Tuesday, August 24, 2010

NEW Late Nite Catechism Show!






For over 14 years Sister has been winning the hearts of audiences and critics alike. 
She has been seen Off-Broadway and around the US in Late Nite CatechismSister Strikes Again!: Late Nite Catechism 2'Til Death Do Us Part: Late Nite Catechism 3 and Sister's Christmas Catechism: The Mystery of the Magi's Gold
Now Entertainment Events is proud to present the latest version of the sinfully funny series. Sister's next Holiday classic will be...
Sister's Easter Catechism: 
Will My Bunny Go to Heaven?
Celebrate the Easter Season with Sister as she answers the time worn questions of the season like “Why isn't Easter the same day every year like Christmas?” and “Will My Bunny Go To Heaven?”  Part pageant, and wHOLY hysterical, this latest of the sinfully funny Late Nite Catechism series unearths the origins of Easter bunnies, Easter eggs, Easter bonnets, Easter baskets, and of course those yummy Easter Peeps.  Sister answers questions about pet heaven and the significance of those adorable baby chicks!  Classroom participation is a must, so don’t forget to wear your Easter bonnet and join Sister for this seasonal treat!
Sister's Easter Catechism: Will My Bunny Go to Heaven? is currently available for Professional engagements and Off-Site Fundraisers! 
FOR MORE MORE INFO CALL 877-FUNNY-NUN
Contact Entertainment Events to Book your Sister today! 

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Girls Night is a Backstage.com Critics Pick!


REVIEW: Girls Night: The Musical
Backstage.com – 5/6/2010 – Gwen Orel
CHOSEN AS A BACKSTAGE.COM CRITIC'S PICK!
"When the whole audience joins in to chant 'I Will Survive,' you realize that Girls Night: The Musical is not just a silly bachelorette-flavored night on the town. It's a rally. It involves the audience deeply and sincerely in a way that the current Broadway production of Hair, in its earnestness, can only envy. Okay, that audience is somewhat drunkenly singing 'I'm Every Woman' and 'Don't Cry Out Loud' (a collective sigh was heard as that one started), but this be-in is real. [Article continues below]


The Cast of Girls Night: The Musical, Off-Broadway, NYC (2009)
The thin plot suffices. Narrator Sharon (impish RenĂ©e Colvert) wears angel wings because she's dead, having fallen off a moped at age 16. Her closest friends are gathering 22 years later at a karaoke bar to celebrate the engagement of Sharon's daughter, Candy Rose. ('It was that or Aretha Van Halen,' Sharon explains.) Brash Liza (Yvette Monique Clark) is afraid to be too vulnerable to her husband. Anita (Justine Hall) has bouts of mania and an adoring husband. Carol (Carly Sakolove) is an aging party girl with a heart of mush. Carol's younger sister, Kate (Laurie Gardner), literally and figuratively lets her hair down, revealing some of what she knows about Sharon.
If it's more like 'Marriage and the Suburbs' than 'Sex and the City,' that's just fine. These ladies are fun, and boy, can they belt—each one is a powerhouse (which makes shy Kate's tentativeness with 'At Seventeen' a little implausible at first). It's nicely appealing that none is a conventionally thin, gorgeous babe.
A flashback scene in which one of the girls is wearing her first bra may be familiar from pop culture, but you have to have grown up reading Seventeen and Sassy (before graduating to Cosmopolitan) to follow half the quick quips that float by in Louise Roche's script, here adapted by Betsy Kelso for American audiences. (Pencil under the boobs, boys!)
Sorry, fellas. But in all honesty, that shared language feels kind of nice."
Girls Night: The Musical plays Off-Broadway in NYC and all across the Country.
For tickets and more info call (877) 386-6968.
It is currently available  for Professional engagements. Contact Entertainment Events to book the Girls today!
Thanks for Blogging! > EEI Staff

"Tailor-made for bachelorette parties"

