that I sing on a regular basis, I have added 4 new songs that were their favorites.

I worked this week to create a master backing track for the show. I am very excited about the show and helping this couple celebrate the 50th birthday with their many friends and family that will be attending the event.

Suzanne will be performing her “Sentimental Journey” show which features Standards from the great American song book by composers like George Gershwin, Cole Porter and Irving Berlin.