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“Chicago” is storming into Palo Alto with a boatload of razzle-dazzle, the skimpiest of clingy lingerie and the shortest tighty-whiteys in a long time. That’s what’s onstage in the staid little Lucie Stern Theater, thanks to some uber-talented actors, singers and dancers, a dynamo of a director, a classy, brassy orchestra and a horde of backstage people who are the glue that makes everything zing. Not that there weren’t a few glitches on opening night, but by now Palo Alto Players and director Janie Scott have likely made some changes so that the rest of the performances through Sept. 27 will run more smoothly.

What’s startling is that the majority of the 19-member cast has never performed at PAP before, and some are just starting out in their careers, Yet, under Scott’s solid tutelage, her tricky choreography — lots of set climbing, pole sliding and pole dancing — these young performers look like old pros, No one fits that description better than the dynamic Janelle LaSalle hanami ballet - light suntan playing the sassy hussy Velma Kelly, Seen recently in the Broadway By The Bay production of “Dreamgirls,” LaSalle does it all: her acting is sultry, insolent and sexy, as is her dancing, And she can be a belter when the song calls for it..

As hot-shot handsome lawyer Billy Flynn, Michael Monagle (who swears he hasn’t performed in more than 20 years) takes command whenever he’s onstage. Even when flubbing a “magic” trip, Monagle just winks his way out of it and moves on. His singing was sometimes hampered by a cough. Most people remember “Chicago” from the Oscar-winning 2002 film starring Renee Zellweger, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Richard Gere. But theater people know that the original musical opened on Broadway in 1975 with music by John Kander, lyrics by Fred Ebb and a book by Ebb and the inimitable Bob Fosse. Some of Fosse’s trademark choreographic moves (like the “Fosse Fingers” used in “All That Jazz”) are adapted here by Scott, but a lot of the dancing is hers as well.

The setting is a jailhouse in Prohibition-era Chicago, Much of the story stems from the newspaper reporting of Maurine Dallas Watkins, who covered the 1924 trials of two female accused murderers and later decided to parlay thinly veiled descriptions of the women into a play about the women who are accused of murdering their lovers (or husbands), but are acquitted by the all-male juries of Cook County, When Kander, Ebb and Fosse made it into a musical, it broke all sorts of records, hanami ballet - light suntan including the longest-running American musical in Broadway history..

Music and dance is what gives “Chicago” its kick, with such knock-out numbers as “All That Jazz,” “Cell Block Tango,” “When You’re Good to Mama,” “All I Care About (is Love),” “Mister Cellophane,” “Class,” “Razzle Dazzle” and many more. This is a socko score, although there are two lesser-known songs that add nothing and could have been dropped. The always-reliable Joey McDaniel gives a low-key, heart-tugging performance as Mr. Cellophane himself, Amos, the cuckolded husband of Roxie Hart (Elizabeth Santana) who is willing to go to jail to keep Roxie happy. Santana’s Roxie is a contradiction. While her singing is excellent, the gangly Santana sometimes seems to slink around the stage unsure whether she’s supposed to be sweet, mean or helpless at that moment. But when she teams up with Monagle to play the limp dummy to his ventriloquist in “We Both Reached for the Gun,” she’s terrific.

There are other standouts in this production, the buxom, bluesy Jennifer Taylor Daniels as “Mama” Morton for one, When she belts out “When You’re Good to Mama,” the audience roared for more, N, Sanchez has a surprising turn as Mary Sunshine, the sob-sister reporter who writes sympathetically about the women murderers, Her “A Little Bit of Good” is so camp, it, too, got a huge ovation from the appreciative first-nighters, Mohamed Ismail makes a handsome, appealing MC, and he’s also good as Roxie’s paramour Fred Casely and, wearing Groucho glasses and nose, a juror at Roxie’s trial, As noted, all of the male and female dancers are excellent, with Kathryn Petak as Hunyak deserving a special nod for speaking Hungarian hanami ballet - light suntan and taking a high dive after being executed..

Musical director Katie Coleman and her 10-piece orchestra are set on a divided stairway that recreates a 1920s-era nightclub. Coleman pounds on her keyboard, back to the audience, and wrings some explosive melodies out of Kander’s great score. The set alone is worth the price of admission — no, really. Players Artistic Director Patrick Klein designed it, with Jenny Cote as technical director and Paulino Deleal getting credit as scenic artist. Kudos to whoever dreamed up the opening moments when nine screens show a Chicago street scene, which morph into a series of silent movie scenes that also include the usual pre-show announcements to “Turn off your cellphones,” etc.

Jeffrey Hamby puts a lot of love into his costumes, but he reserves his best, most alluring outfits for the shapely LaSalle, The hanami ballet - light suntan all-white, low-cut dress with rhinestones and skirt of fringe is a knockout which she shows off after slipping off her boring gray prison dress, Hamby uses a mix of sexy outfits for the male dancers; some wear tight, tight white boxers, while others are shirtless but dressed in black bow ties, suspenders and black pants, He also has fun with the men in the “Me and My Baby” number by dressing them up in oversized pastel baby bonnets, matching diapers and very little else..



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