Patrick Cassidy Joins Upright Cabaret's VIVA LAS VEGAS Tonight, 6/8

Chris Isaacson has announced that Upright Cabaret's AMERICAN ICON Series ends another stunning season with VIVA LAS VEGAS - a presentation of personality and pop that honors the flashiest performers of all time: Elvis, Cher and Elton John.

Dazzling multi-media sets the stage as special Guest Host Jimmy James sets the slinky mood with impersonations of Vegas' biggest notables like Judy, Bette, Eartha and even Cher. Then, get naughty under the lights as larger-than-life voices scintillate #1 smash hits like Suspicious Minds, Jailhouse Rock, Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves, If I Could Turn Back Time, Benny & The Jets, Your Song and more.

Stage and Screen star Patrick Cassidy will be joining NBC's SMASH star Leslie Odom, Jr. ("SMASH," George Lucas' "Red Tails," Broadway: Leap of Faith) leads an all-star cast including Chad Doreck (iCarly, "Grease: You're The One That I Want"), Arielle Jacobs (Broadway: In The Heights) and recording artist Karissa Noel for this One Night Only special event. Led by Music Director Jamieson Trotter with the Upright Cabaret band.

This highly acclaimed series is now performing at four venues: in Hollywood at the Catalina Jazz Club, in Palm Springs at the Annenberg Theater, at La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts and Thousand Oaks Scherr Forum Theatre! Mr. Odom, Jr. will be appearing in Thousand Oaks at the Scherr Forum Theatre and in Hollywood at the Catalina Jazz Club only.

L.A.'s famed Upright Cabaret showcases the "next generation" of world-class performers with this NEW series entitled the "American Icon Series". Now in its third smash year, these evenings feature stars from American Idol to Broadway singing the #1 hits of our American Music Icons including Diana Ross, Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, Elton John, Carole King and more.

Upright Cabaret boasts one of the most extensive and diverse rosters of talent in the country with alumni including Frenchie Davis ("The Voice"), Adam Lambert ("American Idol"), Lea Michele ("Glee"), Neil Patrick Harris ("How I Met Your Mother"), Tony Award® winner Lea Salonga, Grammy® winners Paula Cole and Taylor Dayne plus cast members from over 75 Broadway productions including Wicked, Rent, Jersey Boys and Spamalot.

Patrick Cassidy - Recreated the role his father Jack Cassidy originated in 1966, in the Dallas Theater Center's production of It's a Bird It's a Plane It's Superman. He then went on to star opposite Patti LuPone in Annie Get Your Gun for the Ravinia Theater Festival, directed by Lonny Price. On Broadway he was last seen as Julian Marsh in 42nd Street, in Elton John's Aida (as well as the national tour for which he won the 2002 National Broadway Theater Award for Best Actor in a Touring Musical), Annie Get Your Gun, Pirates of Penzance, and Leader of the Pack. He originated the role of the Balladeer in Stephen Sondheim's Assassins at Playwrights Horizons and appeared in Lady in the Dark at City Center's Encores! National tours include Joseph in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat in 2000 and again in 2006. Regionally, he has been seen in Conrack (Helen Hayes nomination) at Ford's Theater, Martin Guerre at the Hartford Stage, and The End of the Day at Williamstown Theatre Festival. Los Angeles appearances include: I Love My Wife and Threepenny Opera for Reprise (Garland Award for Best Actor in a Musical); Bobby in Company with Carol Burnett; Love Letters; and Assassins (LATC). Other theatre credits include: The Music Man at the Kennedy Center which he directed and starred in.Carousel, Little Shop of Horrors, and Camelot. His films include Longtime Companion, I'll Do Anything, I Won't Dance and Burning Love. He starred in the TV miniseries Dress Grey (Emmy nomination) and Napoleon & Josephine as well as TV movies-of-the-week Oklahoma City, Something in Common, Christmas Eve, How the West Was Fun, and Follow Your Heart.

