I’m very excited to report that I placed second over all in the 20 and over division at the National Finals of the Showstopper talent competition. I performed a Song and Dance Routine to the classic Kander and Ebb song “New York, New York”. Receiving a Platinum award level, I won the 20 and over Song and Dance category. The Song and Dance category requires competitors to combine vocal and dance technique into one seamless performance.

This was my third year to compete in the Showstopper competition. I received Platinum awards for the last three years, but this is my first year to “place” in competitive 20 and over division. Performing for the judges puts much more pressure on me than performing for an audience. I know the judges are looking for good dance technique and strong vocal quality. I also have to make sure that I connect with them during the performance. Competing in the Showstopper competitions has helped me to tremendously improve my overall performance quality. I’m thrilled to have improved my scores every year and continued my development as a performer.

In additions to my Song and Dance Competition at the Show Stoppers National Finals in July in Anaheim, I’ve recently gotten several future bookings. A few of them are pretty far in advance, but I wanted to share them with our regular readers. I’ll have follow-up posts as we get closer to the event dates with ticket and more detailed 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.

In addition to my show I’ll be performing at Tucson Estates at 2:00 pm, Saturday Feb. 9th, I’ll also be performing at a charity function in Sierra Vista that evening. The Valentines dinner will feature several dinner courses with different performers in between those courses. Friend and pianist Rick Stahl called me yesterday to see if I would be available.

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.

Below is just one example of one of the show’s new graphics.

All I need to add this exciting new feature to your booking is access to the video input of your large HD or projection television.

On March 8th, Suzanne, aka Sonoita Singer, will be performing at a local benefit for the Our Lady of the Angels Building Foundation. The Lady of Our Angels is a Sonoita Catholic Mission Church that is raising funds to build their own church. Currently, the church conducts it’s weekly masses in the local fire station. The foundation has acquired land and is finalizing building plans for the new place of worship.

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.

I’m excited to announce that I’ll be performing the “All That Jazz” song and dance number with the Alma Dolores Dancers as part of the benefit show for the Forgach House women’s shelter. The show is at the Buena Performing Arts Center in Sierra Vista, at 7:00 pm Friday, September 28th. The Sierra Vista Herald has more information about the entire show on their sight: That’s Entertainment

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.

I have received another booking for a singing engagement. I will be performing at the Fleet Reserve Association dinner in Tucson, AZ on the 25th of August with a social at 6:30 pm followed by dinner and entertainment at 7:30 pm. The dinner and entertainment will be at the Clarion Airport Hotel. The Fleet Reserve Association is an organization of retired Navy and Coast Guard members.

It’s a bit out there in the future, but wanted to get it posted. I have been booked to perform at a neighborhood party in Tucson on the 9th of February. A friend of mine that also volunteers at the VA Hospital in Tucson, has hired me to sing at their community event.

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.

Enjoy the day!

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.

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.

As to the lack of content, well, you will have to talk to Suzanne about that one…

I know its been a little slow here, but I hope to ramp it up soon. Details on an upcoming performance will be posted soon.

UPDATE

The listening center is functioning once again…

You can access the forums via the link at the top of the page in the navigation bar. Stop by and discuss singing, music or karaoke with Suzanne.

As always, comments and suggestions are welcome…

You can either click on the Listening Station link in the top navbar of the page (second tab,) on the far right Listening Center block, or click on this Listening Center link. I will probably go in and re-record some of these songs over the next couple of weeks and try to get more perfected versions of these songs online over the next couple of weeks. I will also try to record the rest of the Great American Song Book show and add it to the Sentimental Journey collection.

I hope you enjoy these songs and they give you a bit of an idea as to what my live shows are like.

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.

I am currently hard at work recording some song material to upload to the site for your listening pleasure. My husband has gotten me a new sound capture card and some mixing software to create the files.  Shouldnt be a whole lot longer until the first batch is uploaded.