We finished off our errands we could not do from yesterdays rain storm and had some time remaining. Sue suggested we go to “That’s Amore” which is the Italian restaurant that took over the location were Panda Palace existed! Turned out to be a good plan! Business was slow and we got to spend some time with one of the hostesses and met the bartender! Paul tried the egg/spinach soup and it was amazingly good! We will have to plan for dinner or lunch in the near future!
Returning home we completed the website for the Rondelier’s before getting changed to go to the Ceritos Performing Arts Center to see the Follies. Interesting start time… 6:30 PM. We decided to go to Mimi’s for an early dinner and that was very very good. The service was outstanding and our meals, including Sue’s corn chowder, was excellent!
We went with the Brander’s and that always makes any event special! We laughed and giggled the entire evening!
To the Follies and beyond! Tribute to the Follies (a salute to the Ziegfield Follies, the Follies Bergere, and the Palm Springs Follies), features variety performers Tony Sandler(of the popular Sandler and Young singing duo),Olate Dogs(winners of America’s Got Talent), and world-champion comedy jugglers the Raspyni Brothers. Also appearing are musician-comedian Pete Barbutti, The Lindy Sisters vocal group, veteran showgirl Dorothy Kloss, and singer-dancer Ken Prescott. The Follies Dance Troupe and Follies Orchestra also perform.
Four-time juggling Gold medal winners and two-time International team champions, the RASPYNI BROTHERS provides the perfect balance of comedy and coordination. Using audience participation, hilarious improvisation, and great comic dialogue, the duo has been known to launch cabbages midair with flying blow darts and blazing torches. The pair’s act claimed the 2007 International Juggling Association Lifetime Award of Excellence.
Also appearing is musician-comedian PETE BARBUTTI, a founding member of the musical comedy-vocal quartet The Millionaires, which toured the country for six years, settling in Chicago, then Las Vegas, where it quickly became a favorite on the Las Vegas strip. Barbutti has received numerous awards, including “Entertainer of the Year” honors in Las Vegas and Atlantic City, an “Artistic Achievement Award” from the American Federation of Musicians, and a “Most Valuable Player Award” from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS).
THE LINDY SISTERS is a retrospective 1940s trio of songstresses with three-part harmony reminiscent of The Andrew Sisters, The Kings Sisters, and The McGuire Sisters. The ensemble is “consistently first-rate!” hailed The Scene publication, always displaying “particular care … to accuracy of the trademark close harmonies, attitudes, and even the bits of choreography as done in the original song presentations.”
The Guinness Book of World Records lists DOROTHY KLOSS as “the oldest still performing showgirl in the world.” As a precocious Chicago teenager, she taught a young Bob Fosse how to Tap dance, won a Tap competition herself at the renowned Miss Abbott’s Dance School, and secured her own act at age 15. Kloss, who has appeared with Liberace, Mel Torme, Howard Keel, Kay Starr, and Chico Marx, has a Star on the Palm Springs Walk of Stars.
