The 2002-2003 "Cabaret at the Chase" season — the intimate concert venue at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center — has just been announced.
Tom Wopat kicks off the new season at 7:30 PM on Oct. 12. Wopat, who is currently starring on Broadway in the Tony-winning revival of 42nd Street, will offer a variety of American standards at his Chase Room engagement. Cabaretgoers can expect the former Annie Get Your Gun star to wrap his rich baritone around songs by Harold Arlen, Hoagy Carmichael, Frank Loesser, Cole Porter and Stephen Sondheim.
Star of stage and screen, Tovah Feldshuh, will bring her latest cabaret act, "Tovah: Still Out of Her Mind," to the Chase Room on Nov. 16 at 7:30 PM. About a recent Feldshuh cabaret outing, The New York Observer said, "She demonstrates splendidly the virtues theater people bring to this intimate art form." A three-time Tony Award nominee for her performances in Yentl, Sarava and Lend Me a Tenor, Feldshuh was recently seen on the silver screen in "Kissing Jessica Stein."
Pianist, composer and vocalist Peter Cincotti, who, at 18, was the youngest performer ever to headline New York's Algonquin Hotel, will offer his innovative jazz stylings on Jan. 11, 2003, at the Chase Room. The New York Times exclaimed that Cincotti's music is "infused with a youthful fervor and a personality that is all his own," while The New York Post said, "Cincotti brings to whatever he's performing an agreeable warmth, joy and self assurance."
The final offering of the Chase season is Ethel Merman aficionado Klea Blackhurst, who will perform her act, "Everything the Traffic Will Allow: The Songs and Sass of Ethel Merman," on March 8 at 7:30 PM. A tribute to the woman who was Broadway's biggest musical theatre star, Blackhurst's act include such classic Merman signature tunes as "I Got Rhythm," "You're the Top," "There's No Business Like Show Business," "Blow, Gabriel, Blow" and "I Got Lost in His Arms." Tickets for all performances are priced at $36 and may be purchased by calling 1 888-GO-NJPAC or at the theatre’s box office at One Center Street in downtown Newark. Go to www.njpac.org for more information.
—By Andrew Gans
