Familiar faces frequent Composers Showcase at Smith

Too bad Cole Porter already has dibs on the title “Anything Goes.”

If only Porter hadn’t written it in 1934, “Anything Goes” would be a perfect title for the Composers Showcase of Las Vegas.

The showcase, which is celebrating its seventh anniversary next month , has become a fixture at The Smith Center’s Cabaret Jazz at 10:30 p.m. on the first Wednesday of every month.

This Wednesday’s showcase features a familiar name: Esteban, the Las Vegas-based guitarist headlining LVH’s Shimmer Cabaret.

But it also features a few names familiar primarily to showcase regulars.

There’s organizer, host — and participant — Keith Thompson, whose “day job” involves conducting eight “Jersey Boys” performances a week at Paris Las Vegas.

And there’s mild-mannered academic Mark Wherry — who teaches music at the College of Southern Nevada — masquerading as comic singer-songwriter.

During February’s showcase, Thompson’s and Wherry’s back-to-back compositions demonstrate the showcase’s musical, and emotional, range.

First, singer Virginia Woodruff — with Thompson at the piano — delivers a powerhouse rendition of the heart-tugging “My Own Journey’s End,” which Thompson wrote in response to the Newtown, Conn., elementary school shootings. (Sample lyrics: “The journey seems long to the children as they reach for the stars and the moon, but the journey must end and you never know when, all we know is it ends much too soon.”)

After a standing ovation for Woodruff and Thompson, Wherry bows and settles in at the piano.

He sings, “She wore a wife-beater T-shirt and no brassiere,” from his latest ditty, “The White Trash Girls at Wal-Mart Turn Me On.”

After acknowledging the audience’s applause and laughter, Wherry announces from stage: “I’d like to publicly apologize to my lovely wife.” (Which gets another laugh — but maybe not from the lovely Mrs. Wherry, who’s sitting in the audience.)

A few tables away, another happy couple enjoy the music from a fan’s perspective.

That is, until Vita Corimbi transforms from audience member to performer. A cast member in the Luxor’s “Menopause the Musical,” Corimbi , at the piano , offers a loving tribute to “perfect” fiance Randy Drew with these heartfelt lyrics: “His kids are grown — and his parents are dead.”

After Corimbi earns her laughs and applause, she returns to the table and gives Drew a big smooch.

A moment later, another audience member approaches and offers her a congratulatory “That was awesome!”

The table-hopper looks familiar — as she should.

For one thing, she’s ’80s pop princess Debbie Gibson.

For another, Gibson — who worked with Thompson on a production of the musical “Chicago” — already has been onstage at the showcase.

Not to sing (at least not this time) but to introduce another singer-songwriter: 10-year-old Anna Nichols, who wows the crowd with her ballad “Hand Me In.” (Before singing, Nichols tells Gibson she wrote the song after reading “The Hunger Games” saga because “I was mad it ended after three books.”)

Before settling in at The Smith Center, the peripatetic showcase began at a nightclub and played the Liberace Museum’s cabaret room, a studio and a restaurant.

“Now that we’re at The Smith, it’s a little less casual,” Thompson says.

After all, there’s a stage, lights, a proper sound system.

Despite such upgrades, however, “I don’t think the vibe has changed,” observes resident Cabaret Jazz headliner Clint Holmes, who’s been a regular from the beginning.

Making performers part of the audience makes the whole show unique, Thompson says. “It’s almost more of a party atmosphere.”

In the audience, retirees (and sisters) Lola Orvik and Loal Scofield have arrived early at the party, settling into their seats to await the start of the show.

“I like the Cabaret,” Orvik says. “It’s affordable, relaxing.”

Scofield adds, “I don’t think I’ve missed Clint (Holmes) since it opened.”

At the other end of the age spectrum, self-described “starving artist” Adam Knaff , a singer-songwriter himself, is here to support fellow composers and performers.

“I love the vibe of The Smith Center,” he says. “It’s inspiring.”

Another local singer-songwriter, Ann Parenti , has been attending showcases for “going into two years,” she says. “It’s always fun and there’s a surprise in every one.”

Although the showcase began as a forum for theatrical writers , it has expanded to include genres from pop-rock to jazz, Thompson says.

“I’m careful about variety,” he says, looking to “give audiences something to laugh at and something to cry about.”

About a dozen prolific writers contribute regularly, he says, with about 30 composers waiting their turn to participate. (By mid-February, March’s lineup was full and April’s schedule was filling up, according to Thompson.)

Cabaret Jazz headliner Holmes is “as regular as anybody is,” Thompson says.

Holmes says, “I’m a writer, and it’s always wonderful to get your stuff up there and get a reaction, which you don’t always get to do.”

Along with feedback, however, the camaraderie remains a major draw for Holmes.

“Everybody cheers for everybody,” he says. “It’s not about ‘Are you a headliner in a room?’ ... We’re all songwriters and musicians; that’s part of the fun of it.”

With many participants “all on the Strip in our own theaters, in our own world,” Thompson says, “people talk about (the showcase) being kind of a glue for the community of performers.”

Even for performers who aren’t a regular part of the community anymore.

Former “Jersey Boys” cast member Erich Bergen, who played Bob Gaudio during the show’s Palazzo run, was back in Las Vegas last month as part of the “Anything Goes” national tour.

After playing leading man Billy Crocker in Reynolds Hall, Bergen heads next door to make a two-song Composers Showcase comeback.

“I am so thrilled to be back home in Las Vegas,” Bergen tells the audience, noting that “I would not be a songwriter at all if it were not for Keith (Thompson) and the Composers Showcase,” which he describes as “the most supportive thing I (have) ever seen in my life.”

After the showcase ends, performers and audience members linger, chatting and table-hopping, unwilling to acknowledge that the party’s over — at least until the following month.

“Everyone feels safe,” Holmes says. “Everyone’s a part of it — and everyone’s an equal.”

Contact reporter Carol Cling at ccling@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0272.