& About Out R

ainbow Chamber of Commerce had a great time at our first-ever Drag Queen Bingo at Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Sacramento! Located just a short 30-40 minute drive North of Sacramento, in Wheatland, it was well worth the trek. Our fabulous queens hosted and performed for the bingo players and everyone had a super fun time. Especially in our photo booth by Smiles and More, for more info visit them on the interweb at: https://smphotobooth.com If you missed out on this fun time, you can always join RCC at their regularly scheduled Drag Queen Bingo, the 1st Thursday every month at Mango’s in Midtown, where we host and support a different charity each month.

He Left Our Hearts In San Francisco

by Chris Narloch

Their unlikely friendship made perfect sense after the fact. Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga connected and became fast friends over their love of classic jazz and the Great American Songbook. The pair released two jazz albums, toured the world together, and closed out Bennett’s career with an amazing final concert at Radio City Music Hall.

Amazing because by that time, Bennett, who died recently at the ripe old age of 96, was suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, which robbed him of much of his memory but not his musical memory.

Lady Gaga said that as soon as he hit the stage and saw the crowd for his final shows, his performance skills and ability to remember lyrics returned, and the old Tony was back.

I was fortunate enough to see Lady Gaga’s jazz show in Las Vegas several years back, and darned if Tony didn’t pop in briefly to sing with his buddy, a surprise appearance that understandably drove the crowd wild.

Bennett, of course, was a legend in music long before Lady Gaga was even born, but their mutually beneficial musical partnership brought Tony to the attention of Gaga’s millions of “little monsters,” many of whom had probably never heard of him before.

Bennett, who was born and raised in New York City, will probably be remembered most for his tribute to another great city. Tony turned an obscure song entitled “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” into one of the most memorable and famous popular songs in music history.

I’m sure Lady Gaga was brokenhearted to hear the news of her friend’s passing, but their bond and Tony Bennett’s incredible legacy will endure for many, many years to come.

Food Beverage and More

Josh Groban and Annaleigh Ashford Are a Killer Team in “Sweeney Todd”

If you find yourself in the vicinity of New York City anytime this year and you are a fan of Stephen Sondheim’s masterpiece musical “Sweeney Todd,” get thee to the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre on W. 46th Street and witness theatrical history being made.

That blockbuster musical is receiving a time capsule-caliber revival starring Josh Groban as Sweeney and Annaleigh Ashford as Mrs. Lovett that is probably the finest production of the show since the legendary original Broadway cast that featured Len Cariou and Angela Lansbury.

The incredible leads are assisted by a dynamite supporting cast that includes

Ruthie Ann Miles, Daniel Yearwood and Gaten Matarazzo (from “Stranger Things”). Additionally, this production features a fantastic 26-piece orchestra plus direction by the masterful Thomas Kail, who helmed a little show named “Hamilton” that you might have heard of.

If you’re unfamiliar with the Tony

by Chris Narloch

Award-winning musical’s story, it involves meat pies and murder and is essentially about how revenge is almost always a soulless dead end.

This revival is so good that it is worth flying across the country and building a trip around.

Tickets are currently on sale through Jan. 14, 2024. For more information, visit https://sweeneytoddbroadway.com

“The Addams Family” at Music Circus & “The Play That Goes Wrong” at B St

by Chris Narloch

Take your pick between two wacky plays on Sacramento stages – one a slapstick play-within-a-play and the other a musical about a famous dysfunctional family – or see them both.

The Addams Family

I grew up on Charles Addams’ deliciously dark cartoons in The New Yorker and have been a diehard Addams Family fan ever since. I have also seen the movies inspired by his source material, including the animated ones.

So it is with great anticipation that I await the Music Circus production of the recent musical tribute to America’s favorite misfit family.

The award-winning show is based on some of the characters created by Charles Addams in his single-panel drawings, which depict a ghoulish American family with an affinity for all things macabre.

The Broadway at Music Circus premiere of “The Addams Family” plays through July 30, 2023, at the UC Davis Health Pavilion. For more information, go to www.broadwaysacramento.com

The Play That Goes Wrong

One of the most successful farces of the 21st century, “The Play That Goes Wrong” follows an amateur theatre group, The Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society, who get their first big break performing the play “The Murder at Haversham Manor.”

If you’ve ever seen “Noises Off” or any other farce set in a theater, then you know that the company’s big break turns instead into a big disaster, at every turn. Doors get stuck, scenery falls apart, and fires break out in mid-performance.

The show must go on, however, and the cast is determined to finish the play if it kills them, which just might happen.

Created by the celebrated Mischief Theatre Company, “The Play That Goes Wrong” is a modern classic that will have Sacramento audiences howling with laughter.

You can see “The Play That Goes Wrong” from Aug. 9—Sept. 10, 2023, at B Street Theatre. Visit: bstreettheatre.org