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MNfusion: BNW's 'Martini And Olive' Discuss Christmas Cabaret Lounge Act

It's often said that history repeats itself. Year after year, decade after decade, fashion trends recycle, hair styles return and musical tastes ebb and flow.

It's hard to tell what era is having the biggest influence on 2015.

The '80s leggings are still a dominant fashion trend only now they're paired with '90s flannel, '60s cat eyes and '50s inspired pop (think Meghan Trainor).

But as the year comes to a close, it is arguably the 1970s that seem to prevail. Ponchos and jumpsuits fill the racks, Billy Joel and the Rolling Stones fill auditoriums and Star Wars fills the big screen.

And most importantly, Martini and Olive fill the Minneapolis stage.

Concocted by Judy Heneghan and Grant Richey in 1992, "Martini and Olive" is a comedy cabaret featuring Tony Martini and Olive Newton John – 1970s Midwestern lounge singers who love Christmas.

Along with their manager Vince Vinisky, Heneghan's husband Peter Staloch, and the Swizzle Stick Dancers, they are returning this season to pour a glass of Christmas cheer served with a twist in a cabaret-lounge show.

On December 16, "Martini and Olive's Holiday Inferno" opened at the Brave New Workshop. Heneghan reprised her role as Olive. Local actor Jack Stahlmann preformed as Martini, taking over the role four years ago after Richey passed on.

Now in their fourth year together, Heneghan and Stahlmann say the show has reached a point of beautiful comedy science.

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Martini and Olive
(credit: Martini and Olive Facebook Page)

So, tell me how "Martini and Olive" came to be.

Heneghan: My husband [Peter Staloch] and I started our comedy life at Brave New Workshop, taking classes and teaching classes. So, in 1992 (while taking classes at Brave New Workshop) Grant Richey and myself put together "Martini and Olive." We put together our first medley to do at a comedy gallery show. The audience loved it so much we thought, "Okay, let's put together another medley." Then, we were approached about doing a big full blown show! So we added in the Swizzle Stick Dancers, dancers we found in an old dance class. As they've been called, they are "amazingly adequate." Then my husband took on the role of our manager, Vince Vininsky, and he plays guitar. Sadly, Grant passed away in 2009 after a long battle with cancer, but he wanted the show to go on. A couple years after he died we thought, "Alright we should do it," and we knew Grant would want to continue it. So we held auditions and Jack came in and Jack was just spot on. He was funny and he had seen the show for years. Actually, he was one of our security guards [when we opened at the] Bryant Lake Bowl.

Stahlmann: I was one of Grant's students and I am a mostly retired actor. When this opportunity came up I thought these would be some pretty good shoes, or I guess platforms, to fill. I'm just having a blast. This is my fourth year doing it, [and I] couldn't be happier doing it. It's a great cast, and to see the fans come back year in and year out is great.

It seems like it would be really easy to have a fun with a show like this. Tell me, why the '70s?

Heneghan: At the time, the mid-90s, no one was really doing the '70s. Grant and I both went to school in the '70s so that was the music of our lives. So we thought, let's put [it] in a medley and kind of poke fun at the era.  Add in all the ridiculous costumes of the era and we either trigger these terrible flashbacks or trigger really great memories. There's plenty to focus on.

Obviously audiences return year after  year to see the show, but there will always be new faces in the crowd. After 20 years, how does the '70s aspect relate to younger audience members?

Stahlmann: I was a kid in high school when I first saw the show and so many '70s references when right over my head. Yet, every night I loved watching it and it's because the show really speaks to people on so many different levels. First of all, the costumes are so insane There's always something visually to look at. Then you combine that with upper middle age tap dancers that are the back-up dancers for this outrageous act and it sort of all comes together.

The Martini and Olive Show
(credit: Martini and Olive Facebook Page)

There are some great references but the comedy stands by itself.

As this is an annual holiday show, does the show change year to year?

Heneghan: It changes from year to year. We always keep the things that people love there, like the Tap Dance on Convey – the trucker tap dance number. We do a couple other pieces that are just so wrong that they're so right that I think people would be disappointed if we didn't have.

Stahlmann: I would say it changes every night. Even though we kind of keep the same shape to it, there's something new and fresh coming out of it.

It's amazing how you both can have different perspectives on how the show ebbs and flows! So, what are some of those things that you feel people come to see year after year?

Heneghan: We do sort of the greatest hits medley. Our manager Vince, he does a really funny Minnesota holiday song that he wrote. We have our dancers, we do a huge dance number with a Star Wars flavor to it, called "Takin' Care of Christmas." We mash in "Takin' Care Of Christmas" with "Takin' Care Of Business." We always do our Christmas disco medley, which pretty much switches every five seconds. It really is a true Christmas celebration in four and a half minutes. We hit just about every Christmas carol with disco thrown in. And then we do an Auld Lang Syne thing

Christmas Disco Medley by martiniandolive on YouTube

Those all sound like so much fun! Tell me, what is new this year?

Heneghan: We have a new act that is a little sketch to Billy Joel, if you get the references. If you don't, then it's a sketch about Christmas and loneliness. It's just ridiculous.

Sounds like a silly sketch either way! Of all these different sketches, what is your favorite part of the show?

Heneghan: I like when we read our fan letters. We read our Christmas cards, our fan letters and we get to talk to the audience and they get to learn a little bit about our characters. This year we're taking calls, too. It's a lot of fun because that is a little bit of improvisation. Then we go into our love medley, which I think is so schmaltzy. We have ridiculous slides to go behind us this year, too.

Stahlmann: My favorite moment is coming on the stage for the first time every night, because of the look on people's faces. There's laughter mixed with, "what is happening right now?" Sort of that look like, "You're not exactly what I expected." I mean, I come out in a feather boa. Almost like 1970's meets WWE wrestler meets Christmas. It's too much but it's delightfully too much.

Sounds like it is a lot of Christmas is a short amount of time! So, how would you describe the show to someone who has never seen it?

Stahlmann: It's a '70s lounge act like you've never seen. There's nothing quite like it. You won't see a mix of older references with new references all combined with really good, terrible dancing. There's nothing on stage like this show for an hour and 10 minutes.

Heneghan: It is hard to describe, because once you see it it becomes like [you] discovered it. You have to see it to believe it. It is uncomplicated laughter with loving affection toward the holidays and the '70s. It is just great, fantastic characters and absurd medleys.

"Martini and Olive's Holiday Inferno" is open now through Dec. 31. Tickets cost $25 to $35. On New Year's Eve there will be a special 10 p.m. show, "It's Boogie Countdown with Martini and Olive."  All shows are family-friendly. For more information, or to purchase tickets, call 612-332-6620 or visit the Brave New Workshop online.

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