Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

It’s a cabaret doubleheader this week as ‘Cast Party,’ Composers Showcase give Cabaret Jazz a workout

‘Cast Party’ at Cabaret Jazz

Las Vegas Sun

Frankie Moreno sings during a performance of the Broadway-based open mic and variety show “Cast Party” on Wednesday, June 19, 2013, at Cabaret Jazz in the Smith Center.

Cast Party at Cabaret Jazz

Tara Palsha accompanied by Bill Fayne, sings during a performance of the Broadway-based open mic and variety show Cast Party Wednesday, June 19, 2013 at Cabaret Jazz at the Smith Center. Launch slideshow »

Composers Showcase at Cabaret Jazz

Keith Thompson, musical director for Launch slideshow »

In the vicinity of these two showmen, no open mic is safe.

We talk of the esteemed Jim Caruso and the similarly esteemed Keith Thompson, both of whom are bringing showcase performances to Cabaret Jazz at the Smith Center for the Performing Arts this week.

Caruso is back with his freewheeling “Cast Party,” set for 9:30 p.m. Tuesday. Tickets are still available and are $20 and $30 at the Smith Center box office. Trust me, this is a high volume of high-volume entertainment.

Often attempting to attract even “ventriloquial” artists, Caruso typically arrives with a list scrawled on a notepad and reads the names of folks he expects to perform. It’s often a scramble to the stage and always a madcap path to the finish with Mr. Caruso and his piano sidekick Billy Stritch.

The two have been performing at Birdland in Manhattan for the past decade and in March took the show to the Appel Room at Lincoln Center in New York. These performances are Caruso’s great passion, as it gives him a chance to tell his wildly entertaining tales of Liza Minnelli, Charles Nelson Reilly and growing up in Dallas, where he once co-starred in a nightclub show titled “Son of a Bitch.”

Caruso’s co-star in that show was his mother.

Over the past couple of years in Las Vegas, Caruso has drawn such stars as Donny Osmond and Susan Anton to the shows, along with Clint Holmes, Frankie Moreno, Reva Rice, Eric Jordan Young and members of “Vegas! The Show” “Jersey Boys” and “Phantom – the Las Vegas Spectacular.” The list is always fluid, and Caruso is forever seeking an Osmond, a ventriloquist and an Elvis impressionist to fill out the field.

On 

Wednesday, “Jersey Boys” music director Thompson brings back the Composers Showcase, which is typically sold out, all the way, for its monthly performances. Show time is 9:30 p.m., tickets $20, and it would not hurt to check the Smith Center box office on the day of the show to see if any tickets have been returned to the venue.

The Showcase unearths many gems; most recently, numbers from Richard Oberacker’s “Bandstand” have been unveiled at these performances, and Oberacker might well have a major hit in the making based on the reception of the show in its full showcases in New York (more on that in an upcoming column).

This is the first time “Cast Party” and Composers Showcase have been held the same week. The two shows are similar in that they are variety presentations. But they are unalike as Thompson has a setlist of scheduled artists who work out original songs for the audience.

Comparatively, Caruso and Stritch pretty much just let it fly, but, because this is Las Vegas, both shows are winners.

Follow John Katsilometes on Twitter at Twitter.com/JohnnyKats. Also, follow “Kats With the Dish” at Twitter.com/KatsWiththeDish.

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