ARTS & CULTURE INTIMATE ENTERTAINMENT

By Matt KING

One internet dictionary says cabaret can be defined as “a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music, song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, a casino, a hotel, a restaurant or a nightclub with a stage for performances.”

In the case of CVRep’s Summer Cabaret Series, the venue is the newish, gorgeous and intimate CVRep Playhouse. On most Thursdays through Aug. 24, CVRep will host a number of different performers, representing a wide variety of genres. In July, you can enjoy Miguel Bernal and his Flamenco Company (July 13), internationally acclaimed tenor Maximo Marcuso (July 20), and Broadway performer and EMI recording artist Christia Mantzke (July 27).

This year’s series has been running since May, and during a recent interview, CVRep executive artistic director Adam Karsten said the shows have been well-attended so far. “People seem to be loving it,” Karsten said.

“The difficulty is getting people to know that it’s here, and who we’re bringing into the valley—because the talent is really quite remarkable. We have not just Tony Award nominees and Broadway veterans, but a wide variety of talent and artists who are going to share those experiences with us and the audiences on Thursday nights. In July, we’re going to have a flamenco company, an operatic tenor and a Billboard Award-winning recording artist.”

Karsten said it is important, from the business side of things, to keep these experiences affordable.

“We try to keep our ticket prices fair for that type of an event at $45, and the response has been really positive,” said Karsten. “What’s unique about this is that you get a very intimate experience. These cabaret performances where it’s just the artist, breaking the fourth wall, and really talking to the audience, it’s wonderful.

“It’s really great, because you experience (the performances) in a very personal way, and you also are able to see the rawness, the uniqueness, and the brilliance of the talent of each of these acts. If you see something like flamenco, and you’re in a 1,200-seat house, and you’re in the first or second or sometimes third balcony, you don’t experience it the same way as when you’re 20 feet away. In that regard, it’s really wonderful and pretty amazing.”

Beyond the Summer Cabaret Series, CVRep is hard at work on a new program to find the next big Broadway show.

“One of the things that we do, and we’re really trying to do at a whole other level, is revivals of Broadway works, Golden Age works, but also new work,” said Karsten. “We’ve started a new work development program where we’re looking for the next Broadway show, and we’re pretty confident that’s going to be the end result of that, even though it’s going to take some time. It’s a safe space for writers, for creatives and for artists to come to the desert and work on their works at no cost. CVRep absorbs all the costs, and then we select one of those works each year and put it into our season, and we produce it. It’s a unique experience in that it’s at no cost to the writers and the creative teams, but it benefits everybody. … That’s where I believe our success path lies.”

Karsten came to the Coachella Valley last year and just completed his first season as CVRep’s executive artistic director. He said discovering the Coachella Valley’s deep attachment to theater was a very welcome surprise.

“It was really not knowledge or information that I knew of before,” Karsten said. “My career was in New York and on the East Coast, so I was not aware of the depth of the support, the depth of the actual Broadway veteran community, and the knowledge of the theater-audience patrons. That was a surprise to me, but very welcomed.”

CVRep’s mission is to provide “thoughtprovoking theater of substance,” per their website. Karsten explained how the Summer

Cabaret Series furthers that mission.

“A lot of times, we think of that (statement) with storylines and themes that create obstacles for the characters,” Karsten said. “When you attend these cabarets, they’re almost always personal in nature, and you learn of the journey of the artist, and you learn what they’ve overcome, or what they’re struggling with, or what they’re loving, or what their passions are. I find that inspiring, so that’s one of the reasons I feel it really fits into what I look for. When I ask artists to join us, they share human experiences that we all feel … and things that we have to overcome. The success of that is what I find inspiring and uplifting, and therefore, in many ways, thought-provoking.”

The CVRep Summer Cabaret Series continues at 7 p.m. most Thursdays through Aug. 24 at the CVRep Playhouse, at 68510 E. Palm Canyon Drive, in Cathedral City. Tickets are $45. For tickets or more information, call 760-296-2966, or visit cvrep.org.