Chicago Cabaret Professionals Gala

The Stars Come Out at Night

Epiphany Center for the Arts, Chicago, IL, October 17, 2022

Reported by Carla Gordon

Photos by Philip Tawanchaya

After two years of producing their annual galas online, Chicago Cabaret Professionals were pleased to hold their 2022 Gala, The Stars Come Out at Night, in person at Epiphany Center for the Arts on Monday, October 17.

The Chicago Cabaret Professionals’ National Award was presented to Jeff Harnar, who has won multiple Broadway World, MAC, and Bistro Awards. Harnar’s concerts have been broadcast on PBS, and he has performed at Carnegie Hall in both the Cole Porter and the Noël Coward Centennial galas. He has directed critically acclaimed shows for both seasoned and budding cabaret artists. Harnar has been co-host and artistic director for nine concerts of The Mabel Mercer Foundation’s annual Cabaret Convention.  Participants were pleased by the purposeful master class that Harnar led at Le Piano.

Laura Freeman was the 2022 Gold Coast Honoree. She is an Equity actress who has toured the US and Europe. As a cabaret performer, Freeman has created tributes to Doris Day, Julie Andrews, and the USO performers of WW2, as well as salutes to Broadway and Hollywood. She is part of the trio Girls Like Us which also features Marianne Murphy Orland and Beckie Menzie.

Musical-theater historian Charles Troy was honored with the Chicago Cabaret Lifetime Achievement Award. Troy has created more than 50 multimedia shows on theater history since 2006  and has presented them to countless local and national audiences. His shows combine rare photos, original graphics, edited audio tracks and video clips, live performers, and a scripted narrative. His work has also been published in The Sondheim Review.

Cynthia Clarey was honored with the Chicago Cabaret Advocacy Award for her show Bridge Over Muddied Waters, which drew on her personal experience of growing up in the South in the 1950s and her knowledge of the joyful power of music. Bridge received critical acclaim for inspiring discussion about the disharmony in America. In her long career, Clarey has appeared in major roles in the important opera houses and concert halls of Europe, including portrayals of Carmen and other opera heroines.

Wydetta Carter took home the Chicago Cabaret Service Award for conceiving and hosting Cabaret Beat, an online interview series with cabaret artists. She recently hosted and co-directed our highly successful Musical Mondays Pop Goes the Cabaret. She serves as First Vice President of the Actors Equity Association. She is the first Black officer to serve the union in more than 40 years and is the highest-ranking Black woman ever to serve in the history of Equity.

Tommy Hensel was presented with the Chicago Cabaret Presenter Award. He is Senior Director of Performing Arts at Elgin Community College Arts Center, and for more than 30 years he has worked professionally as a director, actor, and arts presenter.

LaShera Moore was saluted as the 2022 Chicago Cabaret Emerging Artist and winner of the Denise Tomasello Scholarship Award. She is a graduate of Columbia College and is an accomplished singer, lyricist, and actress. Moore has performed in a variety of venues and in a range of musical styles: country, gospel, pop, rock, jazz, and R&B soul. 

During the cocktail hour, eight accomplished performers entertained: Boomer Babes (Pam Peterson and Jan Slavin), Jay Cook, David Edelfelt, Russ Goeltenbodt, South Florida’s David Meulemans, Patricia Salinski, and Christine Steyer. Howard Pfeifer served as music director.

The main show featured Anne Burnell, Mark Burnell, Cynthia Clarey, Joan Curto, Feathered Beaus (Olin Eargle, Kyle Russell, Kyle Hustedt, and Justin Harner), Hilary Feldman, Cabaret Scenes’ own Carla Gordon, Lynne Jordan, Beckie Menzie (music supervisor), Tom Michael, Paul Montondo, LaShera Moore, Daryl Nitz, Marianne Murphy Orland, Denise Tomasello, and Milwaukee’s Carolyn Wehner.  Local honoree Laura Freeman and National honoree Jeff Harnar closed out the evening with a bang.

2023 comes soon and the Chicago Cabaret Professionals’ Production Committee is already brainstorming ideas. So, stay tuned for more great cabaret!