City Repertory Theatre Presents Festive Revue for Launch of Flagler County Cultural Council

Laniece Fagundes is among the headliners in City Repertory Theatre’s “A Holiday Treat: A Special Night of Story and Song,” a revue running this weekend at CRT’s black box theater, starting Dec. 1. Above, Fagundes performing as Billie Holiday, accompanied by Ben Beck as Jimmy Powers in City Repertory
Theatre’s production of “Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill” a year ago. (Mike Kataif)

Dr. Seuss’ Whos, Adam Sandler’s comical “The Chanukah Song,” and angels – of the honky tonk variety – will be part of a theatrical fundraising revue celebrating the holidays and the launch of the Flagler County Cultural Council, which in October was designated the county’s official local arts agency.

City Repertory Theatre, a Palm Coast community theater troupe, will present “A Holiday Treat: A Special Night of Story and Song” at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 1-3 and 3 p.m. Dec. 4. Performances will be in CRT’s black box theater at City Marketplace, 160 Cypress Point Parkway, Suite B207, Palm Coast. Tickets are $30 and include one drink and light refreshment. Proceeds will benefit the council, which is referred to as FC3 by its organizers, Tickets are available at palmcoastartsfoundation.com/events.

The cultural council, a nonprofit organization whose formative efforts go back almost two years, was named the county’s official local arts agency (LAA) by the Flagler County Commission on Oct. 17.

Americans for the Arts, a national organization, says there are 4,500 local arts agencies across the nation whose mission is to “promote, support and develop the arts at the local level.”

FC3 received 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status from the IRS this fall. The council also named two new co-chairs: Jay Scherr, owner of the Flagler Beach-based J. Scott Consulting Services, and Nancy Crouch, executive director of the Palm Coast Arts Foundation.

Debra Naughton, Destination Development & Community Engagement Manager with the Flagler County Tourism Development Office, said at the Oct. 17 commission meeting, according to the board’s website: “After almost two years in development to create and build the Flagler County Cultural Council, it is a huge milestone to receive the resolution from the BOCC designating FC3 as the local arts agency to serve as an umbrella organization for all Flagler County arts, culture and history interests.”

John Sbordone, City Repertory Theatre cofounder and artistic director, told FlaglerLive that during his 18 years as an area resident “there have been a number of attempts to create an organization that would objectively be able to support all of the arts organizations in the county, and in this case cultural organizations. It looks like FC3 may be a unifying — an effectively unifying organization for all of the arts and culture in Flagler County, and that’s certainly worth supporting.”

The revue will be presented by “the CRT family, our regulars,” Sbordone said. The cast will feature performers familiar to attendees of City Rep’s musical as well as dramatic productions, and includes Laniece Fagundes, Phillipa Rose, Julia Truilo, Beau Wade, Alexander Loucks and Agata Sokolska-Li, as well as novelist and CRT supporter Susan Slater. Keyboardist Ben Beck will be musical director. Sbordone and City Rep cofounder Diane Ellertsen will host the revue.

Sbordone will read “The Night Before Christmas.” Wade and Loucks will perform “Little Drummer Boy” as a skit.

Fagundes, who portrayed legendary jazz singer Billie Holiday in the CRT production of “Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill,” will present “The Who,” a reading from a show based on “The Grinch Who Stole Christmas,” which City Rep will stage next year.

The revue will feature such holiday songs as “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” “Simple Christmas Wish,” “The World’s Greatest Dad” (from “Elf the Musical”), “The Christmas Song” and “Baby It’s Cold Outside.”

The cast also will perform songs from such past and upcoming CRT productions as “Edges,” “Jesus Christ Superstar,” “Urinetown” and “Honky Tonk Angels.”

Wade will accompany himself on ukulele as he performs Adam Sandler’s “The Chanukah Song,” which the comedian first performed on “Saturday Night Live: in 1994. Sample lyric:

“Put on your yarmulke
Here comes Hanukkah
So much funukah
To celebrate Hanukkah.

Hanukkah is the festival of lights
Instead of one day of presents, we have eight crazy nights
When you feel like the only kid in town without a Christmas tree
Here’s a list of people who are Jewish just like you and me.

David Lee Roth lights the menorah
So do James Caan, Kirk Douglas, and the late Dinah Shore-ah.
Guess who eats together at the Carnegie Deli
Bowser from Sha Na Na and Arthur Fonzerelli.

Paul Newman’s half Jewish, Goldie Hawn’s half too
Put them together, what a fine lookin’ Jew.
You don’t need ‘Deck The Halls’ or ‘Jingle Bell Rock’
’Cause you can spin a dreidel with Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock — both Jewish.”

Wade – in drag – will join with Slater to perform her original piece, an eight-minute skit titled “Queen for a Day,” about two elderly women in an assisted-living home – one of whom enters wearing a tiara.

“This is going to be part of the new book she’s working on,” Sbordone said. “She’s a wonderful writer. I asked her to put together something for us a number of months ago for another project, and it will fit very nicely into this one. Susan has been a great supporter of the theater. She’s at every show.”

“Diane (Ellertsen) and I are very lucky to have this kind of talent that likes working at our little place,” Sbordone said.