EDUCATION
Guest Lecturing at Cal Poly Pomona
I had a very educational and wonderful experience this year as a guest lecturer in the university world at Cal Poly Pomona -- a position sponsored by the Hugh O. La Bounty Endowed Chair for Interdisciplinary and Applied Knowledge. A mouthful, right? Basically I spent half my time with Arts students in master classes and concerts and the other half lecturing to students outside the arts about how (my field) the Entertainment Industry crosses over into their fields of study. Sound dry? Actually it's not -- I had a blast. I just spent some time with the students at the Collins School of Hospitality and Management at Cal Poly -- talking about how "Iron Chef, iPods and the Internet have turned Hospitality into Entertainment." Not your average matinee! But loads of fun to explore these other aspects of show biz. I also spoke to educators and students in the business school. It was a great year!
UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA!
January
After a month off at the holidays, things flew right back into action with concerts starting at the University of Arizona with pals Jodi Benson and Gary Mauer. (below left) It's not often that a gal gets to sing tunes from Mama Mia with the Phantom and Little Mermaid! And it was terrific getting to finally meet some of you face to face!!
VALENTINE'S, SINGING WITH A CASSIDY!!
February
And this past weekend Steve Cook and I (below center) had the chance to pair up with my old (but we're both still young!) friend, Patrick Cassidy, for a concert here in So Cal. (below right) Patrick is long on talent and credits but is only now venturing into the concert arena... and he's AMAZING! I highly suggest you find out where he's performing and go! His songs and stories about growing up in his famous family (mom: Shirley Jones, dad: Jack Cassidy, brothers: David and Shawn) are inspiring and hysterical. In his words "you had to take a number to get mirror time in my house."
You'll love it!
SYMPHONY WITH MY ALMA MATER:
The Orange County High School of the Arts
March 9
I was lucky enough to go back to OCHSA this year to sing (for the first time) with the highly acclaimed orchestra there under the direction of Chris Russell. The evening was a fund-raiser for the orchestra's upcoming trip to Australia!! I brought in a few of the talented kids from the Music and Theatre department to do a version of the symphony concerts I do across the country. The show was a blast and big success!
Lamont, Tayler Mettra, Ryan Morton, me, Nina Herzog, Mike, Doll
HONG KONG SYMPHONY!!
Lovely in March
  
Doug, Joan, me, Kirby. All Joan's and my dresses matched perfectly! The food ... soooo good!
It was FANTASTIC traveling to Hong Kong to sing with the wonderful symphony there, along with cohorts Doug LaBrecque, Kirby Ward and Joan Hess in a Tribute to Fred and Ginger. I'd never been to Asia, nor had Rob (the husband) so we left Nina with Rob's sister and we went exploring. The shows went very well, but the food was even better!!!! Yum!
SUSAN EGAN: LIVE
While the CD has been out and available on-line and at concerts for a few months, the official STREET DATE for store release was on March 4th!! So be sure and check out the little Susan Egan section in the CD store (I'm always just behind Linda Eder -- not a bad place to be, frankly) and find Christopher's and my latest!
BROADWAY ROCKS!!
Jul 13: Cleveland Symphony
Jul 23: Minnesota Orchestra, Minneapolis
Jul 26: National Symphony at Wolftrap, Washington DC
Aug 2: Utah Symphony at Deer Valley
The summer of concerts was absolutely nutty! I was a part of a mini-tour of symphony concerts called BROADWAY ROCKS with music from: TOMMY, THE WIZ, WICKED, HAIRSPRAY, LITTLE SHOP, DANCE OF THE VAMPIRES, MAMMA MIA and more. Nothing like hearing 80 symphonic musicians rock out! I was lucky to work with Rob Evan, Doug LaBrecque, and Capathia Jenkins alongside the National Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Minnesota Symphony and Utah Symphony (Gary Mauer filled in for Doug). In DC we had an exciting moment, because there was no local singer to be found to complete the female trio of DREAMGIRLS, so a student-friend of mine (she's a 17-year-old at the Orange County High School of the Arts) stepped on stage and made her orchestral debut in front of 8000 people!!! Yay Nina Herzog!
JANESVILLE, WI
September
Just had a great time reuniting with pal and mega-talent, Christopher McGovern in Janesville, Wisconsin, of all places! He and I had a blast doing our good ol' concert -- with a few new tunes thrown in. Showed us both that even though we're apart for months now-a-days, the "tour" magic survives!!!
RICHARD and ELIZABETH SHERMAN TRIBUTE
November 6
Had one of those out-of-body experiences as I got to sing with legendary Richard Sherman who (with his brother Robert) wrote basically EVERYTHING for Walt Disney back in the day: MARY POPPINS, WINNIE-THE-POOH, IT'S A SMALL WORLD, just Google them and see their endless list of accomplishments. We had such a good time together that .....
.... I was beyond excited to be invited by Richard to perform with The Young Musician's Foundation Orchestra at the celebration of Richard and Elizabeth Sherman's great contribution to music! It was there where I got to meet even more heroes of mine: John Williams and Dick Van Dyke! A night to remember forever.
  
