I interrupt my Italian tour to tell you about the Vintage Live Tour at Le Qube theater. I had a chance to go when I was in NYC last weekend. What is Vintage Live? It’s a musical revue that incorporates the audience.
I really didn’t know what I was getting into when I was invited. I’d have never heard of Vintage Live and didn’t know what to expect. But I ended up having a lot of fun.
Musician and performer Gregory Charles (a very famous Canadian musician) says that he can play anything from the American songbook and more. Meaning, any song you ask him to play he can play from memory on the piano. So during the performance you request for Gregory Charles to play your favorite songs via their interactive website. He randomly chooses songs right then that the audience has requested and plays them. Of course he has a live band to back him up. But they have to know the songs too by memory. Even the lighting guys have to know the music. No one knows what is going to be requested because it’s all done live during the show.
This is one show where it’s encouraged to pull your phone out because that’s how to request Gregory to play songs. There isn’t a play list. No show is the same because different audiences request different songs. It’s all audience interactive. Your job is to stump Gregory Charles with your requests. Who can play every song known to man? This dude can. He’s a musical genius.
It’s such a different concept. You don’t know what kind of show you are going to get because everyone has their own personal musical tastes. Thankfully, the show I went to played songs I liked. I heard Michael Jackson, Prince and Stevie Wonder. Looking at the audience I thought the show would end up being heavy metal or country. My least favorite of musical genres. But it was a little bit of everything. Very cool.
Now let’s talk about Le Qube theater. It’s a traveling pop-up theater that was set up on Pier 97 in New York City. It was custom built in Germany and is transported from city to city for shows. It takes 10 days to set up and 4 days to take down. For it to be a portable theater, it was huge.
I loved the concept of the show. Gregory Charles is performing at Le Qube on Pier 97 in New York City now through May 2. Tickets range from $49 to $149. (There is also a Living Social deal.) I definitely would pay a little extra for VIP. The experience will be worth it.
Images 1 & 3 via
