Classic cabaret for modern fans: love and fame in the big city

If there is a type of performing art that is underserved in Philadelphia, it’s cabaret — which is surprising, considering the plentiful number of music venues throughout the city. But the overwhelming majority of those venues specialize in other types of music, like rock, jazz, or folk. Classic traditional cabaret, the sort featuring legendary artists like Michael Feinstein and Barbara Cook, just hasn’t caught on in any significant way with Philadelphia audiences, despite past and present attempts. But fans of the form keep trying.

One of these fans is Rich Rubin, whose company, Quince Productions, puts on a weekend-long cabaret festival every summer, called Full House: A Series of Cabarets. This will be Rubin’s sixth year presenting a lineup of vocal artists, including established talents and new discoveries, who collectively explore all the styles and forms that classic cabaret has to offer. The entire series takes place in Society Hill Playhouse’s Red Room, which lends a slightly decadent Paris-in-the-30s feel, taking audiences back to an era when this sort of cabaret represented the ultimate in sophisticated entertainment.

Full House has proven popular with fans of this type of music, and every year Rubin pulls together a program featuring some of the best vocal talent in Philadelphia, both male and female. Rubin says this year’s lineup has a lot of openly gay artists, but that doesn’t mean it’s a niche show — the performances are for everyone.

There will be a total of seven distinct shows from Thursday, June 12 through Sunday, June 15. Alexander Kacala opens the festival with “I Am Faymeproblems,” which Quince calls “a gay cabaret [that] explores fame and the desire for it.” (Kacala will donate his share of the proceeds to the William Way Gay and Lesbian Community Center.)

On Friday, June 13, Shanna Massad with Mick Loro present “I’m a Princess, Dammit!”, which is “a free-spirited look at what it’s like to hit the half-century.” Later that night, performances include Julia Kershetsky’s “Livin’ the Dream!”, songs and stories about “moving to the big city and falling madly in love.”

The festival continues on Saturday, June 14, including Elizabeth Holmes’s “Dude Looks Like a Lady #notliterally #agenderbendingcabaret” — a lighthearted look at gender roles. “When a woman sings songs originally performed by men, some take on a different meaning, and others are just more fun,” Rubin says. Samantha Morrone’s “b*+che$ B Cr@zy: an artfully self-indulgent but still charming cabaret” will finish Saturday’s shows.

Michael L. Medvidik’s “Happy: The Gay Cabaret” closes the festival. According to Rubin, it’s about the times when we’re truly happy, “whether these moments are imagined, felt alone, or with others.”

Quince Productions’ Full House: A Series of Cabarets is coming to the Red Room at Society Hill Playhouse, 507 South 8th Street, Philadelphia, from June 12-15. Ticket prices start at $25, including one free drink; two-show, three-show and full series passes are available at substantial discounts. For the full lineup, schedule, and ticket information, call 215-627-1088 or visit www.quinceproductions.com.