Broadway LA Style

CAC Studios put on a Broadway Cabaret LA Style show at the beginning of February to celebrate Valentine's Day with songs of Love.  I was singing in the show which was at Three Clubs in Hollywood and it was so great to be a part of this fun Cabaret with some beautiful music and even more fabulous performers!

Before Showtime...Kerstin, Kenni, Cassandra, Max, Giana, Elizabeth, Hadiyyah, myself, and Dani :)

 The show opened with 'Elephant Love Medley' from "Moulin Rouge" and we all had some solo's throughout the song and were spread apart in Three Clubs so our voices were coming from any open space we could find.  I love that movie and I love that song so I was really excited to be a part of it.  Adam also sang from "Moulin Rouge" doing 'Your Song,' which he just kills every time he does it!  Elizabeth played Patsy Cline, while Cassandra did 'Let it Go' from "Frozen."  Milton did one of my all-time favorite songs, 'Lady' by Kenny Rogers, and Hadiyyah sang 'One and Only' one of my favorite Adele songs.  Kenni showed us a different side to Peggy Lee's "Fever" by doing it as Anna from "Frozen."  I did 'Time After Time' by Cyndi Lauper (had a little costume change from our opening number) and changed into my New Year's Eve dress, and Julia complimented it by turning on the disco ball during the song!  We closed out the Cabaret with 'Seasons of Love' from "Rent."

Thanks to Adam for jumping in and singing back-up for me during 'Time After Time!'

Songs of love, happiness, tears of joy, and more were shared by the audience and all of the performers.  Thanks to Neil for coming and taking pictures!  We had a packed house and I was so glad to be a part of such a great show and sing in honor of my Mom!

Thenardier's Inn...One Day More!

We made it through another extension of 'Thenardier's Inn - A Les Miserables Cabaret' and it was such a fun run!  We had plenty of time for rehearsals to prepare for the show with a mostly new cast and it certainly paid off.  The show was sold out every week and we barely had any space left for our closing show this past Saturday!  Thankfully, Three Clubs (the venue of our show in Hollywood) was happy to have us and we loved filling the space and sharing our hard work and 'Thenardier's Inn' with new audience goers as well as repeat guests!

Double the Trouble, Master & Madame of the House!

It was such a blast to play Madame Thenardier for this run!  She's a wild and fun character and with Nathan as the Master of the House, I couldn't imagine playing the role opposite anyone else.  The relationship we have built through rehearsals, the show and more translates on-stage and I feel like I'm working with a best friend.  It's a really great feeling and since we have to be a team, that playfully picks on one another, steals things during the show, and feeds off the audience to tell the story, I'm proud to get to work beside him!  We did our first show together 'Babes In Toyland' nearly two years ago!

The rest of the cast that stepped into new roles really impressed me, as I've been a part of the show for over a year now and we've had some fabulous cast members.  Everyone brought a fresh perspective to their roles and also brought the humor.  It's the same show but with little tweaks here and there that brought new life into something that was fabulously magical to begin with!  Michael took over as Director and lead us into a creative environment where we could play.  He as able to keep all the parts that have worked over this past year and also give the audience some new discoveries.  Thanks to our Improv, the show changes and evolves every time and we find out what works and get to keep the audience on their toes. 

I have all the emotions and colors of the rainbow :)

After one of our best shows ever on Saturday night we were all excited to announce that we'll be going into our seventh extension in November!  I will be playing Madame Thenardier for one more day, on November 7th which is also the One Year Anniversary of the show.    I can't believe we've been doing this for a year!  We have some old cast members that will be joining us for this show, as well as filling the audience with family and friends.  My parents and brother will be in LA for the week so I'm so glad that they'll be able to see me perform as Madame Thenardier (especially my Dad and Brother) since they haven't seen me in a Theater show since I was in College!

These tickets will sell out by the end of this week because it's such a monumental show for all of us.  You can purchase tickets at www.cacstudios.com using the Promo Code: NOTLESMIS for 50% off tickets or if we're sold-out there you can go to www.goldstar.com for discounted tickets as well.  Since it is our Anniversary Show and we're inviting all the CAC Studio/Theater Company Members it's going to be an incredible show and tickets will go fast, so if you want to see me one last time as Madame Thenardier, check out the above listed websites and get your ticket for November 7th!  I can't wait to share this with you <3

Our Current 'Thenardier's Inn' Cast...I love being your Madame!

