The Allure of a 'Broadway Jukebox'
Put Another Nickel In - July 28, 2006
By Mark S.P. Turvin

PHOENIX — Dinner theatre producers — and actors who love musicals and steady paychecks — should take note: Arizona's Copperstate Dinner Theater has devised a show to satisfy everyone's taste. Broadway Jukebox, running through Sept. 3, features an ensemble of three men and three women, who must first learn some 125 show tunes from the early 1900s to the present — a selection diverse enough to include "Whatever Lola Wants," "Another Op'nin', Another Show," "Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin'," "One Day More!," "Ol' Man River," and "I Don't Know How to Love Him," plus songs from shows like Pippin, Rent, Aspects of Love, and Smokey Joe's Café to keep things eclectic. Then each audience member chooses three songs from the list, with the most popular choices making up the evening's score.

It may sound kitschy or difficult to pull off, but Broadway Jukebox is certainly an innovative concept. For example, the audience might choose "Ol' Man River" — a straightforward song that can stand on its own — yet pair it with the overture to Gypsy, for which the six performers become the orchestra and hilariously "play" themselves through the piece. There's even a send-up of the overplayed "Tomorrow."

What makes the show unique is that it's crafted by the audience. "The greatest challenge is really assembling the show backstage," says Peter J. Hill, Copperstate's producing director. "We tally the selections and create the revue. This obviously is the whole secret of the show — how to make this all happen quickly, set a dramatic build, and keep the performers from stumbling all over each other on- and offstage." If you can imagine a production that's different each night for each performer, you can imagine the challenge of Broadway Jukebox. On the other hand, Hill says, the format means that actors don't burn out, the audience has a reason to return night after night, and the producers save on costumes and sets — Copperstate has created a giant jukebox set out of the colorful floaties used in pools.

But no one should get the idea that Broadway Jukebox is merely tossed off. Says Hill, "The greatest amount of backstage time is taken up going through 'the bible' — the book containing the sheet music for the entire jukebox — removing the selected songs, and putting them into 'the new testament,' the book used onstage by the accompanist." That's why, he says, the show really lives or dies with the talent and temperament of its accompanist.

Another element of the show is the stump-the-cast contest. Midway through the second act, the audience is invited to name a musical that ran for more than 500 performances between 1900 and today — in other words, a hit — from which a cast member must sing a song. "There are certain tricks we've learned on how to make this thing work," Hill explains, "including dividing all hit shows by decades, so each actor specializes in knowing the songs from only one or two decades." The winner (if there is one) receives a small bottle of champagne.

What kind of performer can succeed in a show like this? "The single greatest asset they can have, aside from great voices, is a lack of ego," Hill says. "Since the audience picks the tunes, some nights a performer may have no featured moment. It can be a little hard on the ego, but once they realize that they get paid the same whether they solo or not, most get over it."

Copperstate’s 'Broadway Jukebox' pushes all the right buttons (Grade: A-)  
by Chris Page, Get Out Magazine - July 3, 2006

The Copperstate Dinner Theater’s summer show features six actors who dare anyone to test their collective knowledge of musical theater history.   The show features: Jesse Berger, Kathy Donald, Noel Irick, Charlie Jourdon, Elizabeth Reeves, Michael Stewart. 
Copperstate Dinner Theatre’s “Broadway Jukebox” really shouldn’t work.

Its premise — a choose-your-own-adventure evening of Broadway showtunes picked beforehand by the audience from a roster of some 120 ditties — is like witnessing an afternoon’s auditions in the seventh circle of Hades. A slow-moving barrage of syrupy ballads, as if sitting down to a toothachey meal of nothing but desserts. A recipe for indigestion.

Thankfully, it delivers nothing of the sort. The production, which calls itself “the world’s first interactive musical,” turns out to be one of the better revues to come along in the Valley.

Credit Peter Hill, the Copperstate honcho and local revue-meister nonpareil, whose sarcastic stamp is all over this fun and occasionally irreverent show.

“Dontcha guys get sick of this song?” says petite actress Noel Irick, before donning a curly red wig and hugging a stuffed dog to perform “Tomorrow” — that unkillable paean to optimism from the show “Annie.”

“Yeah,” Irick adds, mugging to the crowd, “you sleep with the director, see where it gets you.”

Irick, mind you, is Hill’s wife. And the “Tomorrow” number continues to grow more absurd, as her five other cast mates join in the ditty with an increasingly outlandish array of wigs and pets.

Fun, laughs, good time — indeed. If this “Jukebox” isn’t exactly “Forbidden Broadway,” it at least operates with the tacit understanding that possessing a mental catalog of so many shows is its own special kind of masochism. And should be celebrated as such.

Most often, though, “Jukebox” plays its songs straight. Depending on what the audience chooses, they can range from mundane (a Disney medley) to near-amazing. Charlie Jourdon does a mean “Old Man River” (“Show Boat”), and when the cast belts out a powerful “One Day More” from “Les Miserables,” it’s enough to make you want to jump the stage and start waving your red cloth dinner napkin.

