SMOKE - A One Woman Cabaret September 12, 2009

Saturdays at 6:30
Sept. 12, 19, 26, Oct. 3

Lori Rivera joins with Marshall Otwell to perform Joe Ortiz’s SMOKE—A One Woman Cabaret. That’s Lori Rivera, the singer formerly with San Francisco a capella favorite "The Bobs"; Marshall Otwell the piano player who worked with Carmen McRae, Dizzy Gillespie, Chick Corea, Mel Torme and Sarah Vaughn—that’s a list worth reading twice; and the artist with the most eclectic credits of all, songwriter Joe Ortiz, who wrote The Village Baker (a Julia Child Cookbook Award nominee), Shakespeare on Golf and BREAD—The Musical. Their combined talents have shaped SMOKE into a smoldering, modern day jazz-opera as well as an unconventional romantic comedy that twists and turns until it arrives at a surprise ending. It was developed over the past three years in Santa Cruz and in jazz clubs, restaurants, and theatres from Carmel to Napa. The show makes it's San Francisco premiere this fall at two very different rooms: Martuni’s, an intimate, hipster bar in the Mission that serves mind-rapturing martini’s (Lori is sure to bring the house down with the Ortiz composition, You Intoxicate Me) and the Rrazz Room, one of the Bay Area’s swankiest night clubs. The performance at the Rrazz room includes a four-piece band.

SMOKE tells a provocative and ribald tale that might be a little too hot for some tastes. Which makes it perfect for San Francisco. Lori, an actress who trained at New York’s prestigious American Academy of Dramatic Arts, plays Celeste the passionate but naïve young woman, wrestling with the vagaries of love. She meets Francesca, a worldy, wise and sensual woman who is also played by . . . Lori. The story, told almost exclusively through song, includes sensuous gypsy melodies, passionate torch songs, raucous rock tunes and, just to keep you on your toes, circus tunes. Humor, sexual innuendo, and food images fuel the mix with such titles as Oysters Any Time of the Day, Those Shoes, and We Took it Off the Menu. Lori often steps into the audience to bring them into the action. An aspect of the show that always meets with approval.

Official Website: http://www.gaylesbakery.com/smoke