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A funny thing happened to me on the way to dinner last Sunday evening a week ago. I was suddenly
transformed back to an era where GREAT food met up with GREAT entertainment and the result was an
evening filled with fantasy, diversity, and fun!
I attended the Upright Cabaret, a Los Angeles brainchild of co-creator/producer Shane Scheel and Chris
Isaacson. In fact that particular evening was their 1st year anniversary, “best of” celebration. For the past year
the Cabaret has met every 2nd Friday and Saturday of the month at Mark’s Restaurant in West Hollywood.
This monthly event has often brought together performers from the theater, television, and film who normally
do not have a chance to vocalize their singing talents. Past performers have included Broadway performers
Brandon Louis Matthieus, and Chad Kimball who respectively have starred in the Broadway productions of
Rent, Wicked, and Lennon.
transformed back to an era where GREAT food met up with GREAT entertainment and the result was an
evening filled with fantasy, diversity, and fun!
I attended the Upright Cabaret, a Los Angeles brainchild of co-creator/producer Shane Scheel and Chris
Isaacson. In fact that particular evening was their 1st year anniversary, “best of” celebration. For the past year
the Cabaret has met every 2nd Friday and Saturday of the month at Mark’s Restaurant in West Hollywood.
This monthly event has often brought together performers from the theater, television, and film who normally
do not have a chance to vocalize their singing talents. Past performers have included Broadway performers
Brandon Louis Matthieus, and Chad Kimball who respectively have starred in the Broadway productions of
Rent, Wicked, and Lennon.
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Copyrighted 2006
Herndon Davis is an author, lecturer, and TV/Radio Host of The Herndon Davis Reports. He can be reached
directly at http://herndondavis.com
Herndon Davis is an author, lecturer, and TV/Radio Host of The Herndon Davis Reports. He can be reached
directly at http://herndondavis.com
| Empowering The World's Diversity |
Co-Creator Shane Scheel explains more about the history of Upright Cabaret “A year ago we were sitting at
Mark’s Restaurant in West Hollywood and we decided that there [was] no place for us to go to a cabaret and
so we started it form scratch. We just gathered some friends around the piano and it caught on. One friend
told another friend, told another friend and that’s how we have the show today.”
A year later, the Upright Cabaret has become a staple in the Los Angeles arts community. Each month auditions
are held along with a week of flurried rehearsals. “We actually just look for great talent and allow the talent to
shine on their thing. We try to get an eclectic group of people” Scheel adds.
Well the formula appears to be working very well. The future of Upright Cabaret shines bright with an
upcoming move to a much larger venue in June of this year to the stunning Café La Boheme also located in
West Hollywood.
Co-producer Chris Isaacon picks up the story “We’ve been sold out with the show since we started and about
six months ago we just realized that the space we were in really wasn’t conducive for live performance. We’ve
made it so by brining in the lights, the sound and the staging but it really wasn’t built to have a live show in
there.
Mark’s Restaurant in West Hollywood and we decided that there [was] no place for us to go to a cabaret and
so we started it form scratch. We just gathered some friends around the piano and it caught on. One friend
told another friend, told another friend and that’s how we have the show today.”
A year later, the Upright Cabaret has become a staple in the Los Angeles arts community. Each month auditions
are held along with a week of flurried rehearsals. “We actually just look for great talent and allow the talent to
shine on their thing. We try to get an eclectic group of people” Scheel adds.
Well the formula appears to be working very well. The future of Upright Cabaret shines bright with an
upcoming move to a much larger venue in June of this year to the stunning Café La Boheme also located in
West Hollywood.
Co-producer Chris Isaacon picks up the story “We’ve been sold out with the show since we started and about
six months ago we just realized that the space we were in really wasn’t conducive for live performance. We’ve
made it so by brining in the lights, the sound and the staging but it really wasn’t built to have a live show in
there.
So Shane and I started looking for a space that would match with what we do at the cabaret but would have
their own character at the restaurant. And what we found at the La Boheme Restaurant…is actually the perfect
match. It looks like the Moulin Rouge in there. It’s so grand itself and to bring our show in there it’s going to
bring the whole thing to a new level.”
And any cabaret is not complete without an A-list lineup of performers to razzle and dazzle an eager audience.
