December 2, 2011
Gina Masland is a three-octave singer, jazz and classical pianist, and cabaret performer. She’s been the Musical Director for Summerstage at Leonia and the Players Guild of Leonia, as well as Music Minister for St. John’s School and Holy Spirit Lutheran Church in Leonia.
She grew up in Thailand and Spain and graduated from Barat College of the Sacred Heart in Lake Forest, Ill., as a theater and music major. She and her late husband Tom, a reporter/editor for Newsweek, raised their three sons, Richard, Bobbie and James in Leonia and Capetown, South Africa.
After her husband’s death in 2005, she and her sons moved back to Leonia. For the past three years, she’s directed cabaret singing workshops for the Players Guild. Her fifth cabaret show “Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow” will be held tomorrow night, Dec. 3 at the Drill Hall Theater on Grand Avenue at 8 p.m.
Q: Why did you spend your childhood in Thailand and Spain?
A: My father was an architect/engineer for the U.S. Navy. I’ve kept in touch with many of my international schoolmates on Facebook.
Q: Where did you start your musical career?
A: Chicago. I started out singing with a jazz trio on Michigan Avenue. I’ve played in piano bars, The Ritz Carlton, and The Backroom. I was an opening act at the Penthouse, Playboy Club for David Brenner, John Byner, and Henny Youngman. I was a rehearsal pianist for the Chicago Lyric Opera Company, played piano for Second City when Fred Kaz was on vacation, and I’ve even been a jingle singer.
Q: How did you meet your husband?
A: At Club Manhattan on Rush Street in Chicago. I was performing; he stopped in for a drink after work. At the time, he was the Midwest Bureau Chief for the Philadelphia Inquirer. I was impressed by his adventurous personality and his Pulitzer; he was impressed with my performance. We married two years later.
Q: What brought you to Leonia?
A: Tom’s folks lived in Englewood. His first newspaper job was for the Bergen Record and he covered local politics. He was impressed by Leonia’s police chief at the time and the care the town took of its children. He once said if he ever had a family, he’d want to live in Leonia.
Q: Why did you leave?
A: In 1999, Tom was assigned to be Africa Editor for Newsweek, based in Capetown, South Africa.
Q: What do you most like about Leonia?
A: I’m very appreciative that I was able to make a living doing what I love – play piano, teach piano and singing, direct musical theater, direct choral groups, and perform – all in Leonia.
Q: What was the most memorable volunteer project you’ve worked on in Leonia?
A: The kickoff New Year’s Eve celebration for Leonia’s Centennial. That was the year we first “lit up Leonia” with white lights. The night before there was a huge blizzard and four women on the Centennial Committee literally shoveled paths through Wood Park.
It was a hoot! I also wrote a festive song about Leonia for the event, and over a hundred students from ACS and St. John’s sang it that night. “We love, love, love LEE oh nee A!”
Q: If you could have any gig, what and where would it be?
A: Being musical director of an open-ended run of Summerstage at Leonia’s Grand Night for Singing, with the same cast and orchestra. It was a dream job the summer of 2010.
Q: Who would you most like to sing a duet with?
A: Tony Bennett. Who wouldn’t?
Q: Of all the places you’ve lived, which did you most enjoy?
A: Capetown, South Africa, because it’s the most beautiful place in the world! My sons were 6, 11, and 13 when we moved there, just great ages to have adventures.
Q: Do you have an annual tradition?
A: Thirty-six years ago, Tom and his friends began an annual pig roast on the eastern shore of Maryland. We’ve continued the tradition.
Q: Do you have a favorite holiday?
A: Christmas! I love to decorate and play Christmas songs on the piano.
Q: What would you most like to see in Leonia?
A: I’d like to be served a martini in a Leonia restaurant. Right now I have to go to the Route 4 Diner. But I’m optimistic.
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