"Can't we just do this forever?" ~ My words at Intermission during our first show on November 7th 2014...and we are!

You can call me Madame Thenardier...

It's been nearly a year since I auditioned to be in 'Thenardier's Inn - A Les Miserables Cabaret' and little did we know our fabulous show would still be running a year later!  From extensions at CAC Studios, where it all began, to being a part of the Hollywood Fringe Festival, WINNING the 'Best Cabaret & Variety' at the Festival, having another extension at 3 Clubs, to bringing in a mostly new cast to our sixth extension, once again, back at 3 Clubs!

We are opening this Saturday and running for four weeks on the 3rd, 10th, 17th, and 24th at 8 pm!  Doors open at 7 pm and trust me, you don't want to be late to this one ;)

If you want to laugh, cry, drink heavily, and anything in-between, this is the show for you!  I'll be playing Madame Thenardier, and you'll want to watch your purses and wallets around me, and I can't promise to keep my hands to myself, but you can bet that I'll be making fun of my husband, making you drink more, and having a grand old time!

Tickets are available at: www.cacstudios.com and go ahead and use the promo code NOTLESMIS for up to 50% off tickets.  Tickets are going fast so jump on it and check out our wonderful story that will be sure to melt your heart <3

'Thenardier's Inn' at Hollywood Fringe!

Lovely Lady takes Fringe at Three Clubs!

It was our first time participating in the Hollywood Fringe Festival for us at CAC Studios for our production of 'Thenardier's Inn - A Les Miserables Cabaret!'  We had sold out our shows by the time our first performance came around and we were so excited to perform in the Festival to a room filled with people from other shows and productions, industry guests, our company's VIP patrons, and every other fabulous audience member.

It was definitely a different experience putting on the show in a bar and very different staging situation but everyone really pulled it together, including our sound and lighting crew that picked up everything so quickly!  Props to the crew people as well as the cast for adapting so easily :)  The audience really got into the show and we had a couple really great audiences that gave us standing ovations and were cheering during every single one of our songs, as well as heckling all the cast members, and really getting deep into our show.  Everyone seemed to enjoy it and the reviews clearly showed that!  I think my favorite part of our show is being able to share it with audiences because it's so different and fun and there's no way to describe what we're doing accurately enough as people see it and love every bit of it!  We all have such a blast performing in it, the energy and excitement radiates from every single cast member.  

My favorite Behind the Scenes photo from our show at Three Clubs during Fringe...Photo Bomber Nathan!

We had five performances including a Preview Night and at the Closing Ceremonies for the Fringe Festival Awards we won Best Cabaret and Variety!  It's an honor for all of us that have been a part of the show currently, or in the past that started this production, because we've worked so hard to bring it to life and it's thriving!  On top of winning this amazing award we got another extension for the Fringe Festival and will be performing this Thursday, Friday, and also next Friday.  Tickets can be purchased at: www.cacstudios.com using the promo code ENCORE or on www.goldstar.com.  If you haven't seen this show yet, you really have to see it, or if you've seen it before and loved it, come on back and check it out at this unique venue.  There is a drinking game within the show so the setting of it being in a bar is perfect!

After we won 'Best Cabaret and Variety' at the Fringe Festival Awards Show for 'Thenardier's Inn!'

Not only did we get to perform our show in the Festival but we were also a part of Pick of Fringe and the Fringe Cabaret which took place at Fringe Central in Hollywood.  It was very exciting for us as we were new performers to the Festival so I really hope to see you at 'Thenardier's Inn' this time around!

Thenardier's Inn Extension :)

Showtime!

I've been a part of Creating Arts Studio's production 'Thenardier's Inn: A Les Miserables Cabaret' which is an immersive theater experience.  We opened back in November for a weekend, sold-out, so it got extended for two more weeks.  We sold out the show again and found out in December we would be re-opening for a second extension that would run for four weeks in January and end on Valentine's weekend.  Needless to say, all of us were so excited to be doing the show again as it's an absolute blast!  In fact, we had sold out before we even opened!

