One of my favorite things about Philadelphia is the variety of quality entertainment in various venues (most with bars!) It affords me the opportunity to explore new venues and new pieces of art for pretty damn cheap. One of my favorite new forms of entertainment is "Light the Lights" a cabaret that makes use of the uber talented local voices, and the gorgeous space of Le’Tage. The brain child of pianist Donald Harrison and host R. Eric Thomas, Light the Lights is coming up on it’s 7th iteration. My two favorite things about LtL, The "Mandatory Fun" which usually ends up being a sing-a-long, AND the witty banter Eric and Donald improv between songs. I reached out to Donald for a quick and not – so –dirty interview, I know, a big surprise!

Chris: How quickly do the LtL’s come together?

Donald: Very quickly and not quickly at all! Putting these things together involves a tricky little process that begins with recruiting performers and then trying to find them songs. The song-finding part is the hardest. Eric and I exchange big messages filled with YouTube links and What Ifs. I then create elaborate Google Spreadsheets and suggest and demand things of the performers, we rehearse, we freak out, we do the show on a Monday night, and Tuesday morning we start thinking about the next one. It never stops! Can’t someone unlight these goddamn lights for just one minute!

C: What was the inspiration / cause that started LtL

D: Last summer, Eric and I went to the Williamstown Theater Festival to see our friend Chris Newcomer in The Visit (plug: friend now on Broadway in said show opening next month) and there was this amazing Late Night Cabaret afterward that really blew our minds. We both exclaimed, “We need something like this!” at the exact same time, and as we drove home we talked hows and wheres. Don’t you know, Bob & Sally, the couple managing L’Etage & Beau Monde, were already looking to start a cabaret/singalong, and my landlord, who’d see me at Tavern/gotten noise complaints from my neighbors, put me in touch with them. Ba da bing.

C: Is there a particular theme you’re dying to do?

D: I don’t discuss what I am dying to do in places like this! I am very much looking forward to our May show, though: Mom’s the Word. This springs from my love for my mom, other moms, mom songs, and terrible word play. Also, we’re doing TV Dinner in April, and damned if I haven’t been wanting to play the theme from the Nanny since I learned my first jazzy chords…

Every Month brings on a new theme, new singers but it promises the same guaranteed fun! The next Light the Light’s is this Monday! More info on the Facebook Event Page.