Cabar-esque series punctuates Cambria Center's season

Singer-songwriter Jude Johnstone will be the debut performer in a new series at Cambria Center for the Arts Theatre, titled Cabar-esque.

Cambria’s Johnstone will perform at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 24, and 3 p.m. the following day at the center. Tickets, priced at $20, are available at the center or online through www.brownpapertickets.com.

Johnstone’s songs have been covered by artists including Laura Branigan, Emmylou Harris, Bette Midler, Johnny Cash, Bonnie Raitt and Stevie Nicks. The Johnstone-penned song “The Woman Before Me” was a No. 1 hit on country artist Trisha Yearwood’s debut release.

Nancy Green, theater director for CCAT, said the idea for the Cabar-esque series came from close at hand.

“We did a cabaret: My daughter and I had worked up a little act,” Green recalled. 

That led to the idea of putting on occasional performances at the theater.

“It’s kind of an experiment to see how the town handles it,” Green said, adding that she’s optimistic about the results: “I think it will draw because it’s music, and people love to be entertained with music.”

Johnstone’s concert at CCAT will be her last in North America for at least a few weeks. Beginning Feb. 6, she’ll play a series of concerts in the Netherlands, Sweden and Germany. Her sixth and latest release, “Shatter,” in 2013 includes 11 tracks and is available from BoJak records.

Mime’s appearance

Three other shows are planned for the 2015 Cabar-esque season, including a one-night-only appearance by mime Robert Shields, famous as half of the Shields and Yarnell mime duo. 

Shields, who lives in Sedona and spends the month of September in Cambria each year, will perform Sept. 26.

Shields, credited with developing “The Robot” mime technique (made famous in his duo with Lorene Yarnell), approached CCAT last year with an offer to bring his talent as a mime to the stage in Cambria.

Shields started out working as a street mime and performing at the Hollywood Wax Museum at age 18. He discovered by Marcel Marceau, who offered him a full scholarship to his school of mime in Paris.

Shields soon returned to California, where he worked in San Francisco, and met Yarnell. The pair were featured in their own comedy-variety show, “The Shields and Yarnell Show,” on CBS in 1977, and appeared on more than 400 national television shows in the United States. Shields also wrote their television special “Toys on the Town,” which received an Emmy award.

The two were married from 1972 to 1986; Yarnell died in 2010.

The two shows rounding out this year’s Cabar-esque schedule are:

• March 14, 15 — Mary Anne Anderson and Steve McCann will present “A Tribute to Steve and Eydie.” Anderson is a Cambria resident who has lived in Europe and Brazil. A singer, songwriter, poet and playwright, she speaks and sings in several languages. During these performances, she’ll be accompanied by McCann and several local jazz musicians.
• Sept. 12, 13 — Singer Helen Mandlin presents “So Far … A Musical Memoir.” A New Yorker who calls herself a part-time permanent resident of Cambria, Mandlin spent her summers during college doing musical theater in summer stock. She has performed at Reno Sweeney’s Greenwich Village and has performed her cabaret act in various New York City clubs.

Other events coming at Cambria Center for the Arts Theatre include the following performances in the Famous Jazz Artist Series.

• Feb. 1 — Flugelhornist Dmitri Matheny with bassist Dylan Johnson and drummer Paul Kreibich.
• Feb. 15 — Saxophonist Tim Armacost and his Standards Quartet.
• March 8 — Pianist Terry Trotter with bassist Dylan Johnson and drummer Darrell Voss.
• March 22 — Guitarist Frank Potenza with bassist Luther Hughes.
• April 5 — Solo piano concert with Grammy Award-winner Gill Cunliffe.

brownpapertickets.com

The CCAT gallery is open from 1 to 4 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays. Hours are 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays.

2015 in the theater

• Jan. 24, 25 — Cabar-esque: Jude Johnstone in concert, 7:30 p.m. Jan. 24 and 3 p.m. Jan. 25.
• March 14, 15 — Cabar-esque: MaryAnne Anderson & Steve McCann, “Tribute to Steve and Edie,” 7: 30 p.m. March 14 and 3 p.m. March 15.
• April 17-May 3 — “Death Trap.” Preview April 17; Fridays and Saturdays, 7:30 p.m.; Sundays, 3 p.m. Opening gala, 5:30 p.m. Sunday, April 19.
• July 31-Aug. 23 — “Evita.” Preview July 31. Fridays and Saturdays, 7:30 p.m.; Sundays, 3 p.m. Opening gala, 5:30 p.m. Aug. 2.
• Sept. 12, 13 — Cabar-esque: “Helen Mandlin, Chanteuse: A Musical Memoir,” 7: 30 p.m. Sept. 12 and 3 p.m. Sept. 13.
• Sept. 17-20 — “Three Sopranos and a Piano: Seasons,” Friday and Saturday, 7:30 p.m.; Sunday, 3 p.m. 
• Sept. 26 — Cabar-esque: Robert Shields, mime, one show only.
• Oct. 16-Nov. 8 — “Vanya & Sonia & Masha & Spike.” Preview Oct. 16. Fridays and Saturdays, 7:30 p.m.; Sundays, 3 p.m. Opening gala, 5:30 p.m. Oct. 17.

• Jan. 8-Feb. 1 — Photography show: Bob Kennedy and Mike Weakley.
• Feb. 5-March 1 — “Color and Light,” Live Johnson and Robert Lahr. Opening reception Feb. 7.
• March 3-22 — Youth Art Show. 
• March 26-May 3 — Spring Juried Show: Cultural Heritage. Opening reception March 27.
• May 5-31 — “Petals & Palettes,” Cambria Garden Club. Opening reception May 6.
• June 4-July 5 — “Junk Art,” found object art of Richard Morriss. Opening reception June 5. 
• July 9-Aug. 2 — “Coastal Impressions,” Linda Huggins and Gayle Sewell. Opening reception July 10.
• Aug. 6-30 — “Soft & Spicy, a Blending of Two Artists,” Sally Seago and Page Graeber. Opening reception Aug. 7.
• Sept. 3-Oct. 4 — “Words in Art,” Annie Lawrence, calligrapers. Opening reception Sept. 4.
• Oct. 8-Nov. 15 — Fall Juried Show. Opening reception Oct. 9.
• Nov. 19-Jan. 3, 2016 — “Little Gems for the Holidays.” Opening reception Nov. 20.

This story was originally published January 21, 2015 at 11:51 AM with the headline "Cabar-esque series punctuates Cambria Center's season."