criticalrant.com Alexandra Bonifield

Diana Sheehan. Mark Oristano photo

Bring on the glam! If you missed the incomparable Diana Sheehan’s sold out, “Best of the Loop” Cabaret performance at this year’s Out of the Loop Festival at WaterTower Theatre, here’s your chance to rectify that. Sheehan brings her unique blend of saucy sophistication, mystery, elegance and sterling musicianship to Kurth Hall at the Sammons Center for the Arts Thursday October 18, as part of the Sammons Center’s spanking new, upscale Cabaret Series.

In this one night only performance, billed “Nobody’s Hart”, Sheehan pays tribute to Lorenz Hart, the lyricist half of the song writing team of Rodgers and Hart.  In the 20+ song, two set performance, including some of Hart’s best loved songs from 1925 through 1942, Sheehan will demonstrate, as a chanteuse of her caliber can, what earned Lorenz Hart the title of “Poet of Broadway”. From 1930’s “Dancing on the Ceiling” to 1937’s “I Wish I Were In Love Again” to 1940’s “I Could Write A Book”, she will kindle the keen admiration in today’s audiences that earned Hart adoration half a century ago. Leading regional pianist James McQuillen accompanies Sheehan.

Why Diana Sheehan chose Lorenz Hart as this cabaret’s focus: “Lorenz Hart was an incredible innovator, but he’s been often forgotten, overshadowed by Richard Rodgers’ next collaborator, Oscar Hammerstein….

The fetching gown….

Hart was the first to write lyrics for musicals the way people actually think and talk. I wanted to do a show focused on him, to give him his due. He was the first to adapt Shakespeare into musical theatre format (“The Boys From Syracuse”). His lyrics have been described as “Chaplinesque”; they possess a sweetness blended with sorrow and a hint of bite.” Sheehan will perform in a full-length gown created for her to foster the Hart era’s ambience, based on a 1931 Vogue original design. If you’re a truly appreciative audience, you just might persuade her to sing Lorenz Hart’s “My Funny Valentine” as her cabaret performance encore….

Dallas’ Sammons Arts Center has presented Jazz at the Sammons successfully for 23 years; the Cabaret Series is a new venture in 2012. A long established tradition on both East and West Coasts, it’s time cabaret garnered the spotlight in Big D. The Sammons’ intimate 100 seat Kurth Hall, with its elegant baby grand piano, excellent acoustics, follow spot and cabaret table seating, provides an ideal venue for Dallas audiences to enjoy the art form.

TICKETS: (214) 520-7789 www.sammonsartcenter.org

Ticket prices: $40.00/ $35.00 for Sammons Art Center members.  Ticket purchase includes complimentary champagne, wine, beer, soft drinks, coffee and light appetizers. Cocktail attire suggested.

Doors open 7:30pm. Show starts at 8pm.

Sammons Center for the Arts http://www.sammonsartcenter.org

Located at:  Historic Turtle Creek Pump Station

3630 Harry Hines Boulevard, Dallas, TX 75219

(Enter from Harry Hines Blvd. going north just before Oak Lawn)

For information about WaterTower Theatre’s Out of the Loop Festival, visit www.watertowertheatre.org

Article also posted on content partner  Theater Jones.com