Chicago Cabaret Professionals Announce Annual Gala

After two years of producing their annual galas online, due to the pandemic, Chicago Cabaret Professionals will hold their 2022 Gala in-person at Epiphany Center for the Arts on Monday, October 17.

The event will feature performances by 20 cabaret artists along with the presentation of the 2022 Chicago Cabaret Professionals Awards, and a raffle. The Gala is open to the public and tickets range from $40 for General Admission to $75 for VIP Cabaret Tables.

"The Gala will have a phenomenal lineup of local and national performers singing the Great American Songbook, jazz, blues, pop, and more!," says Anne Pringle Burnell, president of Chicago Cabaret Professionals. "We're also very excited to be hosting the event in the glorious Epiphany Hall at Epiphany Center for the Arts, one of the new performance spaces in the heart of Chicago."

Award-winners being recognized at the Gala

Seven awards will be presented at the Gala, including the Chicago Cabaret Professionals National Award to Jeff Harnar, a performer and director who has won multiple Broadway World, MAC, and Bistro Awards. Harnar has had three of his concerts broadcast on PBS and has performed at Carnegie Hall in both the Cole Porter and Noel Coward Centennials galas. He has directed critically acclaimed solo shows for Tovah Feldshuh and Rita Gardner, and he was Artistic Director/Host for three seasons of "The American Songbook in London." Also, Harnar has been Co-Host and Artistic Director for nine concerts of The Mabel Mercer Foundation's annual Cabaret Convention.

In addition to Harnar, six Chicago Cabaret Professionals will be receiving awards at the Gala.

Laura Freeman will be the Gold Coast Honoree. She is an Equity actress and has toured the US and Europe extensively in such productions as Into the Woods, as the Witch and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, as the Narrator. As a cabaret performer, Freeman has created tributes to Doris Day, Julie Andrews, the USO performers of WW2, along with salutes to Broadway and Hollywood.

Charles Troy will be receiving the Chicago Cabaret Lifetime Achievement Award. He is a popular speaker and presenter, and is an acclaimed musical theatre historian and graphic designer. He has created over 50 multi-media shows on theater history since 2006, presented to countless local and national audiences. The shows combine rare photos, original graphics, edited audio tracks and video clips, live performers, and a scripted narrative. His work has also been published in The Sondheim Review.

Cynthia Clarey will be receiving the Chicago Cabaret Advocacy Award for her show "Bridge Over Muddied Waters," drawing on her personal experience of growing up in the South in the 1950s and her knowledge of the joyful power of music. Her performance was widely praised for inspiring discussion about the disharmony prevalent in America today with humor, hope, and heart. In her long career, Clarey has appeared in major roles in the important opera houses and concert halls of Europe, including her brilliant portrayals of Carmen and other opera heroines.

Wydetta Carter will be receiving the Chicago Cabaret Service Award, for hosting Cabaret Beat, an online interview series with cabaret artists, and for her contributions as a member of the Chicago Cabaret Professionals Production Committee. Carter is an accomplished stage actor and performer, and her credits include Porgy and Bess, Menopause the Musical, and Unspeakable. She serves as First Vice President of Actors' Equity Association, the first Black officer to serve the union in over 40 years, and the highest-ranking Black woman in the history of Equity.

Tommy Hensel will be receiving the Chicago Cabaret Presenter Award. Hensel is Senior Director of Performing Arts at Elgin Community College Arts Center. He has more than 30 years of working professionally as a director, actor, and arts presenter.

LaShera Moore is Chicago Cabaret Emerging Artist, and winner of the Denise Tomasello Scholarship Award. She is a graduate from Columbia College, and an accomplished singer, lyricist, and actress. She has performed in a variety of venues and in a range of musical styles: Country, Gospel, Pop, Rock, Jazz, and R&B soul.