FEATURE: Girls Night: The Musical
BroadwayWorld.com – 7/24/2010 – Jenna Esposito
"Friday night found me downstairs at Sofia's Restaurant on 46th Street for Girls Night: The Musical. Tailor-made for bachelorette parties, sisters, or any girls who 'just want to have fun,' Girls Night is a fun trip down memory lane for a group of five female friends (one of whom appears in angel form, having fallen off the back of her mo-ped at the age of 17). The songs, which are performed karaoke-style, include classic female anthems like 'At Seventeen,' 'I'm Every Woman,' 'Don't Cry Out Loud' and (of course!) 'I Will Survive.' The loosely woven plot revolves around Anita, Kate, Carol, and Liza (played by Christina Cataldo,Deborah RadloffAlexandra Rush and Berty Jay, respectively) gathering at a bar to celebrate the engagement of the daughter of their mutual high school friend, Sharon (played byWilma Cespedes-Rivera, decked out as a bedazzled angel). As the ladies down their cocktails and lose their inhibitions, they re-live moments from their past, discuss their relationships, shed some tears, and reinforce their close ties to each other. The cast delivers high-energy, thoroughly entertaining performances, and keeps the audience whooping, dancing, and singing along throughout the course of the evening. Looking around, I counted four brave men who dared to attend the show - and they seemed to be having just as good a time as the ladies. Kudos to the guys on being such good sports! All in all, a really fun evening."
Girls Night: The Musical plays Off-Broadway in NYC and all across the Country.
For tickets and more info call (877) 386-6968.
It is currently available  for Professional engagements. Contact Entertainment Events to book the Girls today!
Thanks for Blogging! > EEI Staff

Take the Girl’s Poll! (GN Poll #3)


"This show really allows you to laugh. It allows you to cry. It allows you to identify."


FEATURE: Girls Night: The Musical
NBC, WHEC.com - 7/13/2010 - Janet Lomax
"Call your girlfriends and head to Geva Theatre – It's 'Girl's Night Out.'
That's right. Girls Night: The Musical is now on stage and the party starts the minute the lights come up on stage. The show will have you dancing in your seat.
Jenna Paige Gagliardo who plays Liza in the show says, 'We expect everyone to have a good time. It's as if you were out at a karaoke bar, just singing with your friend.'


Girls Night: The Musical at The Geva Theatre Center
Girls Night: The Musical tells the story of five friends whose bond is so 'strong,' their friendship so 'tight' one of them has passed away and even 'she' shows up—to narrate their story.
Gagliardo says, 'We have been best friends since we were thirteen all the way until now at age 40. And we've experienced everything together!'
And what Liza, Anita, Sharon, Kate and Carol have 'experienced,' people in the audience have too. Actor Carly Sakolove says the show can be therapeutic. 'This show really allows you to laugh. It allows you to cry. It allows you to identify.'
So if the show is called Girls Night: The Musical does that mean no men allowed?
Gagliardo says, 'Oh my gosh, men are totally allowed!' Sakoloveadds, 'Some men get dragged here. Some men are all about coming here but the men always love it. They always have a good time!' And according to Gagliardo the men "sometimes laugh extra harder than the women!'
It seems no matter what your gender everyone can benefit from a Girl's Night Out.
Gagliardo, 'I think it's always good to separate yourself from the craziness of life every once in awhile.'
The actors who take the stage each night want you to put the craziness aside and join them in singing their anthem—'I Will Survive.'
Sakolove says, 'We have women that come in who have survived breast cancer, they've survived divorce, and they’ve survived losing a child or their parents. And for them to walk out of the theatre with their head held high is what we aim for.'
You can see Girls Night: The Musical at Geva through August 1.
For more news and updates take a look at www.whec.com"
Girls Night: The Musical plays Off-Broadway in NYC and all across the Country.
For tickets and more info call (877) 386-6968.
It is currently available  for Professional engagements. Contact Entertainment Events to book the Girls today!
Thanks for Blogging! > EEI Staff

"Brace Yourself for a Catechism Event"

