The wild animals that call Shawano Lake County Park home might have a hard time getting to sleep on April 26 as the Felix and Fingers Dueling Pianos team comes to the pavilion for a fundraiser benefiting Shawano Dollars for Scholars.
Although the term “dueling pianos” might indicate the two featured performers are going to try and one-up each other in the songs they play, the event is expected to actually be more of an interactive engagement between the pianists and the audience, according to Mike Sherman, regional entertainment director for Felix and Fingers.
“It’s an all-request show,” Sherman said. “It’s highly interactive engagement, singalongs and sometimes it turns into a dance party. Really, what we want to do is be friends with everybody by the end of the night, get to know them, get them all singing along and clapping. Sometimes we’ll bring some people on the stage and have fun with them up there.”
Because this is a fundraiser, Sherman said the performers will be expecting those who request songs to shell out a little hard cash, all of which goes to Dollars for Scholars.
“It’s a fun and sassy way of engaging, but also helping them raise a lot of money for a good cause,” Sherman said.
Felix and Fingers aren’t actually the stage names for the two pianists coming to Shawano, but they were for the original founders for the group years ago, Sherman said. Performing for the fundraiser are Jake Ashey from Madison and Robert Deason from Chicago.
Deason took piano lessons in the third grade, which he claims helped to nurture his natural sense of competition. He went on to perform all over the country after being a musical theater major in college. Deason got involved with Felix and Fingers in 2008 after seeing a Craigslist ad for piano players at a new suburban bar in Chicago.
Ashey has a family heritage in music, with three of his four grandparents being professional musicians. He started studying piano at age 5, and he had a stint playing piano on the Holland America cruise line before getting recruited with Felix and Fingers.
“It’s going to feel like a four-person band, because the energy is up there,” Sherman said. “It’s just really two people up there playing all the song requests and banter off each other.”
Sherman noted that while Felix and Fingers performs in many major cities, much of the fun comes from hitting the small-town venues.
“There might not be as much to go out and do, and so these people appreciate it so much more because it’s a cool kind of entertainment you don’t see every day of the week,” Sherman said. “It brings me a lot of joy to see the looks on people’s faces when they leave at the end of the night.”
AT A GLANCE
WHAT: Dueling Pianos fundraiser for Shawano Dollars for Scholars
WHEN: 5:30-11 p.m. April 26; entertainment begins at 7 p.m.
WHERE: Pavilion, Shawano Lake County Park, W5685 Lake Drive, Shawano
TICKETS: $75 per person. Includes complimentary appetizers.
FYI: Dress code is casual. Cash bar available all night.
lpulaski@newmedia-wi.com
Felix and Fingers tickling ivories in Shawano
