Weekender September 8,2006 Cover Story
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Jambalaya - a melting pot of entertainment By NORMAN ROLLE Weekender Editor The light dissolves from silhouette to bright at the Caesars Palace/Baha Mar Nassau Resort's Rainforest Theatre. The music hits a high crescendo. Highly agile dancers donned in generously feathered costumes hit the stage, some sliding from atop the ceiling on what looks like a series of greasy poles. Others seemed to appear out of nowhere, including singer, Patrice Covington, who delivers high decibel doses of ‘The Rhythm Is Gonna Get Ya,’ interspersed J-A-M-B-A-Y-L-A. Then the brightly lit motif, Jambalaya, dissolves into a backdrop. It’s show time at the Rainforest Theatre. For the next 75 minutes, there's a high energy exhibition of song, dance, acrobatics and gymnastics coming together in a cultural and convulsive fusion; African, French and Spanish. A pot-pourri, translating into explosive, red hot entertainment, that keeps you on the edge of your seat. Indeed, the opening act connects the audience with the show and never lets go. A lady who saw the show on opening night last Friday, offers this uncanny advice for people who have not seen it yet: “Better bring some water.” Actually, that’s her way of saying Jambalaya is hot! And it is, but really, you won’t need to take water, as the producers have assured that the cooling system has been turned down considerably. Jambalaya, a Las V  egas-style
show, is a production of Palm Beach-based FW Entertainment, which
specializes in cruise ship and casino entertainment. Chris Foster,
President, tells us, “This show is about power, it’s about passion.
We tell our story through costumes and music, which has a very
tribal sound. The whole concept is what happens when you mix things
together.” The show’s cast of 20 includes five Bahamians: Omerit
Hield, Grammy Award winning artist from Baha Men, Mary smith, Tina
Cash, Mario Lord and Garfield Davis. Foster discloses: “We had
auditions here three or four months ago and we chose the performers
and took them to Los Angeles for two weeks.” The show, which Foster
hopes will have a cast of which 50% will be Bahamians, has a
guaranteed six months run at Rainforest. “We’ll be holding auditions
once per month and pick the people we want to start training, then
we’ll be rotating people in and out.” Blue Burger, who won the
international dance competition, is in charge of training. “We want
to give these dancers cutting edge training as we have been giving
ourselves. We will provide cutting edge training for them and in
return, we get great dancers and performers for our show while also
providing them with the training to go out and compete anywhere.”
Jambalaya was written by Foster but many famous production people
have had a hand in the final product. Larry Barr, Music Director for
Smokey Robinson, is responsible for this musical arrangement and has
a recording studio in Los Angeles. LA-based choreographers Michael Schwandt
(dance) and Dreya Weber (aerial) are the creative forces who gave
the breath of life into Jambalaya by creating a wide range of looks
and movement to the shows' numbers. Both Schwandt and
Weber have extensive resumes having worked on a number of stage
shows and with many international recording artists. Except
for two percussionists, the sound track for the show is
pre-recorded. Foster, a singer and dancer, has toured the US,
Europe, Asia and Japan, and is Jambalaya’s principal singer-dancer.
In the past, Foster has done acrobatics for a show called Passion.
“I wanted a company that’s really dancer-performer friendly. I want
to make it better for new performers,” said Foster. Jambalaya is a
double whammy for Bahamians. It’s big production entertainment at
its finest, as well as a training stage for aspiring Bahamian
performers. PHOTOS by DONALD KNOWLES |
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Copyright 2006 by The Nassau Guardian (1844 Ltd.)