Guiding Light Cabaret: One More Time!
After the success of Paul Anthony Stewart (Danny) and Saundra Santiago's
(Carmen's) 2001 fund raising cabaret, the co-stars decided to do it again
-- this time to raise money for the Elizabeth
Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation.
The duo performed three shows at a small, Upper West Side NYC club the
weekend of the 2002 GL Fan Club Gathering, and Paul reports, "We
made close to $14,000!"
Saundra explains, "We do have some overhead. I'm not good at math
-- that's why Paul was handling the money, but I think our overhead would
be the musicians, some of the rehearsals, the lighting and the video-taping
of it -- all the technical things. Still, I think we will give at least
85 percent of the money we raised to the charity, which is rare these
days."
Both actors were thrilled by the chance to break out of their Santos'
personas and be themselves.
"I try to eject as much humor into this show as possible because
it's something I don't really get to do as Danny," Paul offers. "I
think I'm more of a lighthearted, fun person than he is. Doing Cabaret
with Saundra is an opportunity for us to show people another side to ourselves,
who we really are."
"When I do Cabaret, I'm pure Saundra," she agrees. "I
just want to have a good time. I don't think the GL fans (who come) look
at me as Carmen, at all. GL fans are the best. I don't feel I have to
prove anything to them."
Paul summarizes, "Performing in Cabaret demands that you be yourself
and nothing but. Anything else comes across as not truthful. That's why
I love doing it. For me, singing and performing live in front of an audience
really is an opportunity to show a true expression of who I am. And when
I'm singing I feel very connected. There's this energy flow between the
audience and the performer that you can only get in live performance.
The audience and the performer become this one, living, breathing organism
that can shift at any time. I just love it. I feed on it. I had such a
great time. And the fact that we raised $14,000 dollars is just great.
We're so thrilled that we were able to raise that much money."
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