Anya Kubilus/Anya Kubilus Photography
Deja Mason smiling holding bouquets of flowers.
Deja Mason will sing "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" and other songs.
Women actors have often faced aggression, adversity, chauvinism and harassment based solely on gender. Nevertheless, they have persisted, making their mark in theater, movies and music.
“Women in art and performance have completely shaped the way that music, acting and other art forms have been created and flourished,” says Cat Richmond, a Madison area singer.
A new show aims to celebrate those groundbreaking artists and their countless contributions over the last century while also pulling from the large pool of extraordinarily talented women artists here in town.
Leading Ladies of Stage & Screen, presented by Four Seasons Theatre, runs Oct. 16-18 at the Overture Center-Playhouse. The live stage variety show shines a spotlight (literally) on trailblazing women from the 1920s to today.
Featured stars include icons like Judy Garland, Shirley Jones and Gwen Verdon. There will also be songs from modern divas like Sarah Brightman, Sutton Foster and Idina Menzel, all sung by local Madison vocalists.
Richmond, who has performed as a singer and actress locally and regionally for years, will add her personal touch to songs by Ginger Rogers from the 1935 movie Top Hat and also lean into the current-day influence of Brightman, known for her work in the musical Phantom of the Opera.
She says taking part in this revue “feels incredibly important and shows how integral and essential women have been in creating this industry.”
Submitted photos
Kate Jajewski, left, and Cat Richmond.
Kate Jajewski, left, and Cat Richmond: celebrating women.
Director and show choreographer Kate Jajewski says the show is equal parts education and entertainment.
“The rights and the agency that we have now is thanks to the women who came before us,” she says. “So we’re giving flowers to the women who were brave enough to push for better conditions for working moms or push for more representation that isn't just ‘girl-meets-boy, girl-falls-in-love’ — actually showing women as flawed and complicated and funny and smart.”
It’s not all rabble-rousing. Jajewski promises ballads and emotional songs, and tunes from Jesus Christ Superstar and Wicked, in a show that she characterizes as “extremely fun.”
“These women have voices that you will not believe.”
Another singer in the cast, Deja Mason, will sing “Money, Money, Money” from Mamma Mia! and another song that holds a special place in her heart: Judy Garland’s “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” from The Wizard of Oz.
“I first sang this song on a stage back in high school — so I’ve been singing it for many years,” says Mason, who began singing in church at age 4. “But now I’m singing this song again in my first musical theater performance professionally.”
