Bay Area Cabaret Announces Fall Line-up for 2011-2012 Season, Opens 9/16

Bay Area Cabaret, the local non-profit organization devoted to presenting audiences with top performers who expand the definition of cabaret, has announced its Fall 2011 lineup for the 2011-2012 season, Venetian Evenings. Opening the season September 16, 2011 is Tony-winning singer/actress Lea Salonga, star of Broadway's Miss Saigon and Les Misérables and Disney films Aladdin and Mulan, followed Saturday, October 22 by television (The O.C.), film, and Broadway star Peter Gallagher, and December 11, 2011 by Grammy-nominated jazz vocalist Stacey Kent. The series continues in 2012 with two-time Tony winner Christine Ebersole, jazz guitarist/singer John Pizzarelli, and Tony winner and star of NBC's new series The Playboy Club, Laura Benanti.

After several seasons of presenting shows in diverse elegant showrooms, Bay Area Cabaret found a permanent home last year when it was invited to reopen the Fairmont Hotel's historic Venetian Room, which had been dark as an entertainment venue for over 21 years. Following a gala opening, the company presented its most successful season to date, featuring such musical legends as Oscar, Grammy, Tony, and Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Marvin Hamlisch, Chita Rivera, Anika Noni Rose, and Lillias White and its first ever Bay Area Teen Idol competition, with judges from American Idol and Wicked, and host Manoel Felciano. Having been awarded exclusive music booking rights to the Venetian Room, Bay Area Cabaret now presents its eighth season in the city's legendary showroom.

Said Marilyn Levinson, Founding Executive Producer of Bay Area Cabaret, "The city's music patrons have given an enthusiastic reception to Bay Area Cabaret's first musical season in the Venetian Room. With performances by top caliber artists, and a classic renovation of both the Laurel Court restaurant and its menu, San Franciscans are flocking to Nob Hill to enjoy the glamour reminiscent of the city's golden age." From 1947 to 1989, the Venetian Room reigned supreme as the city's premier showroom. It was here that Tony Bennett introduced his signature song, ‘I Left My Heart in San Francisco' and show business legends like Ella Fitzgerald, Marlene Dietrich, Tina Turner, Peggy Lee, Nat ‘King' Cole, and many others held forth for more than four decades.

Subscribers to the six-show series receive substantial ticket discounts and reserved seats. For all patrons of Bay Area Cabaret, the Fairmont Hotel offers a three-course dinner in the Laurel Court for $40 (plus tax and tip), plus free parking for all who dine in the Laurel Court.

Bay Area Cabaret was founded by Marilyn Levinson, a fifth generation San Francisco native, and niece of James Schwabacher, Jr., founder of San Francisco Opera's 27-year-old Schwabacher Debut Recital Series. Bay Area Cabaret (BAC) is a not-for profit,all-volunteer organization, which presents extraordinary performances at the Fairmont San Francisco's legendary Venetian Room. Through its concert series and wide-ranging outreach activities, BAC aims to expand the definition of cabaret and broaden the audience for intimate entertainment, offering Great American Songbook entries from Harold Arlen and Stephen Sondheim to Jonathan Larson and Stevie Wonder. Past seasons have featured Sutton Foster, Chita Rivera, Barbara Cook, jazz vocalists Nnenna Freelon and Jane Monheit, Broadway stars Anika Noni Rose, Anthony Rapp, Adam Pascal, and Lillias White, sopranos Patricia Racette and Karen Slack, and multi-platinum singer/songwriters Melissa Manchester and Ann Hampton Callaway.

Tickets for individual concerts start at $45 general/$40 subscribers and are available at www.bayareacabaret.org or by phone at City Box Office (415) 392-4400. Subscriptions, and discounts for groups of 8 or more are available directly from Bay Area Cabaret at (415) 927-4636. For Bay Area Cabaret 2011-2012 season subscriptions, or for more information including audio and video samples, visit www.bayareacabaret.org.