He was also a series regular on the recent sit-com for ABC Family, Ruby & the Rockits as well as NBC's Bay City Blues, CBS' Dirty Dancing, HBO's Perversions of Science and the WB's Smallville. He has Guest starred on Law & Order SVU, Castle, Perception, for TNT, Crossing Jordan, Without a Trace, According to Jim, CSI Miami and ER. His one man show Just Act Normal is an autobiographical look at what it was like growing up in a family where everyone around the dinner table was in Show Business. Patrick has recently opened up his own Acting Academy entitled Hollywood Stage Academy.

Leslie Odom, Jr. is having a good year. It began with a breakout role in the George Lucas WWII epic Red Tails. Memorable turns on television included a standout performance opposite Don Cheadle in the debut season of Showtime's House of Lies and the introduction of a new fan favorite character on CW's Supernatural. Leslie was also seen weekly this Spring on the NBC musical drama Smash as "Sam Strickland." Odom, Jr. was highlighted weekly for his honest and heartfelt work. "Stand," the duet he performed in the show's penultimate episode with Katherine McPhee is currently the number one selling single off the soundtrack available on iTunes. Odom, Jr. also starred in the short-lived Broadway musical Leap of Faith in the Spring. He was noted for his powerful stage presence and smooth vocals. For his performance he was nominated for a Drama League Award and a Fred Astaire Award. Other television credits include Grey's Anatomy, CSI: Miami, Vanished, Big Day, Zeke and Luther, and Gilmore Girls among others. On Broadway, Odom, Jr. holds the distinction of being the youngest ever to be added to the Broadway company of Rent. Leslie was a 17-year-old High School Senior when he went into the show. Odom, Jr. graduated with honors from Carnegie Mellon University's prestigious School of Drama and is a Princess Grace Award winner for Acting. He is engaged to the beautiful and brilliant actress, Nicolette Robinson.

Chad Doreck - Having recently returned from NYC where he starred for Director Joel Zwick in the pre-Broadway workshop of the new musical SERRANO: Lover, Poet... Hitman!, Chad is glad to be back in his hometown and making his debut with Upright Cabaret. After coming in third on NBC's Grease: You're the One That I Want, Chad starred off-Broadway in the NYC Outer Critics award winning musical Altar Boyz. Credits include LA Stage: Gidget (Dir. Francis Ford Coppola), The Robber Bridegroom, Scary Musical and Storyville (Dir Ken Page). TV: iCarly, NCIS, NYPD Blue, Touched By an Angel, Greg Brady in The Brady Bunch in the White House (MOW) Film: Death Without Consent, Jackass II.

Arielle Jacobs Broadway: In The Heights (Nina Rosario, dir.Thomas Kail). National Tours: NAL TOURS: In The Heights (Nina); High School Musical (Gabriella, dir. Jeff Calhoun).. Broadway Workshops: It Shoulda Been You (dir. David Hyde Pierce), Nightingale (by Steven Sater and Duncan Sheik, dir. Moises Kaufman), Mask (dir. Richard Maltby, Jr.), GoGo Beach. Regional: Shakespeare Theatre Company of DC: Two Gentlemen of Verona (Julia); Theater of the Stars: High School Musical 1 and Northshore Music Theater: Cinderella; Contemporary American Theater Festival: The Rose of Corazon. Film: Water Lilies; Silver Screen Dreams. Television: Disney 365;Commander in Chief; Dance Wars. Concerts: 20th Annual Divas Simply Singing (with Chaka Khan, Teena Marie, and Sheryl Lee Ralph); Making Good (with Stephen Schwartz at Ford Amphitheater). Other: Created the eco-website www.HelpHealTheEarth.com which educates kids on how to help save our planet; a published author in the holistic Journey Magazine and the women-empowered Canadian Lifestyle Magazine WOMAN.ca. Training: New York University: BM with honors.

Jimmy James - Singer-Songwriter/Recording & Tribute Artist Jimmy James will be the special guest-host for the Upright Cabaret's American ICON Series final show of the third season: Viva Las Vegas: The music of Elton John, Cher and Elvis Presley. As a voice impressionist, James astounds audiences with his dead-on impersonations of Cher, Eartha Kitt, Barbra Streisand, Judy Garland, Liza Minnelli, Bette Davis, Billie Holiday and more. His self-penned hit Fashionista has burned the dance floors world-wide. Hailing from New York City, James now resides in beautiful Sunny Los Angeles. He has performed for Elton John, Whoopi Goldberg, Patti LaBelle and others.

