Former Dallasite Jim Caruso brings his New York Cast Party to North Texas
LIFE IS A CABARET | Jim Caruso, who used to wow ’em at John L’s, brings his NYC open mike show back to his hometown for two shows.
SCOTT HUFFMAN | Contributing Writer
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CARUSO’S CAST PARTY
Kitchen Cafe, 17350 Preston Road, Ste. 415. May 22 and 23 at 7:30 p.m.
$25. KitchenCafeDallas.com.
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“It’s such a spontaneous evening,” says Jim Caruso, out Dallasite-turned-New Yorker, of Jim Caruso’s Cast Party, a celebrated weekly talent night he has hosted at Manhattan’s Birdland nightclub for the last 11 years. “It is truly an open mike, so whoever comes through the door is fair game to be on the list. Last week, we had Liza Minnelli, Michael Feinstein, Art Garfunkel, a woman who wrote a song about her feet, and a guy who’s a contortionist who sat on his own face. When I say you never know what’s going to walk in, I’m not kidding.”
And it’s not just New Yorkers who get to partake of his event anymore — Dallas is getting a taste of it on two nights, starting this week, when he brings the show to Kitchen Café.
Caruso attributes Cast Party’s endurance to the superior talent of its guests. Working members of the Broadway, jazz, cabaret and folk communities, along with their fans, populate each show’s talent roster.
“It never feels like a drunken karaoke event,” he says. “The standards are very high. I don’t know if I would call them classy all the time, but [it brings in] lots of really talented people.”
Interestingly, Caruso cut his musical teeth right here. His first foray into entertaining was in Dallas, with an act he and his pianist-mother created.
“It was called Son of a Bitch,” Caruso recalls. “We played Stefano’s Seafood on Mockingbird Lane during happy hour. Top that! It sounds so horrifying, and it probably was, but it gave me my first taste of nightclub. There was actually a thriving nightclub community [in Dallas] at that point.”
Today, Caruso’s Cast Party pianist and longtime collaborator is award-winning musician Billy Stritch, also a former Texan. The duo first met in 1990, when each had moved to New York. It was then, by chance, that they met famed performer Liza Minnelli.
“We just happened to move here [to New York] at the same time, and he was playing piano in a restaurant,” Caruso recalls of Stritch. “Liza and Chita [Rivera] were over in the corner. He started to play the theme from The Bad and the Beautiful, a film that Liza’s father had directed. Liza came over and sat on the bench next to him.”
The trio became fast friends — or, as Caruso describes it, “three amigos.” Later, Caruso made his Broadway debut alongside Minnelli in the 2008 Tony-winning production, with Stritch arranging the show’s vocals. Today, the three remain close, with Liza making frequent appearances at Cast Party.
In an effort to widen the show’s scope to include talented performers outside of New York City, Caruso and Stritch have taken the concept on the road. They have visited, among other places, Los Angeles, Chicago, and San Francisco. But this week will mark its Dallas debut, and Caruso is eager for the opportunity to reconnect with old friends.
“I’m so excited about coming to Dallas and rejoining the Dallas scene!” Caruso enthuses. “I lived there for 18 years. I ran an open mike there, as a matter of fact, at a club called John L’s. It was just a great space. I have a feeling that some of the greatest performers from the Dallas theatre scene will be coming to see us.”
Caruso is quick to differentiate Cast Party from popular television talent shows.
“No matter where we do it, it’s a very upbeat positive experience for people,” he says. “So much of this kind of stuff on TV now is judged and slammed and, you know, made fun of. That is not at all what we do, no matter who it is. The lady with the feet got the same amount of applause as Liza did. Well maybe not exactly the same, but almost the same.”
With reality television’s current popularity, it would seem that Cast Party is ripe for primetime broadcast. There are, however, a few obstacles preventing it.
“It’s difficult because of music rights,” Caruso says. “Songwriters have to be paid, and I understand that. You know a Gershwin tune would eat up the whole month’s budget.”
Still, with or without television, Cast Party’s mission of highlighting talented performers continues.
“I’m a big proponent of celebrating talent,” Caruso says. “In an age when budgets for the arts are being cut right and left, we’ve been proud to be able to shine a spotlight on singers. It’s a thrill to be able to connect with other people.”
This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition May 16, 2014.
