- Image of Bruce Vilanch
Bay Area Reporter
The show must go on!
On the Town
Published 07/22/2010
by Donna Sachet
Last Monday’s Richmond/Ermet AIDS Foundation’s cabaret show featured the touring casts of Wicked and Young Frankenstein, joined by Hollywood funnyman Bruce Vilanch and sensational vocalist Sharon McNight, in the home of Beach Blanket Babylon, Club Fugazi.
These one-night-only events are a rare opportunity to hear these Broadway voices singing music of their own choosing, not from their touring hit shows, while raising needed funds for AIDS-related service organizations. The participants deserve kudos for giving up their one night off to participate in a show of this kind. In addition to some remarkable singing, we were treated to several moving dance numbers and lots of humor along the way.
Juanita Ramirez ‘s psychic reading had the crowd in stitches, especially when she struggled to see the future of REAF’s own Gary Thackeray. Vilanch proved the perfect emcee, often seeming to shock the audience with his no-holds-barred comedy and celebrity skewering.
The highlight of the evening, however, was McNight as she compressed the first half-hour of The Wizard of Oz into a side-splitting 7-minute musical medley, complete with startling character impersonations. Seen in the audience and at the reception afterwards were Larry Horowitz, Don Berger , Richard Sablatura , Beth Schnitzer , Patrik Gallineaux , Sister Dana, and Lawrence Helman.
