A Night in Vegas

Dominic Fortuna started his career right here in northern Michigan, where he was voted Entertainer of the Year by the Express. He was educated in music through the internationally famous group the Young Americans, for whom he still serves as an associate director. Dominic has played on Broadway in the 2007 revival of Grease at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre, and in the musical production of Catch Me If You Can. He has been part of national tours through Europe and the United States, and most recently appeared as a featured actor and entertainer aboard the largest cruise ships in the world.

When Covid hit in 2020, Dominic came home to northern Michigan, where he has roots with many entertainers. He directed and produced the Williamsburg dinner theater on M-72 in Acme for more than ten years, and while there appeared on several television shows including Your Big Break, a Dick Clark production. Dominic has worked with some of the most famous entertainers in the world, among them Barry Manilow, Dean Martin, Bobby Vinton, Frankie Avalon, Peggy Lee, American Idol winner Taylor Hicks, the Manny Harmon Orchestra, and the Les Brown Orchestra — and, recently, the Traverse Symphony Orchestra. Dominic has a wide range of music to offer, and is known for his dramatic performances.

Joan Ellison has been praised for her “vocal prowess… [and] organic grasp of the classic songs” by Michael Feinstein, and has made a specialty of reviving Judy Garland’s repertoire from her golden Hollywood years, live concerts, studio recordings, and television shows. Of her NYC solo cabaret show at 54 Below, Cabaret Scenes magazine wrote: “[Joan is] Judy-esque in appearance and…a near voice double for her idol.” She made her Cleveland Pops Orchestra debut at Severance Hall in 2005 and has since sung more than 80 symphony concerts coast-to-coast.

Joan recently made her professional European debut, performing Get Happy! A Judy Garland Celebration at the National Concert Hall in Dublin and the National Opera House in Wexford with the Niall Kinsella Orchestra. Other engagements of Get Happy! include the symphonies of Jacksonville, Portland, New Haven, Toledo, Springfield, Tuscaloosa, Holland, Paducah, Punta Gorda, Gulf Coast, and Hilton Head. Her new big-band show, Dames of the Great American Songbook, will premiere with the Toledo Jazz Orchestra in 2027.

Joan played the role of Ms. Garland in the first U.S. professional regional production of The Boy From Oz, as well as classic leading-lady roles including Julie in Carousel, Nellie in South Pacific, Lizzie in 110 in the Shade, and Maria in The Sound of Music, and is a member of Actors’ Equity Association. Her second album, Retrophonic Gershwin, was released in 2015, and she was featured as part of #PBSForTheArts.

In 2016, Joan embarked on a mission to restore Garland’s original orchestrations. At Michael Feinstein’s invitation she serves as Editor of the Judy Garland Carnegie Hall Concert Restoration Project for the Garland Heirs Trust, and she was given the privilege of restoring the newly-rediscovered MGM film arrangement of “Over the Rainbow.” She earned Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from Oberlin Conservatory of Music and serves as Professor of Popular & Jazz Voice at The Cleveland Institute of Music.