Taking my show to Unity of Birmingham!

Hello Friends!

Garrett and I are excited to be returning to Birmingham for our annual visit. This time, there's more exciting news. I'll be performing one of my cabaret shows and I hope if you live in the area, that you'll all be able to come - one night only!

RAISSA KATONA BENNETT in
"IT'S POSSIBLE"
DAVID CALDWELL -MUSIC DIRECTOR
ERIC MICHAEL GILLETT - DIRECTOR
THURSDAY OCT. 2nd - 7 pm.

$25 adults/$12.50 students

All proceeds benefit the "Soar Together" project
Q & A and reception follow the show
PRESENTED AT UNITY OF BIRMINGHAM - 2803 HIGHLAND AVENUE
RESERVATIONS REQUIRED - 205-251-3713

When we get back, I'm performing in a benefit in New Haven, CT - here's that info:

Bethesda Lutheran Church is proud to present: “ Broadway Babes With a Twist”
A cabaret to benefit the Merry Milford Musical Theatre. A new adaptive theatre arts program designed to enhance the lives of children with special needs through music, theatre and the arts offered through the City of Milford Recreation Department Adaptive Programs.

Hosted and produced by local Milford resident, Kristin Huffman this cabaret will be an exciting and glamorous evening of Broadway songs…with a twist…performed by stars from the Broadway, cabaret and opera stages. Come celebrate life, with a twist!

Huffman, who starred on Broadway in the Tony award winning revival of Company, heard about Debra Marchese and her desire to start a theatre troupe for children with special needs. After talking with Marchese, Kristin called her Broadway and performer friends who were more than willing to help in this important theatrical adventure to benefit this worthy cause. Those performers include:

Raissa Katona Bennett – Broadway & National: Phantom of the Opera - “Christine Daae”, Chess, with Josh Groban. Cats, “Jellylorum/Griddlebone, Parade -“Lizzie Phagan”.

Cailan Rose – Broadway: Miss Saigon – “Tam”

Kristin Huffman – Broadway: Company – “Sarah”

Maureen Hamill – Cabaret Star: Tavern on the Green & Helen's – NYC, The Fairfield Theatre Company, The Westport Country Playhouse, founder of Hamill Productions.

Mary Jo Duffy - Broadway & International: Senator Joe – “Liberty”, Showboat – “Magnolia”.

Randye Kaye - CT radio personality at STAR 99.9, & WSHU

Janine Ziegler - Professional dancer with her own specialty hula dance troupe, Kahana Hula

Katrina Yockey – Broadway & National: Company, Cabaret, Sweeney Todd – “Pirelli”.

Candy Benge – NYC and Regional Professional Actress/Singer

Maggie Astrup - Professional Opera singer

Dana Rhondel - Professional dancer and visual artist.

Musical Direction is provided by David Harris.

There will be refreshments and a free will offering at the end of the exciting show.

Location: Bethesda Lutheran Church. 305 Saint Ronan St New Haven, CT
Time: Oct 11th, Saturday. Doors open at 6:30. Show starts at 7:00.

Please RSVP to 646-342-3200 as there are only 250 seats available.

If you live in either area, please come and support these worthy causes.

See you back in NYC soon!

In love and light,

Raissa

The New Concerts at Tudor City Greens - HUGE SUCCESS!

I'm not at a loss for words - I have too many! Wednesday night was a tremendous success. At previous concerts, people came and went throughout the night - well, Wednesday they came, AND DID NOT GO! There has never been such a turnout - over 250 people. What was exciting, is that about 1/4 were from the cabaret world, and the rest were not! This means we ARE hitting a totally untapped cabaret audience - most attending, signed up for our mailing list! Thanks to MAC for producing this in association with us. As one person said to me, "Can you imagine the additional audience we'll get, when the UN is not in session, and we have normal foot traffic!" Yes, I can imagine it. And still, we were packed. A normally quiet audience, the crowd at Tudor City that night hollered and whooped throughout the entire show. They were blown away. We are hopeful that the increased attention will result in generous donations to Tudor City Greens. The Greens are private parks, privately funded, that we keep open to the public, unlike other "keyed" gardens, such as Grammercy Park. Although we have a lot of beautiful trees, we've noticed there's no money growing on them, and funds are always needed to keep the parks beautiful and open to all. In fact, the majority of visitors to the parks, are the people who work in the area, and take their lunches there. The TCG website will be up soon, but in the meantime, if you wish to make a tax deductible donation: Tudor City Greens, Inc., 5 Tudor City Place, Box 1 - E, NYC 10017.

