Booking & Touring

CRAVINGS: Songs of Hunger & Satisfaction
Now Available For Touring!

a new cabaret created and performed by: Belle Linda Halpern
musical director/accompanist Ron Roy
directed by Sabrina Hamilton

A funny, intriguing and profound look at constant cravings—hunger for food, sex, acceptance and fame — and for true nourishment. Songs that range from Tin Pan Alley classics by Gershwin, Berlin and Bernstein to pop anthems and Yiddish showstoppers are interspersed with personal narrative reflecting Halpern’s Jewish-American experience. As she prepares the traditional Jewish holiday dish charoset, Halpern’s humorous yet visceral evocation of the control our desires and appetites have over us evolves to a more spiritual plane.

A hit at the 2008 Ko Festival of Performance!

The Boston Globe has called called Belle Linda Halpern’s work “stunning, both as music and theater” as she connects the music and lyrics of American and European cabaret songs with clarity, warmth and style. With her incredible dynamic range, she sensuously croons ballads, powerfully belts out the blues, and, with lightning speed and hilarity, whips out a patter song, the Boston Herald hails her as, “Boston’s best singing actor.”

A distinguished team of artists . . .Belle Linda Halpern

has performed as a cabaret singer and actor at clubs and theatres in New York, Boston, San Francisco, Paris, Munich, Jerusalem, and Bombay. Each summer she sings cabaret concerts in the villas and castles of Northern Italy. A graduate of Harvard/Radcliffe, she performs in French and Italian as well as Yiddish and Hebrew. Her theater roles include Esther in Elizabeth Swados’ rock opera Esther, Alice in her Alice in Concert, Josephine in Laura Harrington’s N Bonaparte and Sally in Cabaret. Belle’s other theatre credits include work with Robert Wilson and Andrew Serban at the American Repertory Theatre. She has taught singing and performance since 1986 at Harvard University and each summer in Italy through the Tuscany Project. She has co-created Moon Over Dark Street, a Brecht/Weill Cabaret with Pilgrim Theatre and Cutting Crosstown: From 2nd Avenue to Broadway with fellow performer Jeffrey Korn. Her interest in Weill and Yiddish music was inspired by the generous spirit of her teacher, Martha Schlamme. She has also co-authored Leadership Presence: Dramatic Techniques to Reach Out, Motivate, and Inspire published by Penguin Putnam about the leadership development work she does with her company, The Ariel Group.

Ron Roy

Pianist and Musical Director Ron Roy is currently a full tome faculty member at the Boston Conservatory of Music, teaching in the Musical Theater department. He has extensive credits in theater, cabaret and opera both here and abroad. Additionally, Ron is a faculty member of The Tuscany Project, a voice and performance workshop that takes place annually in Italy. He was the arranger and musical director for the Off-Broadway production “Disappearing Act” at the 47th Street Theatre. Other credits include “Forbidden Hollywood” at Steve McGraw’s. He was pianist and assistant conductor for the Gershwin musical “Crazy For You” (National Tour and Berlin, Germany), and pianist and musical director for Boston’s long running hits “Forever Plaid” and “Forbidden Broadway. He was last seen at the Ko Festival two summers ago accompanying Belle Linda Halpern and Kermit Dunkelberg in selections for Moon Over Dark Street for the Ko Festival’s 15th anniversary celebration, The Ko Cabaret.

Sabrina Hamilton

is the Artistic Director of the Ko Festival of Performance in Amherst, MA. For many years she worked with the New York theatre company Mabou Mines. Other credits include work at the New York Shakespeare Festival, the Goodman Theatre, the Mark Taper Forum and 6 years as Route Lighting Designer for New York’s Village Halloween Parade. International lighting credits include work in Bologna, Florence, Milan, London, Grenada, Geneva, Paris, Rio de Janeiro, Amsterdam, Brussels, Cardiff, Edinburgh, at the Bristol Old Vic, the Theatre Academy in Tampere, Finland, and at the International Theatre Festival in Havana, Cuba. She has been touring as the Lighting Designer for LOW, 2008 Under the Radar Festival at the Public Theatre in NYC. Hamilton’s directing work, primarily original pieces, has been seen in New York, Berlin and throughout New England. She has held numerous academic positions, most recently as the program Director for the M.F.A. Theatre Program at Towson University. She also serves on the Board of Directors of the Network of Ensemble Theatres (N.E.T). written an performed by Rha Goddess, directed by Chay Yew, most recently as part of the

A surefire hit with audiences . . .

Commissioned to close the 2008 Ko festival of performance and its season on “FOOD: Appetites, Attitudes and Politics,” CRAVINGS: Songs of Hunger & Satisfaction has played to sold out houses and standing ovations. Whether familiar with Jewish culture or not, audiences of all ages will enjoy this vibrant showpiece. It also holds particular appeal for cabaret fans, parents, and of course all those who love food. Designed to travel, the piece uses a piano (though in some cases it may be possible to substitute an electronic keyboard), two stools, and travels with two collapsible kitchen carts. The traditional holiday dish of charoset which features chopped apples, cinnamon and Manischewitz is prepared onstage and served to the audience at the end of the performance.

CONTACT

info@ko-6-5.mystagingwebsite.com

(413) 427-6147

FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT
www.cravingscabaret.com