Broadway Downtown!

Just 24 hours in New York City and already I'm seeing great things (big surprise!).

I felt especially New Yorkerish since I was going down to the Village to the Duplex (theduplex.com), which just happens to be on Christopher Street ("such interesting people live on Christopher street!")

The Duplex is a venerable Village fixture that has gone through a number of incarnations, once incubating such talents as Dick Cavett, Woody Allen, and Joan Rivers. Now it has moved from its original location but the place is still an institution: Talk Shows, musicals, improvisational comedies, and gay cabaret reviews are featured there regularly.

I had the distinct pleasure of seeing the wonderfully talented and gorgeous (she was Miss America in 1998) Kate Shindle at the Duplex Cabaret Theatre.

She was doing a show which she entitled "Brian's Songs" since she was performing with Brian Lowdermilk at the piano, an up and coming young musical theater songwriter. I hope I wasn't the only one in the audience old enough to get the reference...

Kate was in Brian's "The Woman Upstairs" which was in the New York Musical Theatre Festival last year.

She also had some special guests -- Sarah Chase, Josh Young (who sang Run Away With Me...and believe me I was ready to, except that I learned his next gig is West Side Story in China!) and Rodrick Covington.

Kate was amazing! Not only did she have the belting pipes, but gave each song such personality and charm (and dynamics thank you very much!) that you really felt you got to know her a little bit over the course of the evening. She did an especially enchanting job of singing as a seven year old, who is showing off her party dress, and her dreams. And she and Brian had great witty banter, which showed their mutual affection for each other.

Some highlites of Kate's bio:

Kate Shindle's Broadway credits include Cabaret (Sally Bowles), and Jekyll and Hyde (Lucy). NYC productions include A Midsummer's Night's Dream (Helena), The Woman Upstairs (Kassan) and the World AIDS Day concerts of Children of Eden (Yonah, NY premiere) and Pippin (Leading Player). Film and television audiences will recognize Kate from The Stepford Wives (Beth Peters). Kate is also in the process of writing a novel, Crown Chasers, because she is very proud to have been Miss America 1998, but also likes to make jokes about it. She lives in Washington Heights, where she got a killer deal on a two-bedroom, and enjoys a good single-malt scotch.

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