REVIEW: Late Nite Catechism
Riverfront Times – 9/24/2004 – Denna  Jent
"Any Questions? Brace yourself for a catechism event.
Class is back in session, and Sister is in rare form, Late Nite Catechism, written by Vicki Quade and Maripat Donovan, is a life lesson if you don’t want to miss, Mary Beth Burns, a veteran of Chicago’s Second City Improv tours, is clearly in her element in this one-woman show, a combination of religious instruction, audience interaction, and game-show antics, this Catechism is a widely witty and slightly scary encounter with the myths and realities of Catholicism.
Class begins with Sister greeting the audience as her adult catechism class, chastising gum chewers and offering fashion advice, 'Ask yourself, 'I wonder if Mary, Mother of God, would have picked this outfit out?'' She reminisces about the heyday of Catholicsm (the Baby Boom), when the Catholic schools were overflowing. The sweeping changes wrought by Vatican II, when 'they turned the priest around to see the people, like a cooking show' and eliminated the requirement for nuns to dress in black habbits, reduced the power of the church (in Sister’s opinion). But this Vatican criticism is touched on lightly. Mostly sister touches some basic Catholic facts: the Immaculate Conception (or 'the immaculate MISconception'), Easter duty, and collecting money to save pagan babies.
The delight of the show is Burns’ constant iteration with her audience. Whispers are called to order. Latecomers are fined. Everyone must address Sister in full sentences, and prizes are awarded for good behavior. In one of the funniest moments of the evening, when a person offered a response that was nearly correct, Sister urged her on with: 'If you can answer that question using the word ‘stain,’ I’ll upgrade you from the two-inch statue of Mary to the five-inch statue!' (The person could, and did receive her prize upgrade.)

Mary Beth Burns
A key portion of the show is an audience vote for which saints get to stay on the roster and which get laid off' 'Thumbs up – stay a saint; thumbs down – not a saint!'Peppering her descriptions of the saints with hilarious side comments ('You can forget about the Neosporin – stigmata’s never heal!'). Burns skillfully works the audience. A lesson on the proper use of St. Joseph statue to sell your house leads seamlessly into a biblical puzzler, which segues effortlessly into a discussion of evolution.
The most intriguing portion of the show comes when Sister brings out a little chair she’s constructed out of rules broken in disciplining boys (because 'Boys are bad and girls are good,' she reminds us). 'How many of you got whacked?' she asks, and a dozen or hands raise immediately. Whacking stories follow (the third grade was definitely a tough year for many kids in Catholic schools), and Sister graciously opens up the floor for a Q&A. On this night the questions are rather tame: 'Why didn’t you talk about St. Louis?' and 'Why do Catholics eat fish on Fridays?' It would have been interesting to see someone ask a gritty question, like what Sister thinks about women who want to be priests who abuse children – but perhaps that’s pushing this show beyond its whimsical boundaries.
With so much of each performance depending on audience stories for fuel, Late Nite Catechism is clearly different each night, and Burns seems to relish that. Her twinkling eyes search the audience for new material even as she works details from earlier stories into running gags. She’s obviously an expert in Catholicism and Chicago – her ability to throw Catholic trivia into impromptu discussions is impressive, while her authentic accept is apt make you crave a Lou Malnati’s deep-dish pizza and a glass of pop.
Sister ends the night on a philosophical note, discussing the 'leap of faith'required to be a believer. Why she worries that the Catholic Church may be in limbo, it’s clear that Late Nite Catechism is in a much more secure place. It’s a heavenly meeting of humor and faith that’s relevant regardless of your religious beliefs.  
But don’t be late, spit out your gum and bone up on your ejaculations. (Don’t worry, Sister will teach you how.)"
TO BUY TICKETS & MORE INFO CALL 877-FUNNY-NUN
Late Nite Catechism: The Series is available for fundraisers and professional engagements. Contact Entertainment Events today to Book your Sister!
Thanks for Blogging! > EEI Staff

"BOTTOM LINE: Our highest recommendation!"

