{"id":79,"date":"2009-02-26T02:11:00","date_gmt":"2009-02-26T06:11:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/66.147.244.61\/~twisithe\/?p=79"},"modified":"2023-08-05T14:23:14","modified_gmt":"2023-08-05T17:23:14","slug":"its-donny-and-marie-only-jewish","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.twisitheatreblog.com\/?p=79","title":{"rendered":"It’s Donny and Marie: Only Jewish."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Fred and Adele Astaire. Donny and Marie Osmond. Sutton and Hunter Foster. Janet and Michael Jackson. Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen. What is better than a pair of show biz siblings? Every community seems to have its own set, and on Monday, February 23rd, 2009, the Berkeley Street Theatre and Acting Up Stage\u2019s <\/a>Dark Night Cabaret Series presented North York\u2019s own legendary siblings: Gabi<\/a> and Jake Epstein in their own one-night-only show entitled Who Knew They Were Siblings?
<\/em>Despite having similar theatrical upbringings and both attending Earl Haig Secondary School <\/a>and being part of the Claude Watson Arts Program, Jake and Gabi\u2019s careers initially split in different directions. Gabi attended McGill University for Voice and then dedicated herself to musical theatre and cabaret, while Jake was (inter)nationally recognized for playing Craig Manning on the CBC hit television program Degrassi: The Next Generation<\/a>. But after graduating from the National Theatre School of Canada<\/a> and returning to Toronto, Jake and Gabi suddenly found themselves in the same city and the same community. In the Fall of 2008 Gabi was performing in Acting Up Stage\u2019s production of Edges, while Jake performed in the Ross Petty Pantomime Cinderella: The Sillylicious Musical<\/a>. It seemed only fitting, then, that the two Epsteins should do a show together.
Who Knew They Were Siblings?<\/em> was a exuberant evening that celebrated not only Jake and Gabi\u2019s shared passion for the arts, but also their individual interests and talents. Gabi sang mostly musical theatre songs, and the ones that she chose were all typically sung by men. Jake sang predominantly his own music, which is a mixture between indie rock and folk, but ensured that all the songs he covered were typically sung by women. When they came together, it was rooted in harmony; a shared, soulful, beautiful blending of two very unique voices, personalities and talents, that fit together perfectly.
Gabi is always poised, her eyes sparkle, and she speaks with an eloquence that is instantly engaging. Her voice holds elements of Peters, Streisand and Brice, while always remaining unmistakably Gabi. She\u2019s a master of the showstopper, and froze the room twice with Sondheim\u2019s \u201cEverybody Says Don\u2019t\u201d and Schwartz\u2019s \u201cLost in the Wilderness.\u201d She also proved her power as a storyteller with her rendition of Paul Simon\u2019s \u201c50 Ways to Leave Your Lover.\u201d
Jake throws 100% of himself into every nuance of his performance. It is a marvel to watch him play the guitar because you can see the music radiating from every pore of his body. It\u2019s quite incredible. He infused the whole show with a delightful, boyish sense of fun, and this beautiful earnestness that I hope he will always hold tightly onto. He was joined in most of his songs by the magnificently talented drummer Graeme Gerussi, while Gabi was accompanied by the buoyant Lily Ling- whose energy and elegance at the piano is contagious.
Jake\u2019s own songs are beautiful and impressive. I thought that \u201cPretend it\u2019s Nothing\u201d suited his voice especially well. He has this lovely, croon-y voice which is very different from Gabi\u2019s, and generally, I think, quite distinctive. I\u2019m sure that Jake is going to keep establishing a name for himself as a singer\/songwriter. Other highlights include his rendition of The Cranberries\u2019 song \u201cDream,\u201d and him and Gabi singing The Mamas and Papas\u2019 song \u201c12:30\u201d and the Beatles tunes \u201cWith a Little Help From My Friends.\u201d
Donny and Marie Osmond can become gimmicky and fake pretty quickly, but throughout Epsteinapalooza, Gabi and Jake\u2019s sibling banter was actually, genuinely funny. At one point Jake referenced his harmonica holder saying that it looked like he had really bad braces. He then said, \u201c\u2026I never had braces.\u201d He then smiled mischievously, \u201cGubby had braces.\u201d It seemed like such a natural tidbit for a younger brother to offer up to an audience. The humor comes because everything that the Epsteins say seems to come from such a genuine place, and you can tell that they really adore one another, which is really heartwarming to see.
I know Jake and Gabi Epstein will continue to blaze their own trails in the theatre scene of Toronto, and wherever they roam, and that they are both poised on the cusp of great success and exciting adventures. However, I can\u2019t help but think about how wonderful they would be as hosts of their own not-gimmicky, not-fake, not-lame televised Variety-style show.
I have all this nostalgia for the time before I was born, which I\u2019m sure is mostly my inflating things to degrees of awesomeness beyond what they deserve because I don\u2019t feel connected to the popular culture of my peers\u2026 so, sue me, I think television was way better before I was born. The Carol Burnett Show. The Ed Sullivan Show. The Johnny Carson Show. Donny and Marie. Sonny and Cher. Mary Tyler Moore. Dick Van Dyke. The Original Muppets Show<\/em>. It\u2019s like televised Vaudeville, how amazing! I don\u2019t understand why 2009 audiences aren\u2019t interested in this type of programming. With the right talent and a lack of the lameness that seems to permeate out of these types of things now (that isn’t there in the old clips I watch on youtube), we could make something extraordinary!
At the same time, I\u2019m also so interested in the idea of having local programming: quality local programming that can give American shows a true sense of competition and run for thier money. The East Coast used to have Don Messer\u2019s Jubilee<\/em> (1957-1969), Toronto had the theatrical Spring Thaw<\/em> (1948-1971 New Play Society) which spawned the 1952 CBC Variety Show The Big Revue<\/em>. The West had The Tommy Banks Show<\/em> from 1968 to 1983. We have the talent now and here, but it\u2019s all about dissemination. I think Epsteinapalooza could be just the thing to start a movement to launch the stars of our theatre into the consciousness of our nation. <\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fred and Adele Astaire. Donny and Marie Osmond. Sutton and<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4671],"tags":[4234,6172,5801],"class_list":["post-79","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-review","tag-gabi-epstein","tag-jake-epstein","tag-musical-stage-company"],"yoast_head":"\nIt's Donny and Marie: Only Jewish. - The Way I See It Theatre & Music Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.twisitheatreblog.com\/?p=79\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"It's Donny and Marie: Only Jewish. - The Way I See It Theatre & Music Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Fred and Adele Astaire. 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