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July 13 Mr Joseph BirchakJoining the BMH troupe in 1979 and having had the opportunity to work with this company and with this material o'er these many years continues to be a most remarkable highlight in my life.
I have had the great fortune to have spent a good number of years working in the Theatre, both on stage and off. Little that I have accomplished compares to the shear joy and pleasure it is to work in this show. My hope is that the fellow members of this troupe as well as the many many people who have seen this show over the years have shared that joy.
Thanks for the memories yet to come. June 22 Mr Glen Longenhagen Glen Longenhagen hails from Catasauqua, Pennsylvania. Our "cockneyed" percussionist first got started with AN EVENING AT A BRITISH MUSIC HALL back in 2004, when his ex-bandmate Robert Fahringer (cf. "Chairmen") contacted him about the need to add some "OOMPH!" to the show.
Glen enjoys performing with the ensemble, and even adds a line or two himself when needed.... "Chuck 'em out, Sarah!"
He's also the lead guitarist and keyboard player for the Lehigh Valley-based rock band Common Bond, said to be one of the area's BEST classic rock bands (well, said by the members of the band, anyway!). Visit Glen at his band's website, www.Commonbondband.com
(Webmaster's note: Check out that website! Rippin' rock n roll!!) Mr Chris Simmons Chris has been a performer and musician for over 39
years. As well as producing AN EVENING AT A BRITISH MUSIC HALL for the past 33 years Chris has also played fiddle, mandolin and concertina in several folk bands and ensembles. Chris has also appeared as an actor in plays such as: Threepenny Opera, Playboy of the Western World, Diary of a Madman, A Christmas Carol, The Hostage, and The Rivals. Chris also produced two plays for radio: Agents by Sholem Aleichem and Days of the Turbins by Mikhail Bulgakov. As well as appearing on the stage, Chris has written, researched and published articles on Music
Hall, 19th century Irish-American actor Edward Harrigan and a number of articles on late 19th century Irish-American Vaudevillians. June 18 A recent accolade 13 June 2007
"Hello Chris Simmons, This letter of appreciation is long overdue. Last night I again watched the "double feature" EVENING AT A BRITISH MUSIC HALL tape that you provided the AVM. It was delightful. I have seen other's recreations of Music Hall and
thought them lacking in bite and irreverence. Some were even cloying, like the sentimental and puerile revivals of vaudeville shows. I must say that I found this too true of Music Hall entertainments I saw in London. Too often these evocations look like Disney did them. You have assembled a solid pit band and a cast of genuine talent and diverse personalities. ... I think it is a tribute to your talent, perseverance and the quality of your shows that you have attracted a loyal audience to support your efforts all theses years."
Thank you, Mr Cullen! We all greatly appreciate your very gracious comments. Please come see us perform this autumn in Bethlehem!
May 23 Miss Caroline LelandBeing a part of such lively entertainment as An Evening at a British Music Hall has opened Caroline’s eyes to the huge wealth of material waiting to be worked over. In the past she has performed a range of contralto roles in Gilbert and Sullivan operettas with the Savoy Company of Philadelphia, Thespis Players of Media, Arden Singers of Delaware and the Gilbert and Sullivan Society of Chester County. Mad Margaret, Ruth, Buttercup and the Duchess of Plaza Toro are some of the personages whose psyches she has plumbed. Character roles such as Veta in Harvey, Mamita in Gigi, and Madame Arcati in Blithe Spirit for various community productions, have contributed to her enjoyment of treading the boards. The Concert Operetta Theater of Philadelphia provides Caroline with opportunities to portray eccentric royalty from around the world with the role of the Duchess Anastasia in The Student Prince coming up. In the summer of 2007 she will take part in a Gilbert and Sullivan song program for a Pocono community. For Caroline, An Evening at a British Music Hall provides her with an endless parade of rich characters waiting to be explored. November 28 Harrigan and HartA CELEBRATION OF HARRIGAN AND HART
As a sort of sidebar to performances of AN EVENING AT
A BRITISH MUSIC HALL, members of the cast (Chris Simmons, Murray Callahan and pianist "emeritus" Sandy Graham) have presented programmes of songs witten by Edward Harrigan and David Braham. Edward Harrigan (1844-1911) was a New York City born song writer, Variety (Vaudeville) performer and playwright who, with his partner Tony Hart (born Anthony Cannon, 1854-1892), was among the founding fathers of American Musical Comedy. David Braham, Harrigan's father-in-law, wrote the music for most of Harrigan's popular hits. Harrigan's songs, sketches and plays chronicled life among the denizens of New York City's tenements: the Irish (primarily), the Germans, Jews, African-Americans and others. Over the past four years Chris Simmons and Murray Callahan have presented programmes of Harrigan/Braham material in New York City - at the 2003 West Along The Road Festival sponsored by Glucksman Ireland House and in 2004 at New York University's Skirball Arts Centre. In the Spring of 2007 a full length Harrigan programme is planned in conjunction with the Celtic Cultural Alliance of Bethlehem, Pa., utilizing the cast and resources of AN EVENING AT A BRITISH MUSIC HALL. November 22 A Brief History of the BMHThough AN EVENING AT A BRITISH MUSIC HALL is 32 years
