Cabaret Producer Ready To "Rock The House"

By Buck Locke Cabaret Producer Ready to "Rock The House"

The Winton Club Cabaret is coming to Winchester Town Hall to raise funds for Winchester Hospital.  This year’s Producer, Cheryl Lauretano, is full of energy and excitement as she prepares the Cabaret to “Rock the House”!

This journey for Cheryl  began on Feb. 2, 2013 and it has been a busy 12 months.  Each year the day after the Cabaret closes a new Producer for the following year is named.  It takes a full year to bring the next Cabaret to life. 

Cheryl proposed her idea for this year’s theme in her acceptance remarks, saying that she wanted to “Rock the House”!   She quickly set about getting committee chairs in place for the show.  Cheryl has been in the Winton Club for 20 years and served as House Manager, Makeup Committee, Raffle Chair and knew she had to quickly get all her committee chairs in place.  In two days on the phone calling various Winton Club members, she was able to get this accomplished.

Cheryl’s husband, Leo, has been a Winchester resident since first grade.  Leo was a drummer in the high school band and shifted to playing the guitar in college.  He has played in local bands for numerous functions in the area.  His musical background allowed him to provide support for Cheryl in selecting the songs for the show.

The challenge of the show is appealing to multiple generations and picking out the rock and roll songs that will bring back the memories of the past 5 decades.  Cheryl listened to many people, as she wanted to take the audience on a musical journey that would remind them of places they had been or planned on going, and experiences they had in those years to provide a good frame of mind and good memories.   As an example of listening to some of the senior members, she has put in a waltz number to evoke the music of the 40s!

It is a huge task to think about our music over the span of decades and compress it into a show that runs for roughly 2 hours.  She went through a process of picking over a hundred songs and from that weeding it down to 50 and from that group down to 25 to come to a final number for the show. 

The music she selected comes from snippets of time and pockets of rock and roll with artists that span different eras.  Mrs. Lauretano had fun meshing old and new with some of the show numbers being medleys of songs. 

For Cheryl, this has been a labor of love about whch she is passionate.  As Producer she has to coordinate committees and deal with many issues, but she keeps her eye on the prize, to give a great show and raise money to benefit Winchester Hospital. 

Winton Club Cabaret 2014, “Rock the House” will be held at the Winchester Town Hall Auditorium, 71 Mt. Vernon St.., on Tues., January 28 through Saturday, February 1st.  For showtimes, and to get tickets, while they last, visit www.wintonclub.org  See you there!