Bumping up the profile of this whole event, was the donation of colorful balloons from the TOY BALLOON SHOP, here at #5 Tudor City Place, and the fantastic new logo and graphics, posters, flyers and programs, courtesy of Hector Coris. Everyone just said, "How can I help - What can I give?" and then went overboard to help us make this a success. At the post show party, our sponsor, CIBO was very generous with drinks for performers and press - we packed their bar area, and they are very pleased to be partnering with us on this exciting new cultural event - as they put it, there's really nothing like this in NYC right now - a regularly planned free community cultural event with rotating stars from the world of Broadway and Cabaret! Patrons from the concerts told me that they couldn't wait to read their programs and visit the websites of the performers.

I'd like to say that this exceeded my wildest dreams, but I have pretty big dreams. Everyone that I respect, said the programming was flawless - I agree. How can you lose when you start out with gorgeous Darren Williams entering the beautiful park singing "All the Sounds of the Earth Are Like Music...", with the entire company joining in on "Grand Night For Singing"? Follow that with Broadway and Cabaret Star Eric Michael Gillett, and then a grown man, comedian, Richard Cramer, dressed as a butterfly. People couldn't believe that Catherine Overfelt and Maria Moncada were newcomers, so powerful were their presentations. Hector Coris had the crowd in the palm of his hand, and Jenna Esposito made them melt. Rosemary Loar had them alternately transfixed and then dancing in the aisles, uh, gravel. And they seemed to like me, too! None of it would have been possible, without our incredibly talented Musical Director, David Caldwell, who rushed over from his regular gig as Musical Director of FORBIDDEN BROADWAY, to play for us.

All of the volunteers for the event were indispensable - especially my husband, Dr. Garrett Bennett, TCG president Julie Warshaw, secretary Anne Stoddard, and friends Tom Vaughn and Paul Tuite. They made it possible for me and the performers to head right to CIBO for the post show "meet and greet", which is so important in keeping sponsorship and our new audience. And if it weren't for Eva Swan from VOCALEASE, lending us a sound system, only the front few rows would have heard us!

We are so grateful to the press for turning out to help us spread the word of this new performing opportunity: Sandi Durrel from Cabaret Scenes, Rob Lester from Cabaret Exchange (and other publications), Roy Sander - critic at large, and the intrepid Maryann Lopinto, who took over 300 photographs that she will get posted and give to us. THANK YOU ALL!

Ok, next stop for me is Birmingham, AL, where I perform my cabaret show, IT'S POSSIBLE, as a fund raiser for Unity of Birmingham, on Oct. 2nd. See you there!

Brandy Alexandra Bennett turns 14!