INDIVIDUAL CONCERT INFORMATION (Fall Artists):

Lea Salonga

When: 8 pm Friday, September 16, 2011
Where: Venetian Room of the Fairmont San Francisco
950 Mason Street, atop Nob Hill, San Francisco
Tickets: $60 general/$50 subscribers (415) 392-4400 or www.bayareacabaret.org

Tony Award winner and international singing star, Lea Salonga received worldwide acclaim for her starring role as Kim in the original London production of the musical Miss Saigon. Ms. Salonga won the Olivier Award for "Best Actress in A Musical" while still a teen. Opening on Broadway two years later, she swept the season by winning the Tony Award, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, and Theater World Awards. This actress has since become a musical-theatre icon, starring in productions of Les Miserables, Cats, Flower Drum Song, Cinderella, and Into The Woods. As an actress and singer, she has starred in numerous films and TV shows as well as performing in concert around the world. In 2011, Ms. Salonga will be honored with the Disney Legend award, having created the singing voices for Princess Jasmine in Disney's Aladdin and Fa Mulan in Mulan and Mulan ll. She also just completed a critically-acclaimed run at New York's Café Carlyle where The New York Times noted, "Ms. Salonga's bright, metallically edged voice is a shiny all-purpose instrument that confidently establishes its dominion over whatever musical setting surrounds it."

Peter Gallagher

When: 8 pm Saturday, October 22, 2011
Where: Venetian Room of the Fairmont San Francisco
950 Mason Street, atop Nob Hill, San Francisco
Tickets: $45 general/ $40 subscribers (415) 392-4400 or www.bayareacabaret.org

Tony nominated actor/singer Peter Gallagher brings his critically acclaimed cabaret debut Songs And Stories to the Venetian Room to make his West Coast cabaret debut. Although well-known for his acting roles in films such as American Beauty, sex, lies and videotapes and The Player, as well as his role on TV's The O.C., Peter Gallagher also boasts an extensive background in musical theatre. After Broadway roles in Hair and Grease, he made his movie debut as a 50's teen idol in the cult classic, The Idolmaker. While his film success seemed to overshadow his musical roots, he has returned to Broadway many times, receiving rave reviews for his singing while starring in Guys And Dolls and Pal Joey (opposite Patti LuPone). And after surprising fans and critics alike while singing a cover of Solomon Burke's "Don't Give Up On Me" on a pivotal episode of The O.C., he was quickly signed by Sony Music to record his highly-praised and best-selling album, the soulful 7 Days In Memphis. In Songs and Stories, Mr. Gallagher reaches into the Great American Songbook as well as Broadway to cover his life and career. About Songs and Stories, The New York Times said, "What makes Mr. Gallagher's gift of gab so special is how naturally it extends to singing. He inhabits a song so comfortably that it flows directly out, a fusion of his own personality and the character he is playing." The review went on to describe his voice as "warm, flexible and unaffected ... powerful and expressive."

Stacey Kent

When: 5 pm Sunday, December 11, 2011
Where: Venetian Room of the Fairmont San Francisco
950 Mason Street, atop Nob Hill, San Francisco
Tickets: $45 general/ $40 subscribers (415) 392-4400 or www.bayareacabaret.org

Grammy Award nominee and internationally-renowned jazz vocalist Stacey Kent makes her Bay Area Cabaret debut and first Bay Area appearance in several years. Since the release of her first album, Close Your Eyes in 1997, Ms. Kent has achieved critical and popular success around the world, becoming a best-selling, award-winning artist performing in concert halls from Carnegie Hall, to the Olympia in Paris to Chiang Kai-shek Concert Hall in Taipei. She has more than eight albums to her credit, including the Grammy nominated and platinum-selling Breakfast On The Morning Tram and gold-selling albums In Love Again and Raconte-Moi (which was the 2nd best-selling French language album worldwide, outside of France, in 2010) and her July 2011 release, Hushabye Mountain. Among her numerous awards and accolades, are the BBC Best Jazz Vocalist, Backstage Bistro Award for best live performance and Chevalier Dans L'Order Des Arts et Des Lettres from the French Minister of Culture. Clint Eastwood, Sir David Frost, and Aerosmith front-man/American Idol judge Steven Tyler all list Stacey Kent among their favorite vocalists.

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