There are certain phrases that make me nervous.
“Audience participation” is one of them.
“Open mic” is another.
Put the two together, add a Broadway entertainer, an internationally acclaimed pianist and more than twenty years of New York showbusiness, though, and you have my attention.
Jim Caruso’s Cast Party is packing its metaphorical bags and heading back across the Atlantic this November for three performances at Crazy Coqs in London.
And this isn’t one of those evenings where everybody knows exactly what is going to happen before the curtain goes up.
Jim Caruso hosts, Billy Stritch is at the piano and then, frankly, all bets appear to be off.
Cast Party has been part of New York nightlife since 2003, taking place every Monday at the legendary Birdland Jazz Club. Over the years it has brought together Broadway performers, jazz musicians, cabaret artists, emerging talent and aspiring singers – sometimes on the very same night.
There is no carefully guarded fourth wall here.
Members of the audience can become members of the cast.
Now, I spend my working life putting things through people’s letterboxes, so I understand the importance of knowing which side of something you’re supposed to be on. Audience on one side. Performers on the other. Nice and straightforward.
Apparently Jim Caruso disagrees.
And judging by the fact he’s been doing this for more than two decades, he may have a point.
Part variety show, part cabaret and part open mic night, Cast Party thrives on the possibility that something unexpected might happen. Established performers can appear alongside people still waiting for their big break, with Caruso presiding over the whole glorious business and Stritch at the piano.
It means nobody buying a ticket can entirely predict the evening they’re going to get.
I rather like that.
Theatre can occasionally become terribly well behaved. We arrive, sit in the seat printed on the ticket, watch precisely what we’ve been told we’re going to watch and then obediently shuffle towards the exit.
Cast Party sounds considerably less obedient.
And it has built quite a reputation for itself while misbehaving.
Across its 20-plus years, the show has collected four BroadwayWorld Awards, two MAC Awards, a Bistro Award and a Nightlife Award. Caruso and Stritch have also taken all-star editions to The Town Hall and Jazz at Lincoln Center in Manhattan, while Cast Party itself has travelled around the UK and United States.
Caruso says they are “absolutely thrilled” to return to London and describes British audiences as famously discerning and wildly enthusiastic.
Then he adds that we’re mercifully good at understanding his accent.
Steady on, Jim.
You’ve only tried London.
Come and do a night in Yorkshire and we’ll see how everybody gets on.
For now, however, London gets him.
Jim Caruso’s Cast Party with Billy Stritch at the Piano comes to Crazy Coqs on Wednesday 4 November and Thursday 5 November at 8.45pm, before a final performance on Sunday 8 November at 7.30pm.
You can go along simply to watch.
You can go along wondering which established performer might suddenly appear.
Or, if you’re considerably braver than this postie, you can apparently put your name forward and become part of the entertainment yourself.
https://www.brasseriezedel.com/events/jim-carusos-cast-party- with-billy-stritch-at-the-piano-3
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Oh my gosh – THANK YOU for this!