Dick Van Dyke Richard and Elizabeth Sherman John Williams
CATALINA'S JAZZ CLUB presents
SUSAN EGAN: THE FIRST FAREWELL TOUR!
Sunday, November 16, 2008 7:30pm
If Cher and Tina Turner can have 12 farewell tours, I better get started! Nah! This is just the title we came up with for a true cabaret-style concert at the famous CATALINA'S JAZZ CLUB here in Hollywood. Goodbye OLD concert material -- here I sang the new stuff, including a tune I wrote with "Guitar Guy," Brian Haner. If you don't know who he is you MUST Google or YouTube him. He's brilliant, and because my husband reps him and paired him with famous comic Jeff Dunham, Brian feels he has no choice but to write with/for me. I won't clue him in any differently!
AND for the show I was joined by Stephen Cook (he's a doctor ... of piano!) and my niece (who says nepotism is dead?), Jamie Hartmann who is uber-talented! It was a high-adrenaline night!
|
|
With my oldest (we're not old) gal pals:
Laura and Sophie! |
With Karen and Alon Williams. We three met doing My One and Only (gulp) 20 years ago! |
AN EVENING WITH STEPHEN SCHWARTZ
Pantages Theatre, Hollywood
November 24
What fun to join an A-list of Broadway list of folks to celebrate the music of Stephen Schwartz, benefitting the Actor's Fund.
RENO PHILHARMONIC
Until this concert I had never entered stage on an actual horse-drawn sleigh. I don't think the horse had either!! There was a crazy moment during the matinee, almost taking out the cello section, but by the evening show, the horse was a veteran. =) This was a spectacular to be sure, dancers, singers, choirs, bells, symphony, animals, and of course, Santa Claus.
Here is Nina -- who came along -- noticing the show poster in the ... uh ... casino.
OTHER CONCERTS FROM THROUGHOUT THE YEAR:
Jan 26: Silverthorne Pavilion, Lake Dillon, CO
Feb 16: New Jersey Symphony w/Gary Mauer, Melissa Errico
Mar 13: Crescendo Celebrity Series - OCPAC
Mar 29: California Center for the Arts, Escondido, CA
Apr 8: Grand Del Mar – San Diego
Apr 19: Colorado Symphony, Denver
May 16-17: Winnipeg Symphony, Canada
Jul 15: Squaw Valley, CA
Aug 5: Pebble Beach, CA
Aug 16: Federal Way Symphony, WA (just south of Seattle)
Sep 20: San Diego Chamber Orchestra
Oct 9: Santa Clarita Performing Arts Center, CA
A MOTHER'S INDULGENCE
On the personal front, Nina grew a lot this year, accompanying me on many of the travels, seeing the country with mom, meeting all kinds of new friends, sleeping when she could, taking in history, and being a good girl backstage. She's a good sport!
  
 
|
