“A SUREFIRE SELLOUT!”
“Your BEST BET in Entertainment!”
“They got three outstanding ovations!”
“Your BEST BET in Entertainment!”
“The best of the best of the best. It’s unlike anything you can get anywhere else.”
nalafan:
“This was such a special event! These guys have worked so hard to get to where they are and their passion shows on stage! They truly love to have a good time and their music is infectious. They are embarking on the ride of their lives and are bound to live as true rock stars! Before long, they will be a household name! Bravo boys!”
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Talk to members of the quartet known as Under the Streetlamp, and invariably the guys will refer to their success as nothing short of a dream coming true. That might be over-simplifying the journey that Michael Ingersoll, Michael Cunio, Christopher Kale Jones and Shonn Wiley took to get to this point in their careers — and their lives. But arrived they have, playing to sold-out crowds, starring in their first national PBS special, and, oh yes, then there’s that first national tour they’re kicking off May 12 at the Park West, in addition to the release of their debut DVD and CD.
And on one level, they have Chicago to thank for all of it.
It would be difficult to overestimate the impact of Frankie Valli on the music career of Christopher Kale Jones. Jones portrayed Valli in the 2006 touring production of “Jersey Boys” — Broadway’s depiction of the rise and fall of 1960s pop group the Four Seasons.
Jones now sings in Under the Streetlamp, a doo-wop/Motown/early-rock revival group made up of Jones and three more former “Jersey Boys” cast members. The quartet will present a Mother’s Day concert May 13 in the Egyptian Room at Old National Centre.
It’s possible that Valli anticipated the formation of Under the Streetlamp even before Jones put the group together with Michael Cunio, Michael Ingersoll and Shonn Wiley.
“The years between World War II and the Kennedy assassination were a special time,” says singer and choreographer Shonn Wiley. “There was an innocence to the music, and radio was the unifying factor. It didn’t matter if you loved the Beatles, or Johnny Cash, or the Four Seasons: everybody knew them all because they heard them on the radio.”
(Reuters) – One Direction, who? The Wanted, what? Their music is kids’ stuff. As a new wave of boy bands floods the market, there is one quartet winning fans with a modern twist on a retro sound they call “Amercan Radio Songbook.”
Under The Streetlamp steers clear of top 40 songs in favor of classic Motown hits, good ol’ rock ‘n’ roll, doo-wop and a Beatles tune or pop number thrown in for fun.
Its members, Michael Cunio, Shonn Wiley, Michael Ingersoll and Christopher Kale Jones, are all veterans of the stage, having starred in various productions of Broadway hit “Jersey Boys,” a musical history of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons.
“We’re a ‘man band,’” Cunio told Reuters, with a laugh, drawing a contrast between pop sensations like One Direction and The Wanted with their screaming teenage fans and Under the Streetlamp, which relishes in bringing new life to classic hits.
Releasing a DVD while promoting a new CD and launching a national tour — after taping a TV special in the same nine-month span — probably teaches an entertainer a thing or two. The four members of the young new musical group Under the Streetlamp are proud of their inaugural year of firsts. They also are looking to share some of the wisdom they’ve gained with students and others interested in balancing the challenges of show business.
ARTISTdirect.com is psyched to introduce readers to Under the Streetlamp. Who are they? They are an electrifying quartet you need to familiarize yourself with…now! Think of four Michael Bublé-types, contained within one vocal ensemble.
Fans of PBS across the country are in for a special treat in March, as Under the Streetlamp, comprised of four dreamy voices who bring the early rock ‘n’ roll, doo-wop and Motown classics to an entirely new generation along with reminding the original fans why great music is timeless!
From the article “Audiences ready for weekend TV premiere of Star Plaza Streetlamp concert”
Julia Maish, manager of media relations for Chicago’s PBS station WTTW Channel 11, said friends often ask how they can get concert tickets for the new tour of Under the Streetlamp… ”My answer’s always the same: ‘Pick up your telephone and make a pledge,’” Maish said. “And even though seeing the new TV special makes it feel like your right at the concert, it makes you want to see them in person performing all the more.”
From the article “Under the Streetlamp has staying power”
“…The support has been overwhelming. And now, to partner with PBS and take it to the national level is really exciting. I think, above and beyond anything that we do onstage, it really speaks tremendous volumes about the impact that the music we’re performing has on our audiences. It really strikes a chord, young and old. We’re pulling music from that era that resonates across the board.”
There’s a very healthy audience for the music of the 1940s and beyond, he said, and they see themselves as ambassadors as sorts, bringing the music to a new generation of fans. They give the music new life.
The act is a concert inspired by variety shows. It’s first and foremost about the music, he said.
“We take the music extremely seriously, but we don’t take ourselves seriously at all,” he said. “One of the joys of getting to work with your close friends is we bust up onstage all the time…
From the Article “Under the Streetlamp at DeVos Hall…”
Imagine a group of guys who like to sing together so much they can’t resist gathering under a streetlamp in their urban neighborhood to give an impromptu concert.
That is the kind of image Michael Ingersoll had in mind when he gathered some of his “Jersey Boys” co-stars and formed his quartet, Under the Streetlamp.
“It’s evocative of the era (1950s and ’60s),” Ingersoll said. “People would be sitting on their porches and stoops because there wasn’t any air conditioning. Doo-wop was an emerging art form, a working class medium. I just liked that image…
“We realized there’s a lot of enthusiasm out there for this genre, the American songbook… We put our own spin on it…
From the article “Jersey leads to Under the Streetlamp”
“Hey Jude” is one among many songs that are deeply sewn into the fabric of our musical consciousness.
And it’s also Michael Ingersoll’s favorite song to perform… ”By the end of it, there’s that huge swelling section,” he says and pauses to sing the unforgettable chorus over the phone before he continues. “People sing and sway their hands back and forth. It’s a lovely thing to have a whole pavilion of people singing along with you.”…