Hi. My name is Brandy Alexandra Bennett. Two days ago, September 17th, was my 14 birthday! I wanted to write to you all then, and tell you my story, but I hadn't learned how to blog yet. Mom and Dad adopted me on November 24th, 2001. They researched what kind of dog was best for their lifestyle and decided on the fabulous breed, Toy Fox Terrier (that’s me!) They knew how many homeless dogs there were in the world, so rather than buy a new one from a puppy store or a breeder; they went to the American Toy Fox Terrier Rescue website. Did you know that out of 49 recognized AKC breeds, 42 have rescue sites?
And did you know that most dogs in shelters are purebreds? Dad likes to tease me and say that new, I would have cost them $1500 or more, but that used, I was free! They also say I am a priceless Princess.
There is usually nothing wrong with the dogs that end up at shelters. Usually it’s a problem on the human end: a new baby, not enough research before getting a dog, a major life change, etc. In my case, I was well loved by my original family, but they had to enter housing that didn’t allow me to go with them. I ended up in a kill shelter in CT! I was terrified there, but luckily, a kind Veterinarian Technician who did small dog rescue, brought me home and posted me on the American TFT rescue site. (www.atftc.com/rescue) Because I was 7 years old at the time, I was considered a tough placement, because people think older dogs will die soon. Hah! What craziness, Mom and Dad say! In fact, they call me "skittely-do-dah-dog" because I'm still so peppy. And smaller dogs age slower than larger dogs - about 4.6 years for a dog my size. (You do the math - it's hard enough for me to type with one paw while I snack on my kibble with the other.) Middle age and senior dogs are usually well trained, calmer and anxious to relocate to a loving home. Mom and Dad said that the day I came to live with them, we became a family. They couldn’t believe that not only did I have no “issues”, but that I came complete with circus tricks! We 3 were so happy as a family, that we wanted to help other pups and began to work with other small dogs that needed fostering along the way to their new homes. In fact, Mom became a dog trainer, so that she could help rescue and shelter dogs become more adoptable – she used to be the Tri-State rescue co-coordinator for ATFTC and still volunteers with both the ASPCA (http://www.aspca.org/) and the Humane Society (http://www.hsus.org/).
I gotta tell you, I like having most of my foster siblings here for awhile, and I know how important my job is, showing them how to act like a proper pup, but I usually like having Mom and Dad back to myself once they find new homes. HOWEVER – I have recently made an exception and agreed to have a new little brother, Otie. He'll be 5 years old next month and he's a real cute tri-colored, apple-head chihuahua. So now we are a family of four! Actually, all though he was a bit of a pain when he first came, now he helps me out a lot, since I've become hard of hearing. Otie is sure to let me know, when it's time to bark. Otie will write to you when it's his birthday - he's still learning to blog - understandable, he's younger.

Otie and I have had some great adventures together, meeting celebrities, having a country AND metropolitan home - it's all the more amazing when you consider we both could’ve been on death row (shudder)!

First official blog

Hi Friends:

Well, it only took me 4 months from when I created this blog, to actually post something on it! I was so inspired by Jenna Esposito, and she told me it was easy - we'll see! There's just too much computer stuff to learn all at once. You can also find me on Facebook - I did actually learn that quickly, but then they changed it on me! Alas...

How busy are we all these days? Be careful what you pray for is right! I have been so busy with so many performing/producing/hosting projects and I mentioned this to a good friend who said, "Well, it is harvest time. We're harvesting from all the seeds we planted in the spring." It's true.

One of the most exciting "harvests", are the concerts I'll be hosting in Tudor City. My hero is Hector Coris, who asked if he could do anything to help with the concerts (see belowector Coris). I was smart enough to say yes, and he has designed amazing posters, flyers, programs and press releases! And he's gonna sing for us too! How blessed can you be?
So, along with Hector, I'm busily preparing for our NEW CONCERTS AT TUDOR CITY GREENS, which I'm producing in association with MAC, and to benefit the Tudor City Greens. The concert is sponsored by CIBO! These are private parks that are privately funded, yet open to the public, so we hope to get some lovely donations. Nonetheless, these concerts are free to all. They also provide an opportunity for the performers to increase their audience base, from a completely heretofore untargeted audience. So often we sing at open mics that cost us a cover and 2 drink minimum to sing to a group of our peers. While these are great opportunites, I wonder how much we really increase our audiences?

So, come to the Tudor City Greens on Tudor City Place and 42nd Street, between 1st and 2nd Ave, this Wednesday, 9/24 at 6 pm. (rain date is 9/25) A reception to mingle and meet the performers follows at CIBO restaurant, 41st and 2nd. And just look who's performing: ERIC MICHAEL GILLETT, RAISSA KATONA BENNETT, ROSEMARY LOAR, JENNA ESPOSITO, HECTOR CORIS, DARREN WILLIAMS, RICHARD CRAMER, CATHERINE OVERFELT, and MARIA MONCADA! They're all from the world of Broadway and/or award winning NYC Cabaret and Comedy. Come help us make this a success, and there will be more opportunities for all in the future! Many thanks to Scott Barbarino and Ruth Kurtzman from the MAC board of directors, for their help, too. And, from the board of Tudor City Greens, many thanks to Anne Stoddard, Julie Warshaw, Sherry Halperin, and all the volunteers of the Greens.

There's a lot more going on, but let's see if I can actually make this post work, and I'll do another soon!

Love and Light,
Raissa