REVIEW: Girls Night: The Musical
New York Theater Guide – 6/29/2010 – Ron Gross
"BOTTOM LINE: Our highest recommendation! I’ve never seen an audience enjoy a musical more than at this touching and hilarious romp.
There was a table of six having a bachelorette party, a mom and her two 20-something daughters, and a banquette of boisterous gals sporting pink feather boas who were often on their feet, stampin’ and hootin’ and having the time of their lives.
I was too. And so will your racier attendees.
Girls Night follows five friends in their 30s and 40s during a wild and outrageous girls night out at a karaoke bar. Pals since their teens, they have all had their fair share of heartache and tragedy, joy and success. Oh – one of them’s (gulp) dead – she’s wearing white angel wings, can’t be heard by the others, and can remember everything about their embarrassing moments together.
Among the living are Carol the party girl, blunt Anita who tells it like it is, Liza with her marital (and eating) issues, boring Kate the designated driver and Sharon, the not-so-angelic angel who just couldn't resist tagging along. Together, they reminisce about their younger days, celebrate their current lives and look to the future, all the while belting out an array of classic anthems.
There’s a 'guy' too – but I won’t be a spoiler by telling you about him and his remarkable *****.
The cast is sensational: they project more energy and enjoyment than most ensembles currently on Broadway. But they are not standard showbiz beauties; in fact they are definitely on the pulchritudinous side, and they jiggle their stuff with wonderful comic and erotic effect.
If the show were a cocktail, it’d be made up of two parts 'Sex and the City,' one part 'Desperate Housewives,' and a dash of Grease.Backstage said that it 'involves the audience in a way that the current Broadway cast of Hair in its earnestness, can only envy.'
The show brims with over a dozen rousing or deeply moving songs, from classics like 'Cry Me a River' and 'Girls Just Wanna Have Fun,' to less renowned but equally delightful tunes like 'The Love of My Man' by Ed Townsend and 'It’s Raining Men' by Jabara and Shaffer.
Berty Jay leads the company as Liza, who can’t bear to limit her immense joy in living (to say nothing of her immense T & A) to just her husband.   But kudos all around: Tina Mallon is bewitching as Sharon, Carly Sakolove is ebullient as fun-loving Carol, Deborah Radloff is terrific as Anita, and Laurie Gardner is disturbingly authentic as the troubled Kate.
The shananegens are masterfully managed by director Jack Randle.
Girls Night is a perfect addition to your Spousal Offerings, especially for those gals who welcome language and sentiments that jolt you out of your seat!"
Girls Night: The Musical plays Off-Broadway in NYC and all across the Country.
For tickets and more info call (877) 386-6968.
It is currently available  for Professional engagements. Contact Amy Payne at amy@entertainmentevents.com / Dottie Peterson at djp@entertainmentevents.com.
Thanks for Blogging! > EEI Staff

"Sister" Zentmyer discusses Sean Hayes


About the Author Mary Zentmyer has been playing the role of "Sister" in Late Nite Catechism: The Series for 14 years. In this blog entry she discusses her connection to the star of "Will & Grace,"Broadway's Promises, Promises and recent host of the 2010 Tony Awards.
"I did children's theatre with Sean Hayes back in "the day," long before "Will & Grace." He was the actor who made everybody else LAUGH every morning, and he would play the piano for the other actors, when they had audition pieces to work on. He played The Mad Hatter and The Caterpillar when I played a Fashion Flower and The Queen of Hearts, in Alice in Wonderland, at Pheasant Run Theatre, in St. Charles, IL. What I remember are his SKINNY legs, in that purple — yes, purple — not green, caterpillar costume.  I did several kids' shows with Sean in the early '90's, before he went out to L.A.  — like '91 and '92... He was the best — just naturally FUNNY, and really NICE to work with. I believe that Sean was born a HOOT! Everyone loved him.
xoxo, You, go, Crazy Sean! Love, Mary Z."
TO BUY TICKETS & MORE INFO CALL 877-FUNNY-NUN
Late Nite Catechism: The Series is available for fundraisers and professional engagements. 
Thanks for Blogging! > EEI Staff