Although the cast has gotten a little smaller, the sound of our voices has grown, and we've made the show tighter, and also added more comedy and humor throughout.  We had a change of actors for some of the roles, created new cocktails for audience members to sip on during the show, and just really honed in on the story.

I just wanted to share some more photos from this run of the show and thank all of my friends who made it out to Santa Monica to see the magic we're creating!  Thanks to Nick, Sam, Scottie & Nicole, Michael & Jordan, Neil, and Khad & Heike for supporting the show and laughing with all of us during our second run :)

Jean Valjean, a Lovely Lady, and Fantine before the show!

I said it at intermission during our first show and I'll say it again now, I really hope we can do this for forever and right now we are! #notlesmisforever

Lovely Ladies!

To read more about the show check out my original blog from November right here: Thenardier's Inn - A Les Miserables Cabaret

Thenardier's Inn - A Les Miserables Cabaret

I've been doing Theater here in LA for the past year and working with Creating Arts Company that produces Children's Theater year-round as well as Princess Shows, parties and events, and TV appearances.  We just started a new division, Creating Arts Studios, where we do Adult Shows and we just finished our three-week run of "Thenardier's Inn - A Les Miserables Cabaret" last weekend and it was absolutely spectacular!

Originally we were doing one weekend but got extended for another two weeks since we had sold-out our first show so quickly and the buzz around it was so big with the LA Critic's and Times among other outlets showing major interest.  Before our last weekend (we literally sold-out every show) we all found out that we are getting a four-week extension starting Friday January 23rd through Saturday February 14th!  I'm so proud of the hard-work that everyone has put in through this journey and the product is just incredible.

Opening night of 'Thenardier's Inn' with the Lovely Ladies & Mistress of the House

The content is classic yet original, basically everything you're thinking during 'Les Mis' we're saying during the show.  So there's dramatic-sweeping music and moments, emotional heart-felt songs and quotes, and pure comedy as well.  Did I mention that we serve alcohol throughout the show?  That includes complimentary wine from the Mistress of the House or from the Lovely Ladies during 'Master of the House' as well as a free cocktail for those dressed in French Revolutionary costumes.  I've seen the show numerous times now and I still get teary-eyed during certain songs, and laugh out-loud thanks to the writing and directing of Nick Rubando, who also plays Enjolras, and director Lee Marshall, who plays Javert.  Along with the fabulous improv of our entire cast bringing all the characters to life in this immersive theater experience.

Javert and I sneaking around...

I'm playing a Lovely Lady, and all the Lovely Ladies basically spend the entire show on-stage, flirting with patrons, serving cocktails and drinking with the guests.  Our cast packs a punch, tells a saucy tale, and the group numbers are sure to impress with our small 15 member talented cast.  One of my favorite parts of being a Lovely Lady is the costuming, hair and make-up involved.  It's wild, crazy, and totally different than anything I could wear in my daily life so it's fun to play and get dressed up for the show!

Everyone I've invited has been so happy and impressed by the show.  I can try to explain it to people but it just doesn't do the show justice, you have to see it, to really be a part of it!  There's no disappointment, only laughter, love and tears, for how awesome the show is.  Thank you to Bob, Cathleen, Joe & Kevin from Gabe's, John and Tatjana from Irish Times, Jamie & Spark, Ben, Kalissa & Chelsea, my Mom for coming all the way from Wisconsin to see me close "Sleeping Beauty" and open this show, and all of our super duper CAC members who've come to support and check out this life-changing show!  I'm so grateful and happy to be a part of something that makes me realize each and every performance that this is what I'm meant to be doing and exactly where I need to be.  I'm so proud of our talented cast and crew, Shannon and Todd, who keep our spirits alive and growing, and those that support us in this crazy career.  Every show is magic and as I said during intermission of our first show, I want to do this every day for the rest of my life.

Successful show now let's celebrate!!

To get tickets to this amazing show check out: http://www.cacstudios.com/lesmis/  I look forward to serving you a drink and a kiss on your cheek ;)