"Palisades' Got Talent" Variety Show
Comedy, a little Broadway, some soulful rock, a smattering of Shakespeare and much goodwill packed the Palisades Community Center on a cool October eve as friends and neighbors turned out for the Palisades Free Library fundraiser.
Host David Seeger warmed the crowd up with jokes; “Is Eileen Larkin here? Lock the doors, Eileen—this is a Ramapo Library sting for overdue books!” then moved on to his Letterman style short film featuring bemused library patrons, Alice Gerard dispensing history from behind the stacks and Seeger himself rapping with wife, Holly, in full karate gear circa 1985. It was a fun beginning to the talent-packed night.
Sabelle (Breer) Frasca wrote and sang If You Don’t Know Palisades, a delightful ode to the charms of our tiny hamlet. Conductor and pianist Eugene Kohn almost blew apart an electric piano (courtesy of Danielle Rudess, Director of the Helen Hayes Youth Theater) while accompanying Metropolitan Opera tenor, Giuseppe Filianoti, in two Italian songs that brought the crowd to its feet. Brianne Bergson showed off comedic and acting skills in her skit “Palisades’ Got Talent” Variety Show about a teen discovering books and The Mayor of Bad News, featuring Max and Sam Seeger, offered a short band jam.
David Sanders gave a compelling rendition of I Won’t Send Roses from Mack and Mabel, and singer/ songwriter Katie Elevitch added soulful grit with two heartfelt original songs.
Composer David Shire (who accompanied several of the evening’s singers) performed his Academy Award winning song from Norma Rae, It Goes Like It Goes and actress Didi Conn made magic with Shire and Richard Maltby’s Crossword Puzzle. Didi and David also gave us Another Wedding Song, David’s loving duet about the joys of finding one another for a second try at marriage.
Director of The Children’s Shakespeare Theater, Diana Green, with colleagues Dana Stangel-Plowe and Karen Lamb, and Liz Mechem, CST Board Chairman, brought Shakespeare’s poetry to life with a few well-chosen props and Broadway performer Keith Buterbaugh closed the show with a robust All I Care About is Love from Chicago, as well as a touching rendition of Shire and Maltby’s If I Sing from Closer Than Ever. Even Orangetown’s Poet of the Year, Rose Marie Raccioppi, got into the act with a recitation of her poem The Awakened Muse.
With an impressive silent auction of artwork, books and services created and donated by locals and a generous spread of wine and cheese including beer, soda and bottled water courtesy of Simon Bergson’s Manhattan Beer Distributors, the event was an unqualified success. In total, the evening raised $6,887 for the library and over 100 people had a great time. If you missed it, don’t despair, a DVD will be available at the library in the near future.
“If You Don't Know Palisades”
(Sabelle Breer Frasca / David Shire)
If you don't know Palisades
Never mind- it's OK
We're a sleepy little town
More often better lost than found until we feel like sharing…
Good ol' Palisades,
Quite the same since the Ice Age
So if you need to Cock-a-doodle doo-
It may not be the town for you!
We got doctors, lawyers
Friendlies and annoyers
Artists by the pound
We got Authors, builders
Scientists and gilders
All faiths abound
But we are connected at the core
By a place that we adore…
If you don't know Palisades
Never mind- it's OK
(We're) a sleepy little town
We like to keep it underground until we feel like sharing…
Good ol' Palisades,
Quite the same since the Dark Age
So if you’re looking for the Taj Mahal
I believe it’s behind the mall!
We’re rich! In history
Some of us unraveling the mystery
We’re rich through giving
We care about the world in which we’re living
Come share a spring or Halloween or winter in the snow
(I’ll) Bet once you’re here you’ll never want to go… but…
If you don't know Palisades
Never mind- it's OK
(We’re) a sleepy little town
More often better lost than found until we feel like sharing…
Lost in reverie, underneath an old Oak tree
You can have your Hollywood parades….
We’ll take Palisades!
Thank you!
Dear Palisades’ Got Talent Organizing Committee;
You were the ones who had some sense of the extraordinary treat the rest of us were in for Saturday, October 23rd. I expressed my thanks to everybody then, but you deserve even more accolades.
You created something that will be long remembered and appreciated by all who had the good fortune to be there. I'm still smiling. It was a party, a show, an auction, a benefit—an EVENT—that will go down in this community's memory. As a relative newcomer to Palisades, I was moved and delighted to experience the gifts, talents, and dedication of the folks in our community.
But it was you, "the magnificent six", who brought it all together. I won't even guess at the hours you all must have worked in a relatively short time to create the whole thing. It was an astonishing achievement.
The library and the entire town are the beneficiaries of your efforts. Thanks for everything.
Peace,
Bill Saum
President, Board of Trustees, The Palisades Free Library