Bay Area Cabaret Announces 2022 Spring Season

In celebration of Bay Area Cabaret's 10th anniversary at the famed Venetian Room, Fairmont San Francisco, two multi-award winning fabulous singing stars from Broadway will be presented in concert this spring: Santino Fontana, the extraordinary lead from the cross-dressing musical Tootsie, on Sunday, April 10; and Stephanie J. Block, the sensational star of the mega-hit musical, The Cher Show, on Sunday, June 5. Both artists will surely delight audiences with iconic songs from Broadway musical theater and the Great American Songbook.

Marilyn Levinson, Founder and Executive Producer of Bay Area Cabaret said, "I'm thrilled to finally launch the 2022 Bay Area Cabaret season after two years of no performances due to the corona virus. Special to this opening will be Santino Fontana, an artist I have long admired and been wanting to present. He's truly one of the most talented and sought-after singing actors on the Broadway/concert stage today and I can't wait to introduce him to the Bay Area audience. Our short season will conclude with a knock-out performance by Stephanie Block, a critically acclaimed veteran of so many landmark Broadway musicals and television shows. I look forward to welcoming back the audience to the elegant Venetian Room for these two memorable concerts."

Santino Fontana, Sunday, April 10 at 5.00 p.m.

Making his San Francisco concert debut with Bay Area Cabaret, Santino Fontana won the 2019 Tony Award for his electrifying dual performance in Tootsie. His Broadway credits include Hello, Dolly! (with Bette Midler), Cinderella, and The Importance of Being Earnest. He is perhaps best known for lending his voice to Prince Hans in Disney's Frozen. Other credits include Sisters opposite Tina Fey & Amy Poehler, and Off the Menu, Fosse/Verdon, Mozart in the Jungle, The Good Wife and Nurse Jackie. Fans are eagerly awaiting his return as Boise for four episodes in the upcoming season of the Emmy-winning The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, on Prime February 18, and will recognize him from the critically acclaimed Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, and NBC's Shades of Blue, opposite Jennifer Lopez.

As an interpreter of the Great American Songbook, Fontana has sung with the New York Philharmonic, National Symphony Orchestra, Houston Symphony, Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Sesame Street Muppets and at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, The Kennedy Center, and more. A native Californian, the Spanish-Portuguese-Italian singing actor, Santino Fontana hails from Stockton. Santino Fontana will be joined April 10 with his renowned music director, Andrew Buorgoin.

STEPHANIE BLOCK, Sunday, June 5 at 7.30 p.m.

Stephanie J. Block, 2019 Tony Award-winner (The Cher Show), and Tony-nominee (Lincoln Center's Falsettos and The Mystery of Edwin Drood), has established herself as one of the most relevant and versatile voices in contemporary musical theatre. She originated the role of Liza Minnelli in The Boy from Oz (opposite Hugh Jackman). Block is best known for her portrayal of Elphaba in the Broadway company of WICKED as well as originating the role in the First National Tour for which she won multiple awards including the prestigious Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical.

Block has sung with numerous symphony orchestras including the NY Pops at Carnegie Hall, Boston Pops, National Symphony Orchestra (under the baton of Marvin Hamlisch), Dallas Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, and the Cleveland Pops among many others. Her numerous television credits include Madam Secretary, Orange is the New Black, Homeland, Rise and It Could Be Worse. A native of La Brea, California, Block and her actor husband, Sebastian Arcelus, reside in Sacramento. www.stephaniejblock.com

Bay Area Cabaret is a 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization that presents extraordinary performances by high-caliber artists in a variety of elegant venues in the San Francisco Bay Area. For decades, cabaret was a mainstay type of entertainment throughout the world. Our goal is to not only reintroduce this wonderful type of entertainment but to expand the definition of cabaret by integrating its tradition of intimate settings along with a more modern approach - which includes the affinity and connection between artist and material along with the intimacy between artist and audience - and expanding it to include not only the Great American Songbook but jazz, Broadway, blues and pop. Since Bay Area Cabaret started in 2004, the organization has presented the kind of celebrity artists you don't often get to see in the Bay Area - Grammy, Emmy, Tony and Academy Award-winning artists such as Chita Rivera, John Pizzarelli & Jessica Molaskey, Barbara Cook, Marvin Hamlisch, and Leslie Odom, Jr.

In 2010, the Fairmont San Francisco approached Bay Area Cabaret to reopen its legendary Venetian Room, one of the most elegant showrooms in the world - where Tony Bennett first sang "I Left My Heart In San Francisco" and artists such as Ella Fitzgerald, Peggy Lee, Nat King Cole, Tina Turner and The Supremes performed on a regular basis. After being "dark" for 21 years, Bay Area Cabaret is proud to call the Venetian Room "home" as the sole presenters of live entertainment in this glorious venue.

Tickets for each upcoming Bay Area Cabaret program are $90 pp and go on sale March 1. To purchase tickets, visit bayareacabaret.org or phone (415) 927-4636.

Acting out of an abundance of caution in order to try to protect its artists, staff and audience from the risk of COVID-19 infection, Bay Area Cabaret will limit the Venetian Room seating capacity dramatically for these two performances. All ticket-holders for both spring programs will be required to show proof of full COVID-19 vaccination and required to wear a mask during the performance. For these performances only, drinks will not be permitted in the Venetian Room, but may be enjoyed in the adjacent Laurel Court prior to the performance. The Venetian Room, Fairmont San Francisco is located at 950 Mason Street atop Nob Hill.

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