Kyaunnee Richardson once again filled the soaring Lincoln presidential suite of Trump International Hotel with her angelic rendition of “ESTHER SWEET ESTHER”, an operetta by Jeremiah & Wendy Ginsberg that took another step to the Great White Way!
“The road to Broadway begins tonight”, said Wendy Ginsberg after a piano concerto by Pascal Salomon and a full reading by the Master Storyteller Jeremiah Ginsberg and 14 stirring songs that tell the story of how an unlikely Jewish Princess becomes the Queen of Persia and saves her people from genocide.
Adding to the Broadway quality of the operetta was a first-rate cast of veteran of the New York Grand Opera, Stephen Len White as the dashing King Ahasuerus; master baritone Jose Sacin as Esther’s tribal protector Moderecai; veteran comedic personality Mark Ferrera as the Arch Villain Haman; and the ‘Jewish Jewel’ Jamie Ellen DeOlivera who kicked off the evening with two stanzas of the National Anthem followed by the National Anthem of Israel, “HaTikvah”.
But Opera Fusion’s Emerging Artist Kyaunnee Richardson, from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida was the hands down Star of the show as the lead character of Esther. Her radiant aura and polished dignified manner made you forget that she was the only Black performer in the show, which had an unvarnished Jewish point-of-view.
“The business of Broadway is booming with $1.6 Billion in ticket sales last year. Call it the ‘Hamilton Effect’, with tickets going for over $1,000”, said Wendy Ginsberg as Jeremiah Theatricals pitched hard for donations to their non-profit organizations and to possible investors in the audience.
Joining the Ginsberg following the encore was veteran Public Relations maven Jan DuPlain who worked her magic with the National Press Club in the previous staging of “ESTHER SWEET ESTHER” to set the table for the Trump International Hotel event.
“I’m tired of the political warfare going on, and we need a healing”, said Jeremiah Ginsberg ironically within steps of the lobby reception for “BIKERS FOR TRUMP” who parked their Harleys on Pennsylvania Avenue the day that the motorcycle giant used their Billion dollar tax cut to shut down a plant in Kansas City that laid off 400 workers who jobs were exported to the Philippines!
The Ginsberg’s envision a full Broadway production and a cast of 40 after a limited engagement in a DC area theater, and then on to New York City! And if anybody can pull it off, former entertainment lawyer, jazz musician and producer Jeremiah Ginsberg has the Godfather persona to get it done.
