Christiane
Noll Launches CHOLI Broadway By The Bay Concert Series, All
Aboard For A Fabulous Ride!
By Jim Pizzo
Christiane
Noll,
Broadway star and recording artist, kicked off Community
House
of Long Island’s (CHOLI) Broadway By The Bay series
on Monday evening, November 19th 2001 at the
Historical
Thatched Cottage in Centerport. The evening set the
standard by which CHOLI’s future concert series will
be judged.
Noll’s
vocal dexterity, range and ability to sell a song put
her
in good company with Broadway’s best divas. Noll performed
numbers from her 1st CD A Broadway Love Song
and her current offering Christiane Noll -- The Ira Gershwin
Album. The former tells a story in song of a woman falling
in and out of love while the latter offers many lush, vintage
Gershwin melodies. The hour-long set was well constructed
and even included that lovely holiday ballad 'Have
Yourself A Merry Little Christmas.'
 Accompanied
brilliantly on the piano by David Budway, Christiane sang
one of his original songs and offered her parents a special
gift. Ms. Noll has been working on expanding her upper range
and performed a fun number from an operetta. One only had
to see the expression on her mom and dad’s face during
this set to know how proud they were. Her parents’ roots
are in the arts, she in opera and he in orchestra conducting,
and the two beamed during the entire show. The audience contained
both Christiane Noll die-hard fans and newcomers and she never
disappointed anyone. It was a truly magical evening!
After
a rousing standing ovation she closed the evening with a ballad
she sang in the Broadway musical Jeckyll & Hyde,
Once Upon A Dream. After another rousing ovation she stayed
and chatted with the audience, signed autographs and thanked
us for coming to see her. We thanked her for sharing her talent
with us and for supporting the Long Island GLBT community
with this concert. She is currently playing the lead in the
musical Lizzie Borden at the Goodspeed Opera
House in Connecticut. There is a Broadway buzz circling the
show and New York would gladly welcome one of its brightest
new stars home with open arms!
 CHOLI’s
November 19th event started at 7:30 PM. There was
a three-tiered dinner/concert price scale: $85 - dinner/dessert
and a seat at the star’s table; $55 - dinner/dessert
and $35 bought dessert. Dinner included a salad, an entrée
of steak and chicken, fresh vegetables and potatoes while
dessert was a nice variety of miniature pastries. The Thatched
Cottage put its best foot forward once again!
CHOLI
Board members and Volunteers dressed in elegant black tie
ensembles greeted the guests at the door and escorted them
to their tables adorned with fresh flowers. Although payment
was required in advance only half the tables were filled which
meant about 30 people attended. The meager attendance could
be attributed to pre-holiday timing, the slowing economy or
the choice of a Monday night date. Those who missed the Broadway
By The Bay premiere missed out on a fabulous evening of fine
dining and first class entertainment.
To Christiane
Noll, CHOLI and The
Thatched Cottage I offer these lines from Once Upon
A Dream to say thank you for organizing this first of many events:
ONCE
UPON A DREAM, YOU WERE HEAVEN SENT TO ME, WAS IT NEVER MEANT
TO BE? WAS IT JUST A DREAM? COULD WE BEGIN AGAIN? ONCE UPON
A DREAM!
We will
begin again at the next Broadway By The Bay event.
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