Broadway actor/singer Brandon Louis Matthieus (Lion King, Wicked, South Pacific) explains his background
and experience working with Upright Cabaret, “I’m pretty much just having fun with learning more and more
about what my talent, what my training and what my career can take me to. I love being able to perform. I
love being able to share my gifts with people.”
Dawn Scheel, sister of co-producer Shane Scheel occasionally contributes her talents to the Cabaret fest, as
she reveals her personal journey in singing, “ I was trained to do Broadway type of stuff, but I do pop, rock
and country. Most of my experience comes from [gigs] in bars and playing in bands.”
On the last night of the 1st anniversary, Dawn performed a Dixie Chick rendition but she adds that she also
performs Janis Joplin and Tori Amos favorites. “I bring that side of the music to this project. It’s a twist in the
whole Broadway aspect of it. We kick in some pop. That’s me, that’s my position in it”
And of course you can sing until the cows come flying back home, but you’ll sound so much better when
there’s a pianist nearby. That’s where musical director Trapper Felides, steps in.
Felides is a young, twenty-something transplant form New York who has actually traveled for the past year
between NYC and LA each month just to play for the event. In fact he just moved to LA a few weeks ago and
is eager and enthusiastic about the possibilities.
“I’ve had a really great time. All of these amazing theater musical talents who for whatever reason find their
way out to Los Angeles instead of being in New York where they would be working on Broadway in two
seconds but they want to be out here doing TV and film stuff and they really don’t have much of an outlet to
sing.
It’s really nice to supply these kids with that once a month. And I really believe we have the best young talent
in town. Anything else you go to that’s similar you’re seeing dinosaurs singing songs they were singing 40
years down a fifth” Felides interjects.
But as spring turns into summer and Upright Cabaret settles into its new digs at La Boheme, the standard of
creative excellence rises higher as Los Angeles’ newest and and boldest Cabaret takes off to parts unknown on
a journey of self-discovery and brilliant diversity.
their own character at the restaurant. And what we found at the La Boheme Restaurant…is actually the perfect
match. It looks like the Moulin Rouge in there. It’s so grand itself and to bring our show in there it’s going to
bring the whole thing to a new level.”
And any cabaret is not complete without an A-list lineup of performers to razzle and dazzle an eager audience.
Broadway actor/singer Brandon Louis Matthieus (Lion King, Wicked, South Pacific) explains his background
and experience working with Upright Cabaret, “I’m pretty much just having fun with learning more and more
about what my talent, what my training and what my career can take me to. I love being able to perform. I
love being able to share my gifts with people.”
Dawn Scheel, sister of co-producer Shane Scheel occasionally contributes her talents to the Cabaret fest, as
she reveals her personal journey in singing, “ I was trained to do Broadway type of stuff, but I do pop, rock
and country. Most of my experience comes from [gigs] in bars and playing in bands.”
On the last night of the 1st anniversary, Dawn performed a Dixie Chick rendition but she adds that she also
performs Janis Joplin and Tori Amos favorites. “I bring that side of the music to this project. It’s a twist in the
whole Broadway aspect of it. We kick in some pop. That’s me, that’s my position in it”
And of course you can sing until the cows come flying back home, but you’ll sound so much better when
there’s a pianist nearby. That’s where musical director Trapper Felides, steps in.
Felides is a young, twenty-something transplant form New York who has actually traveled for the past year
between NYC and LA each month just to play for the event. In fact he just moved to LA a few weeks ago and
is eager and enthusiastic about the possibilities.
“I’ve had a really great time. All of these amazing theater musical talents who for whatever reason find their
way out to Los Angeles instead of being in New York where they would be working on Broadway in two
seconds but they want to be out here doing TV and film stuff and they really don’t have much of an outlet to
sing.
It’s really nice to supply these kids with that once a month. And I really believe we have the best young talent
in town. Anything else you go to that’s similar you’re seeing dinosaurs singing songs they were singing 40
years down a fifth” Felides interjects.
But as spring turns into summer and Upright Cabaret settles into its new digs at La Boheme, the standard of
creative excellence rises higher as Los Angeles’ newest and and boldest Cabaret takes off to parts unknown on
a journey of self-discovery and brilliant diversity.
| Los Angeles Based Upright Cabaret Takes Flight: by: Herndon Davis |
| Lance Zitron & Christine Perone |
| Elizabeth Brackenbury & Jonathan Redford |
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