Jake Oswell
Dream Ballet
Post Office Café and Cabaret, Provincetown, MA, June 11, 2026
Reviewed by John Amodeo
CabaretFest in Provincetown, especially during the dozen or more years it was led by Patricia Fitzpatrick, has been an incubator for emerging performers to cut their teeth doing their first show and for seasoned cabaret performers to test new material. That has been the case with such performers as Roderick Ferguson, Mardie Millit, and Dawn Derow, who have premiered cabaret shows at CabaretFest in years past that have gone on to win MAC Awards. Jake Oswell may be the next if his show Dream Ballet, which he premiered at CabaretFest 2026 at Post Office Café and Cabaret, Provincetown on June 11, is any indicator.
Oswell, soft spoken and unassuming, even at a statuesque six feet tall, sang a song or two at CabaretFest several years ago and stunned everyone with his beautiful smooth-as-silk baritone with its wide and high range. Last year, he performed his first full cabaret show at CabaretFest, which was well enough received that he was given a headliner spot at this year’s edition.
Oswell paced himself just right, because he was ready to headline with this dream of a show that focused on musical-theater songs from the 1930s and ’40s, a wise choice for this self-proclaimed “theater queen.” He has studied acting since the fourth grade, attended a performing-arts high school, and majored in musical theater at the Hart School in Connecticut. Oswell chose songs that showcased his well-honed talents. He bookended the show with a pair of filmed tongue-in-cheek vignettes of him being put to bed and later woken up by his partner David Rhodes (who is also the new producing artistic director of CabaretFest). This set the stage for his show to be happening in a dream state in which he acted out various fantasies. He opened the show with one such fantasy in which him played a leading man in a Broadway musical. He entered the stage singing “Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin’” (Richard Rodgers/Oscar Hammerstein II) using a gorgeous bel canto delivery. Adding a whimsical edge to this alpha-male fantasy, the mustachioed Oswell, who is gender fluid, appeared in eye makeup and lipstick, elegantly tailored high-waisted hip-buttoned flared navy-blue slacks, and a matching wide-sleeved blouse and heels—a look he carried off with aplomb.
Oswell, comfortable in his own skin, easily shared stories of his youth and his love of musicals, especially The Wizard of Oz, and used his fine acting chops to recite a faux speech about how to solve our problems. He also spoke the lyrics of the song “What Dreams Are Made Of” (Matthew Wilder/Dean Pitchford) as a comic segue into “A Wonderful Guy” (Rodgers & Hammerstein). Oswell’s disarming appearance belied his sharp wit, which delighted us every time, as when he quipped “High as a fag on the 4th of July.” His comic timing and coquettish expressions lifted “I Cain’t Say No” (Rodgers & Hammerstein) to even higher humorous heights. He displayed impressive vocal dexterity in the hilariously tongue-twisting “Where Is the Life That Late I Led” (Cole Porter), enhanced by exquisite phrasing and breath control.
Equally confident in his dramatic moments, he was appropriately delicate with “It Might as Well Be Spring” (Rodgers & Hammerstein), sung sweetly with his honeyed voice with just a touch of vibrato. He gave a jazzy treatment to the driving “Lover Come Back to Me” (Sigmund Romberg/Hammerstein), in which musical director/pianist Tracy Stark was firing on all cylinders. The emotional high point of the show came with “I’ll Tell the Man in the Street” (Rodgers/Lorenz Hart), sung with such authentic yearning you could hear a pin drop in the room.
His show title showed truth in advertising when, midway through, Oswell drifted off stage, and dream Oswell appeared (a thinly disguised Rhodes in a wig of black ringlets) and performed a mock dream ballet to the wild amusement of the audience. The real Oswell returned in a stunning full-length sleeveless navy-blue evening gown deeply scooped enough to reveal his hirsute décolletage simply adorned with a strand of pearls. This more formal look added a touch of gravity to his final number, “Happy Days Are Here Again” (Milton Ager/Jack Yellen), sung with such conviction you could almost believe its message was true.
There will be no spoilers about the show’s closing video which seamlessly segued into Oswell’s encore “Over the Rainbow” (Harold Arlen/Yip Harburg), which he sang as he walked through the audience and touched the hands and the hearts of everyone he could. This emerging performer showed he has much more to say, and the audience I was with would gladly listen.
