Gearing up for its upcoming 20th season, Virginia’s Creative Cauldron offers “a summer celebrating all things musical theater.”
The August and September lineup includes the company’s annual Summer Cabaret Series featuring “some of the best talent the DMV theater scene has to offer” as selected by curator Matt Conner, the local gay composer and Helen Hayes Award-winning director.
All shows take place in the company’s intimate theater space, but are also available to watch this year as livestreams for those who can’t make it out to the theater at the particular showtimes. Highlights below:
“Sondheim Reunion Cabaret” featuring performers from Cauldron’s recent production of Into the Woods, including Rachel Lockett, Holly Kelly, Brett Klock, Brooke Bloomquist, and Bobby Libby. (8/13)
“Love is the Key” with DeCarlo Raspberry, an evening full of “love in all aspects” drawn from jazz, soul, gospel, classical, R&B, and musical theater. (8/19)
Chris “JChris” Urquiaga, paying tribute to inspiring and empowering Latin divas including Selena, Shakira, and Rocio Durcal, all backed by an energetic band, “Que vivan las divas!” (8/20)
“Double Date” featuring Sarah Anne Sillers with her husband, pianist Andrew Kullberg, and Joshua Simon with his husband Brandon Scott Heishman, billed as a “one-night-only” evening celebrating music, marriage, and friendship with beloved tunes from Broadway and beyond. (9/9)
Susan Derry, the Cauldron star and veteran stage performer whose debut album is titled I Wish It So. (9/10)
“Sous le Ciel de Paris” with Wesley Diener, fresh from a series of performances in southwest France for an evening of opera, musical theater, and standards. (9/16)
“Songs I Stole From My Kids!” with Kanysha Williams offering a peek into her life as a voice teacher, from “the songs that I can’t seem to get out of my head” to “ridiculous stories about hanging out with teenagers multiple times a week.” (9/17)
Creative Caudron performs at ArtSpace Falls Church, 410 South Maple Ave., Retail 116. Tickets are $25 to $35 for each live show, or $90 to $180 for a two-top or four-top table plus wine; $15 for each live stream.
Taste the wine, hear the band, and start celebrating. Cabaret is back on Broadway with unbridled decadence and immersive glory. Certain musicals are constructed so well that, even if they are cast with mediocre performances or if the production value is low, they still hold.
Cabaret stands as one of the indestructible.
This might explain why the original sixties production has been revived and reinvented so many times on both sides of the Atlantic. Those lucky enough to see it will likely recall Sam Mendes' stunning revival, first premiering at London's Donmar Warehouse in 1993 and later transferring in 1998 to the New York City landmark which was once the home of Studio 54. Both starred Alan Cumming.
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