Rock Hall
July 2012
Direct from Paris, cabaret theater comes to Rock Hall when Bruno Pilloix and Alyse Lewin present Rôles de Dame at the Mainstay in Rock Hall, MD on Saturday July 21 at 8:00 p.m. Admission is $15. For information and reservations call 410-639-9133. Information is also available at the Mainstay’s website www.mainstayrockhall.org.
Rôles de Dame is part theater, part cabaret and all fun. In real life, Alyse Lewin and Bruno Pilloix were working for the French company. Kosinus, creating production music when they were assigned Cartoon Ladies, an album of fifteen songs each sung in a 1930s jazz style by three very different woman, each a unique character in her own world. For fun, the production company asked the duo if they would present some of the songs at the company’s annual Christmas party. The songs and the women became the heart of a simple story firmly planted in the world of early cabaret.
Alyse Lewin had appeared in such venues as City Lights, Trump Marina, Atlantic City, Hello Hollywood, Hello MGM Reno, Folie Russe, Monte Carlo and the Moulin Rouge in Paris. Bruno Pilloix toured Europe with a French version of the Blues Brothers. The possibilities of the Cartoon Ladies music became quickly apparent when they were asked to create the Christmas show. Up until that moment no real thought had been given to how each woman dresses, moves, lives and breathes . . . and the guitarist who accompanies them, who was he? What were his connections with these women? The result of this new line of thought gave birth to the 1930’s jazz cabaret show: Rôles de Dame.
They started from the premise that Franky, a guitarist, hires three singers for a special evening’s performance and only Betty Boop shows up. She suddenly needs to be three singers or they lose the booking. What is Franky’s relationship with these three ladies? How can Betty save him and maybe win his heart? Can Betty dress, move, sound and react like the missing singers? With original music and some well-loved standards, Alyse Lewin and Bruno Pilloix give life to Betty Boop, Rose Murphy, Jessica Rabbit and Franky, the people of this imaginary cabaret, where jazz is the only thing that’s real.
Rôles de Dame gently jokes with the audience about the relationship between men and women in the 1930’s and very comically asks the question, has anything really changed?
The Mainstay (Home of Musical Magic) is the friendly informal storefront performing arts center on Rock Hall’s old time Main Street. It is a 501(c)(3), non profit dedicated to the arts, serving Rock Hall, MD and the surrounding region. It is committed to presenting local, regional and national level talent, at a reasonable price, in an almost perfect acoustic setting. Wine, beer, sodas and snacks are available at the bar.
The Mainstay is supported by ticket sales, fundraising including donations from friends and audience members and an operating grant from the Maryland State Arts Council.
For information and reservations call the Mainstay at 410-639-9133. More information is also available at the Mainstay’s website www.mainstayrockhall.org.
Upcoming Mainstay performances include:
July 28 Calico Jack
August 4 The Clarence Turner Blues Band
August 18 Cliff Jewell with “Sam Clemens and the Real Mark Twain”
August 25 Mike Aiken