Karissa Noel has been singing longer than she's been walking, but she has yet to master doing the two simultaneously. After acting in various commercials and television shows throughout her formative years, at 19 she decided to concentrate solely on her singing. A former Epic Records recording artist, with a hit song that is still played in the dance clubs of NYC, Noel (who has self diagnosed herself as having Multiple Vocal Personality Disorder) is now using her vocal versatility to help others...sell stuff (in other words, she sings jingles). She has been a part of Upright Cabaret's family of performers for the past several years, appearing in last year's American Icon Series: Cowboys and Angels, singing the songs of Patsy Cline and Loretta Lynn, Upright Cabaret's A Broadway Christmas and most recently singing back-up for three time Grammy Award-nominee Taylor Dayne's new theatrical concert, Tell It To My Heart.

Jamieson Trotter (Musical Director) returns to Upright Cabaret following his work on Rhythm of the Night. When Jamieson Trotter was four years old, he went into the den where his father had been practicing the piano and began playing what his Dad had just finished working on. As the story goes, his father peeked into the room and just said, "I'm in deep shit." He started lessons for Jamieson the next day. Jamieson Trotter attended school at California Institute of the Arts, learning from the great bass player Charlie Haden. He has also studied with Joe LaBarbera, Larry Koonse, and even the harmonically challenging Waddada Leo Smith (formerly of the Chicago Art Ensemble). Jamieson's hands have played small roles in a few movies. He was Val Kilmer's piano hands in "The Salton Sea," and Debra Winger's coach for "Eulogy" with Ray Ramano. Jamieson has eclectic tastes in the kinds of music he enjoys playing. He wrote, co-produced, and played on Roxy Especial's debut release which mixed latin style with pop song forms right around the same time he was co-composing the lion's share of songs from Shira Myrow's "Slow Burner." Shortly after that, he co-wrote, produced, arranged, and played radio personality, Tera Bonilla's (of Movin' 93) lastest and greatest mix of old school sounding latin gems. Carol Bach y Rita and Mark Winkler both have critically acclaimed jazz albums with Jamieson's hands on keys.

From small clubs to major theatres, Isaacson has produced some of the most influential stars of his generation including Adam Lambert (American Idol), Lea Michele (Glee, Spring Awakening), Neil Patrick Harris (CBS's How I Met Your Mother & ABC's Doogie Howser, M.D.), Grammy Award-nominee Natasha Bedingfield, 3x Grammy Nominee Taylor Dayne, Grammy-winner Paula Cole and more.

Isaacson is also creator/founder of LAs renowned Upright Cabaret which has been redefining the cabaret milieu for a new generation of audiences in Los Angeles since 2005. Upright Cabaret seeks to celebrate old style cabaret while simultaneously turning it on its ear, bringing young Broadway and young Hollywood together in a live setting.

Isaacson produces concerts and events at many of the most reputable theaters and concert venues in Los Angeles including Ford Amphitheatre, The Music Box, The Grove, The Americana at Brand, La Mirada Theatre Theater for the Performing Arts, Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza, The Annenberg Theater and recently, as Entertainment Director of Rolling Stone Magazine's first live venue in at Hollywood & Highland in Hollywood called Rolling Stone Live!

His concerts have been featured on Access Hollywood, EXTRA, ABC's On The Red Carpet, KTLA 5 Morning News, the L.A. Times and New York Post. Please visit www.ChrisIsaacsonPresents.com.

VIVA LAS VEGAS will perform at the Annenberg Theater (101 Museum Drive, Palm Springs, Calif.) on Friday, June 8, 2012 at 8:00PM, featuring the music of Elvis Presley, Elton John and Cher. Tickets are $35-$55, by calling the Box Office at 760.325.4490 or online at http://www.psmuseum.org.

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