Halloween cabaret with Sarah Rudinoff & Chris Jeffries
October 27 in the Fireside Room at the Sorrento
Seattle theater stars Sarah Rudinoff and Chris Jeffries are reuniting for a live set in the Fireside Room at Hotel Sorrento. It takes place the Friday before Halloween, with Sarah on vocals and Chris on piano. Tickets just went on sale.
They are creating a new evening-length show and will be working on music from that show — including original music, interpreted classics, and buried gems — at this October 27 cabaret produced by FrizzLit. Special guest: Frankenstein expert Rebecca Brown!!
It’s been eight years since Chris and Sarah performed together at the Frye Art Museum’s Genius / 21st Century / Seattle exhibition.
Jeffries (in 2003) and Rudinoff (in 2004) were the first two Stranger Genius Award winners in Theater. They have 50 years of experience between them in every kind of medium from camp to the avant-garde. Brown won a Stranger Genius Award (in 2005) for Literature.
The Fireside Room has mahogany-lined walls, wingback chairs, and a baby grand piano. It’s the same octagonal lounge where the in-person Silent Reading Party is held twice a month.
Because this is happening the Friday before Halloween, we’re encouraging costumes (or formal attire) and we’re calling this evening: It’s Alive!!!
Wait, let me make that bigger — here:
It’s Alive!!!
Jeffries is a composer and writer who has written the music and lyrics for many musicals — and often tells stories of a literary bent. His full credits are below. He moonlights as the ever-silent accompanist/arranger for internationally disclaimed chanteuse Dina Martina.
Rudinoff is a singer, actress, and writer whose solo shows include NowNowNow, Go There, The Last State, and Broad. She appears frequently in theatrical productions in places like Seattle Rep and the 5th Avenue Theatre. Her full credits are below.
Longtime FrizzLit regulars probably remember Chris’s talk on the origins of opera during the Ovid’s Metamorphoses club. Sarah was in that club as well, doing Juliet’s monologue from Romeo & Juliet: “Gallop apace, you fiery-footed steeds / Towards Phoebus’ lodging…” Unforgettable.
Rebecca was in the Ovid club too, memorably posing the question to that group: “What are gods, anyway?”
TICKETS
Seating is extremely limited, and reservations are being handled by the Sorrento directly.
DRESS CODE
Wear a Halloween costume — that would be festive.
Or come in black tie, the refuge for people who don’t have costumes. I’ll be in my tux.
Or dress like you’re going to church in the 19th century. Whatever you would wear if you were alive in the year 1818, the year Mary Shelley first published Frankenstein — wear that.
Or be gauche and come in polar fleece and sneakers if you insist. Whatever.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
CHRIS JEFFRIES
Composer Chris Jeffries’ latest musical, based on Jane Austen’s Persuasion, premiered at Taproot Theatre after being workshopped at The 5th Avenue’s NextFest. He has written the book, music, and lyrics for such musicals as Vera Wilde (Winner of 4 SFBATCC awards), Moon of My Delight (Empty Space), The Glory Booty Club (Garland Award), I See London, I See France and The Fatty Arbuckle Spook HouseRevue (Annex Theatre, Yale School of Drama). Music and lyric credits include Laura Comstock’s Bag-Punching Dog (Los Angeles, Ovation and LA Weekly Awards) and Horse Opera (NEA commission). His music for Bunnicula (Seattle Children’s Theatre) is heard worldwide, and he can be seen touring the country as the ever-silent accompanist/arranger for internationally disclaimed chanteuse Dina Martina.
SARAH RUDINOFF
Sarah Rudinoff has been performing in Seattle for 25 years. Her solo shows include NowNowNow, Go There, The Last State, and Broad, they have been presented at On the Boards, Re-bar, Bumbershoot, PICA’s TBA Festival (Portland), HBO Workspace (LA), Warhol Museum (Pittsburgh), and Adelaide Festival (Australia). Sarah has sung and acted all over Seattle including The Seattle Rep, The 5th Avenue, ACT, Showbox, The Royal Room and Vito’s. She was last seen as Rosie in the 5th Avenue’s production of Mamma Mia. Sarah sings Led Zeppelin in the burlesque extravaganza House of Thee Unholy at the Triple Door and with collaborators Gretta Harley and Elizabeth Kenny, she co-created and starred in These Streets at ACT Theatre, about women musicians of Seattle’s “grunge” years.
REBECCA BROWN
Rebecca Brown has published more than a dozen books, including the novels The Gifts of the Body and The Dogs and a nonfiction book about the seasons called You Tell the Stories You Need to Believe.
Burning questions
What are you going to wear?
Have you ever seen Sarah or Chris perform? Have you ever seen them perform together?
What’s your favorite memory from the Sorrento?