Simply Unforgettable

Are you old enough to remember the Swinging '60s, or even the rock 'n' roll heyday of the 1950s, when just one rotation of Elvis's hips could send young women into gleeful delirium, and the older generation into fits of self-righteous apoplexy? If the answer to the above is in the affirmative, you could do yourself a big favor by moseying on down to the Unforgettable show at Tel Aviv's Charles Bronfman Auditorium on December 2 at 9 p.m. By all accounts, the hundreds who will pack the place should have a rip-roaring time and, no doubt, will be grooving to spectacular renditions of some of their favorite yesteryear hits by the likes of Cliff Richard, Frank Sinatra, The Temptations and Shirley Bassey. “You cannot talk about the show; you have to see it,” Stella Yudko enthuses unequivocally. Judging by the snippets available on the Web, Yudko's pride in the production appears to be well placed. South African-born costar Zac Hilon provides further collateral for the venture's artistic and entertainment value. “We have some endorsements, from the Sinatra family – from Frank Sinatra's cousin Anna Marie – she might come to the show,” says Hilon. “She's the guardian of the Sinatra heritage,” Yudko chips in. There are more heavy-duty supporters of the Hilon-Yudko project. “Jay and the Americans have also endorsed us,” Hilon continues. “They had a big hit [in the mid-'60s] with 'Cara Mia,' and there's [rock 'n' roll act] Sha Na Na.” That's not a bad roll call of renowned pals to have on your side when you've lined up a gala performance at one of the country's most capacious venues. Mind you, it's not exactly as if Hilon and Yudko have been sitting around twiddling their thumbs waiting for a chance to play the Charles Bronfman Auditorium – a.k.a. the Mann Auditorium. The December 2 show will be the 100th performance of Unforgettable, with the aforementioned twosome, seasoned American vocalist Charles Garrett, a troupe of eight instrumentalists and three backing vocalists, doing the rounds of the country on a regular basis over the last couple of years. Hilon has been in the business of a while, and has been strutting his rock n' roll stuff right at the heart of the showbiz world. “I have been working in Las Vegas for many years, so I have met lots of great artists there,” he explains. “[Veteran English crooner, and longtime Vegas fixture] Engelbert Humperdinck has also given me an endorsement.” Neither Hilon nor Yudko are old enough to remember the numbers they perform when they first came out – not even the more recent hits in the show from the 1970s – so what drew them to these incipient rock and pop sounds and beats? “I think I was born old,” says the 42-year-old Yudko with a laugh. “I just connect with this music. I love it. It gives me butterflies in my stomach. Unfortunately, I don't get that at all from the music they do today.” In fact, it took Yudko quite a while to get into the entertainment business. Freud would probably have explained that away with ease. “I come from a musical home – they played violin, saxophone, you name it,” she says. “Because I came from a musical home, and my parents always argued [about music] I couldn't become a musician myself. I went to study chemistry, but I was influenced by the music we heard at home – [early '70s R&B, funk, soul and disco band] Earth Wind and Fire, ['70s a cappella jazz-pop quartet] Manhattan Transfer and all the [middle-of-the-road Italian music festival hits] Sanremo stuff.” There were also some more serious musical vibes around. “There was Rachmaninoff and Tchaikovsky too, but not much,” Ukrainian-born Yudko notes, adding that there is some DNA to her vocal work. “My grandmother was an opera singer.” Yudko did everything she could to give music as wide a professional berth as possible but fate had other plans. “I swore I would never marry a musician. But, guess what? When I got married I realized that music is some kind of disease. You catch it. Over the years I'd look at the singers and instrumentalists my husband worked with, and I thought 'I want to be there, on the stage, too.'” Despite her about-face artistic epiphany, Yudko had to go through a protracted process before she could get her new musical career up and running. “It took me 14 years after that,” she says. “Seven years to convince my husband, and for him to give me a stage, and seven years to study music. I had never sung before in my life.” Yudko took her musical training very seriously, opting for operatic singing. “I went for an audition at the Israel Opera in 2004. I made to the shortlist of five, but [now stellar singer-songwriter] Mira Awad got the part. I was fine with that.” The late bloomer eventually got her act together, on stage, and Unforgettable became a corporeal, spectacular, all-guns-blazin' highly entertaining reality. Not that there weren't a couple of dozen or so minefields to be negotiated en route. “Anybody I turned to, producers and such, when they heard about the show said: 'American vintage? No one's interested in that.' They said it was passé.” Hilon and Yudko have been professional colleagues, and pals, for quite some time. “We met at a hotel in Cyprus, in 2000,” Yudko relates. “My husband was producing a show and Zac was a guest performer from the States. He heard us speaking Hebrew, and we hooked up.” The chemistry was there from the start, and the Yudkos and Hilon began a fruitful ongoing synergy. “After that, whenever my husband and I performed abroad we'd always invite Zac to perform with us.” The zenith of their creative cooperation to date was a performance in Russia for a crowd of a quarter of a million people. “It felt like being on the set of a James Bond movie,” Hilon exclaims. While Yudko's path to the stage may have been a long and winding road, Hilon has been in the business for quite some time. He has had steady work in Las Vegas performing the kind of turns he does in Unforgettable. He was well primed for the current venture. Mega-concert in Russia notwithstanding, promoters over here were still not convinced that Unforgettable could bring the crowds in. “I was doing something similar in Las Vegas,” Hilon notes. “This sort of thing is very popular over there.” Yudko was not taking no for an answer. “We sold everything we had. We sent out press packs and invitations to 400 promoters, and anybody in the industry we thought could help us and booked a hall to present the show to them,” she says. That, too, was a trying – and costly – experience. Only four people showed up. I was in tears.” But they stuck to the task and eventually the venture began gathering momentum. “Every show we do now is sold out,” says Hilon. “And we are getting younger people too, even kids.” If the determination of the Yudko and Hilon is anything to go by, the 90-minute dazzling nostalgia trip, complete with multiple costume changes, video art and unbridled energy, should play to a packed house at the 2,500-seater Charles Bronfman Auditorium two weeks from now. For tickets and more information: www.unforgettableconcert.co.il/

Simply Unforgettable

The hundreds who will pack the place will be grooving to spectacular renditions of some of their favorite hits by the likes of Cliff Richard, Frank Sinatra, The Temptations and Shirley Bassey.

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Simply Unforgettable

The hundreds who will pack the place will be grooving to spectacular renditions of some of their favorite hits by the likes of Cliff Richard, Frank Sinatra, The Temptations and Shirley Bassey.

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