Local Duo’s Variety Show Continues to Grow, Sell Out
The Milpitas Post Online
Jeff Gire

Tickets were sold out more than two months in advance for Oct. 28’t Rich Santoro and Joyce McCulloch Present Their Second Annual Variety Show 2007 at the Montgomery Theater. The 525 people in attendance were treated to a two and a half hour revival of the big band era.

The format of the show was reminiscent of the Ed Sullivan Variety Show of the 1960s and 1970s. The 16 piece Swing Solution Big Band started things with “Sweet Georgia Brown” followed by a swing dance routine to “Band Stand Boogie” by Robin Horn and T.J. Delgado of Dance Spectrum.

Santoro, master of ceremonies for the evening, then warmed the crowd for comedians Dave Castle and Jim Summers.

The second half of the show was a plethora of recognizable songs performed by Santoro and McCulloch. Santoro sung the Bobby Darin, Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin big band standards while McCulloch crooned to a wide range of female chart-poppers. A real crowd pleaser was a duet originally by Louis Prima and Keely Smith, “Jump, Jive and Wail!”

The brother and sister have been singing since grade school. Santoro remembers their first public appearance was on a local television dance show called “Record Hop” in 1962. They were 10 and 11 years old.

Santoro recalled his early singing experience, as at age 13 he was the lead singer for a local group called “The California Boys” and later formed a group called Natures Best, a four-part folk rock harmony group with his best friends Phil Fay, Laura Fernandez and Darwin McCulloch, who would later marry Joyce.

According to Santoro, Natures Best performed at The Miss Milpitas pageant the year Sandy Roberts (Miss Teenage America 1957) won her title. Natures Best also sang several times on Channel 36 in 1968 and 1969, the first years of the channel’s existence. “An experience you never forget as a kid,” Santoro said.

While Santoro took a hiatus from singing when he got married, McCulloch never stopped.

“Joyce amazes me with her tenacity all these years,” her brother said. Santoro recalls one of McCulloch’s career highlights was having her song “I Can’t Find You” picked on “The Best of The Bay Area Album in 1965.”

Their parents, Vic and Frances Santoro moved to Milpitas in 1963. Some Milpitas oldtimers might remember Vic Santoro as the produce man at Fiesta Feeds during the 1960s and 1970s.

“My parents were front and center at the Montgomery Theatre on the 28th. Mom and dad are our biggest fans and we gave them a trophy that night to recognize the Our Biggest Fans 2007,” Santoro said. “Our mom and dad were our biggest influences in our choice of music. Dad was a large Sinatra fan.”

Having had two sellout shows, the next step for the duo is the California Theatre, which seats 1,100. “I checked out the sound system myself even the janitor can sound like Sinatra,” Santoro joked. “The next big show isn’t until June of 2009 and we already have people reserving tickets. I think it is because there is such a demand for this type of variety show and no one is doing it.”