This past weekend’s double matinee slate at The Bank Theatre did not disappoint the 400-plus fans who witnessed the Super Starz show put on by talented local performers.
The brainchild of Sun Parlour Players veterans Ruth Owens and Barbara Martens — who brought Roger Hewett onboard early on in the planning process — Super Starz took audiences on a variety of musical — and comical — journeys, from the Liberace opening to the finale with all of the acts on stage together.
The Saturday, January 17 show was a near sell-out, while Sunday’s matinee surpassed that by filling every seat.
Local transplanted musical treasure Roger Hewett wowed the audiences with his keyboard perfection as Liberace, Victor Borge and Elton John. Hewett’s comedic timing was spot-on for all three characters.
Barry Bergen followed with a nice John Denver tribute, and David Light put the “light” back in Lightfoot as he took the stage with wife Sharon to pay tribute to Canada’s troubadour.
The fearsome foursome of Laurie Niefer, Ray Silvius, Andy Carscadden and Tom Grimes delivered perfect four-art harmony as Pentatonics Minus One. Their rendition of the 1954 hit by The Crewcuts, Sh-Boom, was reminiscent of days gone by.
Ruth Owens herself teamed up with Roger Hewett in a comedic tribute to Florence Foster Jenkins, a 1940s American socialite-turned-opera singer who was known to be a terrible singer.
Following that, Jilda Farias took the stage as Maria Callas and amazed the audience with her vocal abilities. Madison Hamm, who was scheduled to perform as Adele for the show, unfortunately became ill last week and was unable to perform.
The show wrapped up with local musical stalwarts Mary Newland and Richard Baker taking the stage to do a tribute to Linda Ronstadt and they did not disappoint, giving way to Sir Elton (Roger Hewett) who entered the stage in the middle of Newland’s rendition of Don’t Let the Sun Go Down On Me. The trio then took the audience into a nice tribute to Bank Theatre President John Moran, by switching up the lyrics to Hey Jude and calling it Hey John. Hewett and Baker — both world-class keyboardists and composers — provided double-keyboard perfection as the accompaniment on the finale.
The entire cast then took to the stage to join in along with the audience.
Due to the weekend’s success, officials from The Bank Theatre say they are planning on more Super Starz shows in the near future.
The cast of Super Starz gathered for their finale, entitled Hey John. The four ladies in front are Ruth Owens, Laurie Niefer, Mary Newland and Jilda Farias. Behind them are Ray Silvius, Andy Carscadden, Tom Grimes, Sharon Light and David Light. Roger Hewett and Richard Baker are on the keyboards, and Barry Bergen was just about to step on the stage. Madison Hamm was sick and unable to attend.
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Roger Hewett as Liberace.
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Barry Bergen’s tribute to John Denver.
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