Feature: The Days Of Cabaret Gratitude - Day Twenty-Eight: The Star

The Days Of Cabaret Gratitude

Day Twenty-Eight: The Star - Janine LaManna

What, everyone was asking themselves, is taking Janine LaManna so long?  When, all the people were wondering, is Janine LaManna going to do her own solo show?  After all, the star of some seven Broadway productions and even more symphony concerts (with enormous orchestras) had occasions to appear in group cabarets and to jump up for a guest spot or a duet in the shows of her industry chums.  Why the wait?

Because the waiting is the best part.

Janine LaManna is a woman of accomplishment.  She decided early in her life to go on the stage and to become a star.  She did her due diligence, she learned how to sing, she learned how to dance, and she learned how to act.  She did not need to learn how to do a letter-perfect impersonation of Cher - that was living inside of her, waiting to come out.  Janine LaManna did that which the actors do: she came to the city, she auditioned, she got cast, she worked, and she worked hard.  She even became a part of Broadway legend.  She could never have known (because could anyone have known, really?) that Seussical would become one of the most frequently produced musicals in the history of American musical theater, and that, for the rest of her life, little girls and young women would fall in love with Gertrude McFuzz and throw themselves into their own portrayals of the character that she created.  That’s what happened, though, and as long as there are schools and regional theaters producing the play, as long as there are girls and women recreating the character, Janine LaManna will be blessed with a happy abundance of letters and emails of appreciation and solidarity.

So, with all of this in her history and her heart, what was stopping Janine LaManna from producing her own cabaret show?

Well, it was all in the timing.

In 2023 the timing was right and Janine LaManna presented her debut solo show… but this was no ordinary first-time musical cabaret.  This was a full-on Las Vegas nightclub act, with a band playing exquisite arrangements, dazzling choreography, glitz, glamor, legs, sequins, feather boas, epic musical numbers, and a ukulele.  Whatever Janine LaManna was waiting for, the time had come and BLACK AND GOLD premiered to a full house of screaming, cheering, stomping members of the audience who knew that Janine could do it, but they didn’t know that she could do THIS.  The crowd was not surprised but they were stunned.  Gertrude McManna had cracked the cabaret code, she had arrived on the scene, and she had presented a PERFECT CABARET DEBUT IN 2023.  Janine LaManna had waited until it felt right, and, boy, was it right.  So…

Here she is, boys.

Read a Broadway World Cabaret review of Janine LaManna HERE

Janine has no upcoming projects but Broadway World Cabaret is hoping for an encore engagement of BLACK AND GOLD.  When it happens we will bring our readers the news.

Janine’s pronouns are she/her/hers.

Janine's preferred online presence is on Facebook:  HERE  

Photos by Stephen Mosher

Photo editing by Robbie Rozelle

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