MARCH 23 • 2023 | 73

most of the people who come to our shows 
are from the suburbs. While choosing who 
will be on our stages, we look at not only 
the singing performance, but also the expla-
nations between the songs that are very 
interesting. People love that patter.
” 
In the contracts for performers, it is 
stated that they can drop out if they are 
offered a special role in New York that 
conflicts with the timing. That happened in 
the 2016-2017 season with positive results 
although with anxiety, as well. 
The original performer said that he loved 
what Cabaret 313 does and is not going to 
leave the company high and dry. He found 
another famous performer, LaChanze, who 
won the Tony Award for the Broadway pro-
duction of The Color Purple.
“We only had about three weeks to let 
our audiences know, and everyone came,
” 
Nachman said. “LaChanze put on a great 
performance.
”
Nachman is joined by his wife, Joy, as a 
cabaret fan, Cabaret 313 board member and 
enthusiastic planner. Other board members 
include treasurer Erick Eickhoff, secretary 
Irwin Elson, Lawrence Bluth, Hazel Karbel, 
David Karp, Mary Kramer, Bruce Kridler 
and Barton Morris.
Besides the performances, the sing-
ers are asked to conduct master classes 
and have appeared before students at the 
Mosaic Youth Theatre of Detroit, Oakland 
University, the University of Michigan and 

Wayne State University. 
“Going all the way back to grade school, 
one of my favorite classes was music,
” 
said Nachman, tracing his interest in the 
elements of cabaret. “When I got to the 
University of Michigan, they had a program 
called Soph Show. I had a small role in Soph 
Show put on by the sophomore class. After 
I graduated, I started going to New York 
many times and saw shows there.
”
Nachman, the father of two and grand-
father of six, plays guitar for his own enjoy-
ment and is taking piano lessons.
“When we started Cabaret 313, we 
didn’t think it would grow to 10 years,
” 
he said about the organization that uses 
Art Ops services to budget for various 
administrative responsibilities. “We were 
just blessed to have brought cabaret to 
Detroit at a time when Detroit was rising. 
The city became a hotspot for downtown 
development. 
“One reason we call it Cabaret 313 — 
with 313 taken from the Detroit area phone 
prefix — is that we want to be part of the 
rising of Detroit as it becomes a major 
city for entertainment. Ten years earlier, 
it wouldn’t have happened. Detroit was 
getting to be a hot place for entertainers 
and sports, and we wanted to be part of the 
reimagined cultural fabric.
”
The basis for the 10-year celebration over 
two seasons has to do with the interruption 
of in-person presentations during COVID. 

Although the programming was live, it was 
streamed from New York. 
There was one live stream from the 
Birdland Jazz Club and another from 
the apartment of Ali Stroker, a lead in a 
revival of Oklahoma. A third was from the 
apartment of Eva Noblezada, who starred 
in Hadestown.
Eden Espinosa, who appeared in the 
musical Wicked, will be in the final show for 
this season on Saturday, March 25, at the 
Marlene Boll Theatre in the YMCA, 1401 
Broadway, Detroit. As usual, there will be 
two performances in the one evening – 6:30 
and 8:45 p.m.
Next season, Cabaret 313 will team up 
with another nonprofit related to Broadway 
and have a charity performance to mark the 
10-year celebration.
“For every show, we try to find some 
people who have never heard of us 
and provide complimentary tickets to 
show them what we do,
” said Nachman, 
who also is on the boards of the Jewish 
Federation of Metropolitan Detroit, Adat 
Shalom Synagogue, Detroit Opera, Detroit 
Symphony Orchestra and the Belle Isle 
Conservancy.
“The thing that makes me most happy 
is when people come up after a show and 
say that if they would have known about 
Cabaret 313, they would have been coming 
for years.“ 

Details 
To get more information about 
Cabaret 313, call (313) 405-5061 or 
visit cabaret313.org. $60-$225.

LEFT: Alan Cumming. RIGHT: Joshua Henry, Joy and Allan Nachman.

PHOTOS COURTESY ALLAN NACHMAN