A couple of obvious caveats: “Broadway Jukebox” is the kind of thing best appreciated by showtune obsessives (admittedly, we are a minority lot). And be prepared to leave with a head rattling full of ear candy — a century-spanning hodgepodge of catchy ditties.

Of course, you will have helped whip up the set list. Which means there’s no one to blame but yourself.

Kathy Fishel. Diminutive but with a big voice, she sings the big band sounds.
On The Town, AZ Republic

A diminutive (5 feet 5 inches, no heels) singer with a big voice. That's Kathy Fishel, vocalist with the Bill Hunter Orchestra performing Sundays from 7 to 11 p.m. at the SunBurst Resort Hotel and Conference Center, 4925 N. Scottsdale Road.

Fishel is a highly charged individual who delivers in the energetic style reminiscent of the big bands' heyday. She can be vocally throaty, sexy, persuasive, provocative and nostalgic. Her range and control are unusual for one who's never had any formal voice training.

"I don't like voice lessons," she said in an interview between sets at the SunBurst. "Whenever you take voice lessons, your own voice is often changed too much.."

A full-time legal secretary in Phoenix, the attractive brunette started vocalizing in community theater in her hometown Akron Ohio, when she appeared in Camelot. She sang and danced in other productions and was assistant choreographer and lead dancer in Cabaret. Meantime, she earned an administrative associate degree at an Akron Business College.

Arrived in Phoenix 5 1/2 years ago, she landed parts in Phoenix Little Theater productions; then joined the Hunter organization in 1982.

"He needed me to learn 11 charts in 1 1/2 days," she related, with a shrug. "I had to, so I did."

That feat of memory completed, Fishel became a fixture with the band. She's a songbird who loves her work. "Who wouldn't?" she asks. "This band is fun."

It's fun for the customers, too. Fishel is fine entertainment.

Valley orchestra steps to the King of Swing
By Frank Pollack - Special for The Republic

One of the best is 16-piece Bill Hunter Orchestra, currently appearing Fridays in the Desert Rose Ballroom of the Sunburst Resort.

Attractive new singer Laura Langis now paired with talented Kathy Edwards; together, they work over some old Andrews Sisters Favorites.

Edwards still excites the audience with her swinging version of Kansas City and has improved on ballads such as At Last.

Big band fan(atic)s, this one's for you
By Kyle Lawson - Around town

Hunter, Who Just finished a six-month engagement at Mesa's Greenfield Village, has released "A Man and his Band."

It's a recording cassette of 14 contemporary and nostalgic tunes featuring Hunter's distinctive trombone along with vocalist Kathy Edwards and 16 of the Valley's finest musicians.

It shows. The arrangements are crystal clear, free from the extraneous muddle that mars many such "home grown" efforts; the beat is danceable; the choice of songs interesting. And vocalist Edwards. I must say, is just the ticket.

Hoofers swing to local big band
By Frank Pollack - Special for The Republic

Bill Hunter and his16-piece Orchestra opened to an enthusiastic sellout crowd Saturday night at Scottsdale's Sunburst Resort Hotel and Conference Center.

Sharing this applause was the talented singer Kathy Edwards, who brought back memories of some of the well-known vocalists of the 40's.

Copperstate Diner Theater lets down it's guard with 'Nuncrackers' musical
By Max McQueen - Tribune

"Nuncrackers: The Nunsense Christmas Musical"

As Brooklyn-born Sister Robert Anne, Kathy Donald brings street smarts to the New Jersey nunnery. She Sets aside an attitude, however for a tender rendition of "Jesus Was Born in Brooklyn,"easily the show's highlight.

Theater honors favorites with 'Prizm' Awards
Fountain Hills Times 2000

The Fountain Hills Community theater has announced its exciting list of "Prizm Award" winners.

Best supporting actress - Kathy Donald, Simon Zealotes in "Superstar".

A jukebox of Broadway medleys awaits audiences
By Angela Yeager - Special the View 1999

Broadway Jukebox:
There is a lot of talent on the Copperstate stage. From a moving rendition of "Send in the Clowns" by Kathy Edwards to the comedic antics of singer/choreographer Noel Irick, there is a bit for everyone in Broadway Jukebox.

The hits just keep coming in Jukebox
By Max McQueen -The Tribune 1999

Broadway Jukebox:
Leave it to director Peter J. Hill to doctor a hit just enough to make it different but without diluting its winning formula. That brings us to Broadway Jukebox, the song and dance revue created and preformed by the same folks who found a box-office bonanza in Broadway by the Decade.

Kathy Edwards raises the roof with Cabaret's celebration of the party life. In Duet form. Edwards and Chris Eriksen are as fun and fetching on Suddenly Seymour, Little Shop of Horrors campy torch number.