COLUMBUS, Ind. — Cabaret at The Commons leaders have released the spring season’s new four-date lineup. And the schedule features two performers back “by popular demand,” according to organizers.
The Columbus Indiana Philharmonic’s series featuring intimate, sometimes informal performances is averaging about 320 people per show, according to Donnie Robinette, Philharmonic executive director. Since the shows began in 2015, they have attracted ticket buyers from as far away as Louisville, Kentucky, and Cincinnati, Ohio, who say they would he paying $20 just to park for similar entertainment in those cities.
Here’s an overview of the shows, all slated for 7:30 p.m. at The Commons, 300 Washington St. in downtown Columbus:
- Feb. 14: Spencer Day — making his third appearance at the series with a jazzy, soulful, bluesy voice that has crooned everything from Otis Redding to George Gershwin.He has made a flurry of appearances at major venues ranging from The Monterey Jazz Festival to the Hollywood Bowl. “I’m not sure how exactly I fell into what I do, but I couldn’t really seem to sing in a big conventionally classical way and I didn’t really gravitate to it much, either,” he said in his last Republic interview before a 2018 appearance here. “When I heard breathy, bluesy torch singers like Chet Baker, Julie London, Billie Holiday, Peggy Lee or even Marilyn Monroe, I thought, ‘Hey, I can do that.’”
- March 9: Jessica Vosk — returning after a 2020 appearance just before the pandemic. The Broadway star from “Wicked” and much more sees attendees as more than viewers and listeners. “It’s so fun to allow the audience to be the other cast member in the show,” Vosk said before her last show locally. “It’s a lot of improv. And I think it helps to let people know you’re taking them on a journey. So, a lot of the time (in the show), whatever happens just happens.”
- April 27: Amber Gray — the Grammy winner and Tony Award nominee promises a show highlighting songwriters who enabled her musical theatre career, and samplings of upcoming work – including Gray’s Eartha Kitt project and her post-retirement seedy lounge singer fantasy. She starred as Persephone in the Tony Award-winning Best Musical “Hadestown,” for which she received a Tony nomination for “Best Featured Actress in a Musical” as well as a Grammy Award for “Best Musical Theatre Album.” She is also known for her work in the Tony-nominated “Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet Of 1812” opposite Josh Groban, for which she won the Theatre World Award, and for Sam Gold’s “Macbeth.”
- June 1: Elizabeth Stanley — The Indiana University graduate and Grammy winner brings her self-written cabaret act to Columbus, singing selections from “Songs for a New World,” “Bridges of Madison County,” “Jagged Little Pill,” “Company,” “A Little Night Music,” and more. Stanley originated the Broadway roles of Allison in “Cry-Baby” and Dyanne in “Million Dollar Quartet.” For her portrayal of Mary Jane Healy in “Jagged Little Pill,” Stanley was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical and won a Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album.
