Submitted photo Cheyenne Jackson is scheduled to perform March 7.
Fresh from a Christmas show sellout of 400 tickets with star performer Darren Criss, the Columbus Indiana Philharmonic has announced its spring 2024 Cabaret at The Commons season. And it includes a longtime favorite who has sold out multiple shows in the past: singer and piano player Tony DeSare.
In fact, a show with DeSare back in summer 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic served as a replacement for a cancelled show originally meant to feature Cheyenne Jackson, back on the newest schedule.
Also back on the schedule is Gavin Creel, who performed here in February 2019.
The series, a partnership since 2015 with The Cabaret in Indianapolis, features national, marquee names from Broadway, television, film and elsewhere performing in intimate concerts usually with a small, acoustic backing ensemble. The events, which had averaged 350 people per concert before the COVID-19 pandemic, currently average 275 people, according to Donne Robinette, Philharmonic executive director.
“The goal is to get back up to about 325 (per shows),” said Robinette.
The concerts have drawn attendees from as far away as Cincinnati, Ohio, and Louisville, Kentucky, and elicited praise for their affordability that includes free parking and easy access at The Commons.
The schedule is as follows:
- March 7 – Cheyenne Jackson. The Emmy and Grammy-nominated artist was originally slated to perform with Megan Hilty, another favorite of the local crowd, June 18, 2020 before it was cancelled. He made his New York City 54 Below cabaret debut in September with a show that Playbill called “a love letter to his favorite roles on Broadway, singing selections from ‘Xanadu,’ ‘Finian’s Rainbow,’ ‘Aida,’ and more while sharing anecdotes and musings about his life in the theater.”
- April 4 – Tony DeSare. The jazz, soul and blues-oriented singer first performed locally in 2015 as part of the series. But he also has played sellouts with the orchestra as well. Plus, he even played an impromptu sidewalk concert on Washington Street in the past as part of the orchestra’s whimsical pop-up performances. He has played with orchestras across the country and is amid a current tour doing more of that.
- May 9 — Gavin Creel. The Tony Award-winning singer was so easygoing about media interviews before his last concert here that he conducted an a phone interview with The Republic while walking his then-10-year-old pooch Wally along New York City streets. For that 2019 show, he made a setlist, but gave pianist/music director Mary-Mitchell Campbell freedom, on a moment’s notice, to roam from stage numbers to varied covers to some of his original material from three studio albums at the time.
Tickets priced at $120 and up for the whole series are available to the general public beginning Jan. 8 at the cip.org, according to Robinette.
Single tickets from $45 and up will be available beginning Feb. 5.
