34 THE QUEENS COURIER • BUZZ • DECEMBER 3, 2020 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
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Catch Forest Hills cabaret star at virtual Open Mic Party
BY CARLOTTA MOHAMED
cmohamed@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
Forest Hills actor and cabaret star
Stephen Miller, the host of the internet
TV show, “Th e Mama Rose Show,” will
be performing on London-based Harold
Sanditen’s Open Mic Party on Th ursday,
Dec. 3.
Th e show will be livestreamed at 2:10
p.m. New York Eastern time on YouTube
and Facebook.
Sanditen, a jazz and cabaret singer, is
the host of the über-popular Open Mic
Party Live at Zédel – the longest-running
show in the Crazy Coqs – London’s most
beautiful music room.
In addition to Miller, the lineup for the
Dec. 3 show will also feature Chamonix
Aspen, Leanne Borghesi, Michele
Brourman, Rosella Byers, Laurent
Doumont, Sean Harkness, Marta Sanders,
Regina Zona and Jess Robinson, who is
the voice of almost every female character
on the recently released series “Spitting
Image.” Robinson skyrocketed to fame as
“the woman of 1,000 voices” aft er being a
fi nalist on “Britain’s Got Talent.”
Miller previously appeared on Sanditen’s
Open Mic Party in July 2020 for a special
show titled “A Midsummer Night’s
Stream.” Back in February 2020 right
before Valentine’s Day, Miller took to
the stage as a headliner for the show
“Love and Other Feelings” at Th e Hidden
Cabaret at Th e Secret Room near Times
Square in New York City. Th e show was
hosted by Craig Horsley and the music
director was Terry Burress (who has
worked with Mariah Carey, Diana Ross,
Aretha Franklin and many other icons).
Th is marked Miller’s return to being on
stage aft er 20 years of working behind the
scenes as a stage manager, director and
designer on the Off -Broadway circuit. To
a sold-out crowd, Miller wooed the audience
with his rendition of “Can’t Help
Loving Th at Man” and “Feelings.”
Miller created “Th e Mama Rose Show”
to inspire, uplift and entertain audiences.
Each episode is fi lled with positivity and
showcases the work of spectacular people
in entertainment and the arts including
Harold Sanditen, who was featured in
a special Black Lives Matter episode. New
episodes are posted every Wednesday,
as well as on YouTube, and then shared
across social media platforms.
Other fabulous guests who recently
graced the “Th e Mama Rose Show”
include Ilene Kristen, twice Daytime
Emmy-nominated actress from “One
Life to Live” and “Ryan’s Hope” and one
of the stars of the original Broadway
cast of “Grease.” “Sordid Lives” creator
Del Shores and Emerson Collins, star
of “A Very Sordid Wedding” Matthew
Scott Montgomery, Disney Channel alum
(“Sonny with a Chance,” “So Random”)
and award-winning actor of Del Shores’
play “Yellow.”
Before his return to the stage earlier this
year, Miller featured his talents in Special
Education as a para-educator in his hometown
of Bridgewater, New Hampshire, as
well as the chair of the drama program for
the Newfound Memorial Middle School
in which he completed six incredible productions
with the students of the school.
Miller has a long range of theatrical
extravaganzas including his work at New
York City’s Metropolitan Opera in the
Children’s chorus led by Elena Dore, as
well as studying with the late Sanford
Meisner.
Miller’s favorite theatrical adventures
include “Titanic,” “Joseph and the
Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” “She
Loves Me,” “West Side Story” and “Die
Fledermaus.” Directing credits include
“Th e Belle of Amherst” (off -Broadway),
“Th e Cover of Life” (off -Broadway)
and “Love is a Bad Neighborhood”
(off -Broadway). Stage managing credits
include “2071,” “Th e World We’ll Leave
Our Grandchildren” (off-Broadway),
“Th e Cherry Orchard” (off -Broadway);
“Th e Bare Truth” (off -Broadway) and
“King John” (off -Broadway).
Douglaston teen helps fi ght hunger with Thanksgiving challenge
BY CARLOTTA MOHAMED
cmohamed@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
Julia Manuali, a 17-year-old Douglaston
resident and high school senior at Loyola
School in Manhattan, is spearheading
the school’s food drive for this year’s
“Great Ignatian Challenge” during the
Th anksgiving season.
Th e challenge, which began on Oct. 12
and ends Wednesday, Nov. 25, is a competition
between a group of nine Jesuit
schools — from New York, New Jersey,
Connecticut and Pennsylvania — to collect
and donate the most food for underserved
communities.
Since the challenge’s inception, participating
schools have collected 218 tons of
provisions for local food banks and pantries
serving needy families. Last year
alone, the challenge collected 137,632
pounds of food.
For the past fi ve years, Loyola has won
the challenge. Th is year, Manuali is one
of eight student leaders encouraging her
classmates to participate in helping to
feed families who are struggling with food
insecurity, she said.
“It’s going really well this year. We’ve
presented PowerPoints at virtual assemblies
to get the message across to help
people in New York City have enough
food for the holidays,” Manuali said.
According to Manuali, so far they’ve
collected around 10,000 pounds of food,
which will be donated to City Harvest.
Th e students are virtually donating
through Give Healthy, an organization
that enables people to donate
fresh fruits, vegetables and other
healthy food.
“It’s a more healthy approach
to donating mostly boxes of
fresh produce such as boxes
of mixed fruits, veggies and
potatoes,” Manuali said.
As she has been involved in
community service and trips
at Loyola, Manuali said she
has always loved the spirit
of the Great Ignatian
Challenge.
“I knew from
freshman and
sophomore
year that I
wanted to
be a leader
of the challenge
this
year, just to
be able to help people spread awareness of
food insecurity, especially right now during
this time,” Manuali said.
For this year’s competition, Fordham
Prep alum, Jim Rowen, is once again
personally pledging $250,000
to support the participating
schools’ efforts. The nine
schools are competing for
tiered awards based on
criteria identified by
Rowen.
A total of $170K
is divided among all
schools by the amount
collected per student.
Th e fi rst place winner
will receive $35K;
second place will
receive $25K;
third place
will receive
$20K; and
six runner
ups will
each receive
$15K, a total
of $90K.
Th e school that
attracts the most
outside attention for
the Great Ignatian
Challenge will receive
$30K.
The school that
collects the most absolute amount of
poundage via online food donations,
recognizing the importance of online
giving during the pandemic will receive
$30K.
And the school that is most creative
in collecting food donations, above and
beyond what has typically been done collecting
food for those in need will receive
$20K.
If Loyola wins this year’s challenge,
Manuali said it would reinforce a sense of
community.
“Loyola is a small school and we really
come together every year to donate
as much as we can,” Manuali said. “It
would also show New Yorkers in general
that people really do care — especially
teenagers, wanting to make a difference.”
While in the prior years the monies
have been allocated to supporting fi nancial
assistance programs, this year the
awards will be applied toward off setting
COVID-19 related expenses incurred by
each of the schools.
Inspired by the commitment to social
justice and service to the community
that lies at the heart of Jesuit education,
Rowen has generously donated more
than $1,100,000 toward the Great Ignatian
Challenge competitions over the last fi ve
years.
Rowan’s desire is to open the competition
up to even more schools next year.
Photo
courtesy of
Manuali
Courtesy of Stephen Miller
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