‘Cocktail Hour’ comes to Westhampton Beach

Ballets with a Twist will sizzle on the Long Island shore in Cocktail Hour: The Show at the Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center on Saturday, August 25. The engagement will feature the company’s own B-Twist Orchestra, a collection of internationally acclaimed musicians, performing the production’s score live. Throughout the evening, a special selection of cocktails and mocktails complementing the program will be available in the lobby.

Created by Artistic Director and Choreographer Marilyn Klaus, Cocktail Hour: The Show reinvents the glamour and excitement of classic entertainment with an original mix of charismatic choreography, intoxicating music and exquisite costume design. This pop-infused performing arts experience combines the magnetism of Hollywood’s Golden Age with a sleek 21st-century sensibility, capturing the timeless American spirit in a series of witty, sparkling vignettes. It’s high-style fun for all ages to enjoy.

Program highlights include: Soirée, a lady in rose, a pair of young lovers and two celestial souls glide through the night in this fanciful triptych; Manhattan, after a big-city evening, a socialite steps out with her dearest companion; and Rum Runner, a Latin suite brings on the heat.

Klaus, whose choreography has been seen internationally, formed Ballets with a Twist in association with Grammy-nominated composer Stephen Gaboury and costume designer Catherine Zehr. Her company — lauded by The Huffington Post for “blasting the boundaries between high art and entertainment” — has appeared in a wide range of venues throughout the country, from Cleveland’s Playhouse Square and New York City’s Beacon Theatre to Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts and the Tribeca Film Festival.

Gaboury’s compositions have been performed by celebrated musicians nationwide. As a pianist, he has collaborated and toured the world with pop/rock icon Cyndi Lauper for more than a decade; has accompanied such artists as Patti Labelle, Norah Jones and Sarah McLachlan; and has performed at internationally televised events such as the Nobel Peace Prize Award Ceremony and the New Year’s Eve Times Square Ball Drop. Gaboury’s music has been heard in concert, on television and in films.

Zehr is the artistic force behind the company’s costume design. Her creations evoke the origins and essence of each dance with dazzling colors and ornamentation. Zehr honed her skills while working at major American fashion houses, then by designing and manufacturing attire for her own label. She studied art and design at Washington University and New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology, where she and the company delivered the presentation “Designing Costumes for Ballets with a Twist” as part of The Museum at FIT’s Fashion Culture series.

Craving more Twist culture? Visit www.balletswithatwist.com. To purchase your tickets for Cocktail Hour: The Show at the Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center, go to www.whbpac.org.

Photo: Cuba Libre from Cocktail Hour: The Show. Photo by Nico Malvaldi.