Chicago Cabaret Week<\/u><\/a> is expanding in 2026, bringing intimate, engaging and eclectic shows into more venues and neighborhoods. <\/p>\n Running from May 8 to 17, the festival features more than 50 artists across multiple locations including four new spots: Stars & Garters, Bughouse Theater, The Labyrinth Club and The Redhead Piano Bar. <\/p>\n This year\u2019s lineup promises to be as diverse as ever, with vocal groups, burlesque performances, a play about the Equal Rights Amendment and tributes to Carol Burnett, Linda Ronstadt and Tony Bennett. The event is organized by the Working in Concert and Chicago Cabaret Professionals nonprofits, and tickets are priced at $30 or less to keep the shows accessible.<\/p>\n Chicago Cabaret Week is designed to keep the spotlight on the niche art form, even as local venues like Davenport\u2019s<\/u><\/a> close their doors, and others struggle to remain profitable<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m feeling like the future is looking up,\u201d said Anne Burnell, the festival\u2019s managing director, who is also performing a tribute to singer Julie London<\/u><\/a>. \u201cWe\u2019ve got some boots on the ground making relationships with these clubs. The venues are keeping their minds open to having a lot of different offerings.\u201d<\/p>\n Given the affordable ticket price, Burnell hopes that audiences will attend multiple shows as a way to explore both the venues in their neighborhood and experience the \u201cjoy of music.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI feel that music can speak to even the most hardened heart,\u201d she said. \u201cEspecially in an intimate setting, and when you\u2019re face to face with these performers, that can really change people. When they all have a shared experience, there\u2019s more harmony in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n Here are three standout performers in this year\u2019s lineup.<\/p>\n Singer and self-proclaimed \u201chistory nerd\u201d Lou Ella Rose Cabalona has spent several years researching Filipino composers and their ties to Chicago. <\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/p>\n Courtesy of Lou Ella Rose Cabalona<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div><\/div>\n After years of researching Filipino music, self-proclaimed history nerd Lou Ella Rose Cabalona has made a delightful discovery.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is a profound connection between Chicago and the Philippines when it comes to music,\u201d said the Filipino American singer and Norwood Park resident.<\/p>\n That link was formed when influential Filipino composers Francisco Santiago and Nicanor Edelardo migrated to the city in the 1920s and 1930s, respectively. Both studied at the Chicago Musical College, which is now known as Roosevelt University\u2019s Chicago College of Performing Arts. The men were pioneers of the kundiman, a genre of traditional Filipino love songs that also doubled as patriotic odes amid colonial rule.<\/p>\n Cabalona will expose local audiences to the musical style while telling cultural stories during \u201cThe Great Filipino Songbook<\/u><\/a>\u201d on May 15 at the Epiphany Center for the Arts.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s heart-wrenching,\u201d she said of the music. \u201cIt\u2019s sad. It\u2019s always about unrequited love. And unrequited love can also be parallel to longing for freedom and independence of a people.\u201d<\/p>\n Accompanied by guest artists and her band, the SamaSama Project, Cabalona will also perform folk songs in Filipino languages. She said she is excited to share her heritage with the audience.<\/p>\n \u201cI think the cabaret stage is perfect for that, because it is very welcoming of all genres, styles and kinds of people,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Before moving to the U.S. to pursue a career in IT, Cabalona was a musician and musical theater performer in the Philippines. Though she was exposed to traditional Filipino music, her recent studies have deepened her understanding of its origins and development. She even received a fellowship from the Asian Cultural Council to conduct research in the country last summer.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel like I have to have that foundation as an immigrant musician,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s where I get my inspiration for my artistry.\u201d<\/p>\n Ava Logan will pay homage to jazz singers Josephine Baker, Bricktop and Ella Fitzgerald during Chicago Cabaret Week.<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div><\/div>\n Like Cabalona, singer Ava Logan also traced the history of her musical influences. Last year, she traveled to France with Working in Concert\u2019s cultural exchange program, Chicago Paris Cabaret Connexion. In Dordogne, she visited the chateau of iconic Black performer Josephine Baker.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was so emotional for me,\u201d said Logan, of Orland Park, who is a veterinarian by day and a performer by night. She said she was inspired by Baker\u2019s decision to move and build a life abroad at a young age.<\/p>\n On May 16 at Haven Entertainment Center, Logan will perform Baker\u2019s signature song, \u201cJ\u2019ai deux amours,\u201d which is about her \u201ctwo loves\u201d \u2014 the U.S. and Paris. Titled \u201cJazz Zing!<\/u><\/a>,\u201d Logan\u2019s show will also feature selections by Ella Fitzgerald, Alberta Hunter, Sarah Vaughan, Nancy Wilson and Dinah Washington.<\/p>\n \u201cI want to highlight some of our pioneers who got us all started in jazz,\u201d Logan said.<\/p>\n That list also includes singer Ada \u201cBricktop\u201d Smith, another U.S. expat who grew up in Chicago and moved to Paris, where she operated several clubs. Logan will sing a rendition of Bricktop\u2019s saucy \u201cInsufficient Sweetie.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t get an opportunity to perform things like that, so I\u2019m really excited to do it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Logan said her background in drama will come in handy for the performance; the D.C. native acted in theater productions in high school and later portrayed Fitzgerald in \u201cElla: The First Lady of Song\u201d at the Black Ensemble Theater. She will also sing a number from that show, \u201cWhy Was I Born?\u201d at the Haven, one of many historic jazz venues in the neighborhood<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s very inspiring to perform in Bronzeville,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s an amazing history we have here in Chicago.\u201d<\/p>\n Logan said she hopes Chicago Cabaret Week will bring some \u201chealing\u201d to audiences.<\/p>\n \u201cWe definitely need to have a fun side to our lives with all that\u2019s going on in the world right now.\u201d<\/p>\nExploring \u2018The Great Filipino Songbook\u2019<\/h2>\n
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<\/p>\n<\/picture>\nHonoring jazz legends, from Josephine Baker to \u2018Bricktop\u2019<\/h2>\n
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