W

hen Broadway actor Josh Young originally 
wrote the Cabaret Valjean, Cosette and a String 
Quartet before the pandemic lockdown in 2020, 
he had no idea that it would be nearly two years before he 
would perform it in front of an audience, but he’s thrilled it’s 
finally going to happen.
On Feb. 12, Cabaret 313 will host Young and his wife, 
Emily Padgett, to ring in Valentine’s Day weekend for a night 
of cabaret performances in the Great Hall inside the Detroit 
Institute of Arts. Valjean, Cosette and a String Quartet is 
a musical tribute to the couple’s favorite decade of musical 
theater: the 1980s. The program features music from Les 
Misérables, Cats and Phantom of the Opera, among others.
Young and Padgett will be joined by the Kalkaska String 
Quartet. The Michigan-based ensemble performs both 
classical music as well as original arrangements of popular 
contemporary songs. The quartet is made up of violinist Meg 
Rohrer, violinist Emelyn Bashour, violist Nathaniel Cornell 
and cellist Wesley Hornpetrie. 

NEWCOMERS TO MICHIGAN
Young and Padgett, who live in Lake Orion, both teach at 
Oakland University. They moved to Michigan in 2019 — 
right after the birth of their daughter, Adele May — so Young could 
take a position as assistant professor of theater at OU. Six months later, 
COVID hit, everybody went into lockdown and Broadway dimmed its 
lights.
“We felt lucky,
” said Padgett, who converted to Judaism before mar-
rying Young in 2018, “but we were brand new in town with a little baby 
and few friends.
”

Padgett grew up in North Carolina before starting her 
Broadway career. She is known for her work on Broadway 
as Daisy Hilton in Side Show and Sherrie Christian in Rock 
of Ages, as well as for originating the roles of Lucy Grant in 
Steve Martin and Edie Brickell’s Bright Star and Mrs. Bucket 
in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
She and Young met on “kind of a blind date,
” she said. 
Although they knew of each other and shared the same talent 
manager, they had never worked together before. Their talent 
manager set them up on a date, not thinking it would last. “It 
lasted,
” Padgett said with a laugh. She now works as a lecturer 
and dance and vocal coach at OU.
Young is a Tony Award-nominated actor who made his 
Broadway debut as Judas in Jesus Christ Superstar, which 
transferred to New York after an acclaimed run at the 
Stratford Shakespeare Festival. He has appeared in The 
Grapes of Wrath, Evita and Kiss Me, Kate at Stratford, as 
well as a national tour of Les Miserables and an international 
tour of West Side Story. He also performed in A Little Night 
Music, A Chorus Line, Hairspray and Othello. 
Young grew up in a suburb of Philadelphia and had his bar 
mitzvah at a Conservative congregation in his hometown. 
He’s been singing since elementary school. “My teachers took 
notice and saw I had some talent,
” he said. “I had supportive parents 
who put me in community theater — Young People’s Theatre Workshop 
in Swarthmore, Pa., where I learned to love musical theater.
” After col-
lege, Young returned to that theater to teach.
Young recalls his Broadway debut as Judas in Jesus Christ Superstar as 
a role where his Judaism really came into play. 
“I looked at Judas as the hero trying to save the Jewish people and 

56 | FEBRUARY 10 • 2022 

ARTS&LIFE
CABARET

Cabaret 313 rings in Valentine’s Day 
weekend with Broadway couple 
Josh Young and Emily Padgett. 

JACKIE HEADAPOHL DIRECTOR OF EDITORIAL

and a
and a

Josh Young

Emily Padgett