old, its origins are not quite lost in the mists of time. I am the show's producer, director and - I suppose - "impresario". This, unfortunately, calls up images of myself in top hat, fur collared overcoat and "robusto" cigar. Not quite the reality. AN EVENING AT A BRITISH MUSIC HALL (hereafter to be refered to as BMH for brevity's sake) sprang into being from my desire of many years to produce a full length evening of music hall material. I had often subjected friends and family to my music hall warblings but had never found a way to make the dream of a full length production a reality. After University I performed in various theatre companies and played violin, concertina and multiple other instruments in a folk band based in the Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania. Gradually, I introduced music hall numbers into the band's repertoire. Using the band as the foundation and with the addition of a magician (Terry LaSorda - then performing under the cognomen of "Rubashov, The Little Wizard"), and with the band's banjo player, Roy Smith, as Chairman, the first BMH was presented at Lehigh University in 1974. The audience's reception was so enthusiastic that future performances were assured. In 1976 the BMH, by now coalesced into a full- fledged theatrical company, began performing at a newly established folk club in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania called Godfrey Daniels (after W.C. Fields' pet screen epithet) . These performances quickly became a yearly event - proving a boon both to the club and to the growing BMH company. Over the years a fine complement of performers, musicians and other company members were added to the BMH roster. Currently active members include: comic monologuist and sketch actor Alex Barry; resident red-nosed comedian Joe Birchak; longtime member and chanteuse Ms Murray Callahan; Bob Cohen, a specialist in the numbers of George Formby, Sr. as well as lyrical ballads; Ms Caroline Leland, specialist in comic numbers and Gilbert and Sullivan songs; and Ms Peachy Stone, comic vocalist and custom costumer; all ably backed by our talented trio, Ms Valerie Schoenk, pianist, drummer Glen Longenhagen, and our indefatigable trumpet player Rick Weisman (himself the possessor of a Vaudeville lineage: His uncle, "Tucker, The Singing Violinist", performed on the Vaudeville stage). Bob Fahringer fills the show's most important position - that of Chairman. Some of the above named artistes have been with BMH for over twenty years. Other performers who have graced our stage in the past include: Thom Shafer, comic vocalist; Ms Cora Hook, a performer in the Ella Shields/Hetty King/Vesta Tilley male impersonation tradition; Ms Rebecca Skelton, serio-comique; Ms Vicki Sunshine, clog dancer; Ms Paula Ferry, cockney comedienne; Mark Marcante, comic vocalist; and John DiJulio (ditto). The Chairman's gavel has been wielded by the late Michael Hodges, Jack Ferry, Bill George, and the late Tim Roche - all past chucker-outers. Over the years our songs have been instrumentally enhanced by former orchestra members Bruce
Gibson, longtime pianist with the troupe; Dr. Sandra Graham, past pianist, arranger and vocal coach; Ms Liz Johnson, petite pianista; Jeff Biro, drummer and percussionist of allsorts; L.A. Williams, slide trombonist; the late Jerry Bastoni, upright bassist; Evan Conyers, clarinetist; and the spousally related tandem of Rusty and Nancy Neithammer, on banjo and clarinet, respectively. Along with the many songs presented in a typical
BMH evening are the sketches and monologues; some not performed since the death of their original interpreters: "The Disorderly Room" (Tommy Handley/Eric Blore), "Parker, P.C., or, Discharged From The Force" (Charles Austin), and "The Johnson 'Ole" (Capt. Bruce Bairnsfather). Our song repertoire has been greatly enhanced by the efforts of friends such as Max Tyler, Historian of the British Music Hall Society, Tony Barker, publisher and editor of MUSIC HALL magazine, and John Whitehorn, formerly of EMI Archives, London, England. BMH has been presented to appreciative audiences in Philadelphia and New York City, and at various locations in southeastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey - as well as in a number of venues in the Lehigh Valley, Pa. So, like "Topsy" in UNCLE TOM'S CABIN, AN EVENING AT A BRITISH MUSIC HALL has "growed" and prospered. Perhaps, like old soldiers, music halls never die - they just fade away; I should, however, like to think there is life in the old dog yet. Chris Simmons October 29 Mr Alex BarryMr Barry has been a member of the cast for these oh so many years..... something over 20 anyway. He began as a British Music Hall wannabe, and was originally cast by Mr Simmons as a light board operator and stage hand. His first duties on stage were to pre-set the Chairman's table by lighting candles and pouring a glass of wine before the show began, and then making a show of sweeping off the stage. This was done of course in elaborate costume and make-up, which ever since has been a hallmark of his subsequent performance career.
Recognizing Mr Barry's tin ear and inadequacy as a vocalist, Mr Simmons gradually moved him into the demanding position of comic monologuist, and early "bits" included "The Caretaker", a role in which he shared the stage with a live, squirming, and not always cooperative black cat named Shadow. An early role he recalls fondly (cough, cough) was "Camoflage", in which he was bunged into full WWI military garb including gas mask, beneath which his face was a ghastly color of green (due to make-up, not dyspepsia).
His variety of costumes over the years have included full evening dress with cape (and sometimes an ape mask), tunic and tights (sans codpiece) for "Robin Hood", the excruciatingly authentic uniforms of various British expeditionary and military forces, London bobby, sailor (shipwrecked and otherwise), footballer, Beefeater, gentlemen, fops and cads of various stripes and persuasions, and more. He's worn wigs, goatees, false beards, dundreary sidewhiskers and monocles. One may reasonably wonder if all these attempts at disguise are an effort to unfairly conceal his matinee idol visage from legions of adoring fans, including a few females, but actually the reason has to do with the conditions of the federal witness protection program.
Mr Barry's other stage experience has included acting, directing and designing for numerous college and community theatre productions in Pennsylvania and New York, independent professional work with area repertory companies as performer, designer and technician, and a bit of work with industrial, independent and Hollywood filmmakers, but don't search for him on IMDb.
He currently resides in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with a different black cat, this one named Guinness. |
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