Friday Night Cabaret

To start off the evening, they announced that they had a special surprise host for the Cabaret. After a few suspenseful moments, they announced that Hudson would be hosting that evening and she walked onto stage. She was dressed in a pale blue brocade patterned strapless floor-length gown with transparent heels that were at least 3 inches high (she showed them to us later in the evening). There was thunderous applause and after a bit, she told us to be silent and the crowd quieted down. At one point she said she felt like a beauty queen winner and gave a little speech about how she wanted to make the world better and a safer place for frogs. Then a woman in the audience caught her attention and after bantering with the woman a bit, she called her up to the foot of the stage and leaned down and kissed the audience member. Then Hudson acted like she’d turned into a frog and said she was sure that wasn’t what one expected…to have the princess turn into a frog. After a bit more cavorting on stage, Hudson decided she’d better introduce the first act, so she called Ted Raimi and Bruce Campbell up to do their act.

Ted and Bruce came on stage and traded insults with each other for a bit (including Bruce telling Ted that his character could really move an audience…as soon as Joxer came on they moved away from the TV). Then they started talking about how they had been told that they had to find a great act for the show, so they went out and found the world’s greatest mentalist. After they introduced him and he didn’t come on stage, Ted went back to find out what was wrong. He came out and then used charades to tell Bruce that the mentalist had been drinking. They both went behind the curtain and we could hear them talking about how could Ted let this happen, then Bruce came back onstage after telling Ted he had to find a way to fix things. Bruce stalled for time until Ted came back on stage dressed as the Indian mentalist. After that they did a few tricks and then Bruce had an audience member come on stage and blindfold Ted, while he went into the audience and took various objects and had Ted try to identify them. Using Bruce’s verbal cues, Ted got the hat and lipstick right, but acted like he couldn’t figure out the camera or watch. Then Bruce got back on stage and Ted said that he had handcuffs that he could remove with the power of his mind. After testing the handcuffs on an audience member to show that they worked, he put them on Bruce so his hands were behind his back. Then Ted turned to the audience and started talking about how he would remove the handcuffs. Meanwhile Bruce got one of his hands free and was gesturing along with Ted’s speech behind his back. When Ted turned around to check out why the audience was laughing Bruce put the handcuffs back on. This went on for a few times before Bruce freed himself completely and handed the cuffs back to Ted. Then they did a little routine with a mini-guillotine like object. When Ted tried to cut off Bruce’s hand, he thunked him on the wrist. So they brought an audience member up and Ted assured them that the trick would work because he would use the magic word this time. After a few false starts and convincing the audience member to put their hand in the device, it actually worked and the guillotine went through the wrist without injuring the audience member. After that they wrapped things up and left the stage, leaving their props on stage.

Hudson came back out and discovered the handcuffs…she was quite fascinated with them and wanted to take them home. At one point she put them down the front of her dress, then commented that she heard a child’s voice and took them back out. She said that the parents would have a lot of explaining to do when they got home <G>. She gallivanted around on stage making comments about the handcuffs and generally having a good time (she was actually funnier than Ted and Bruce). She also kept commenting about frogs (seemed to be a theme for her this evening). Then she introduced Ebonie Smith.

Ebonie came on and invited James, a staff volunteer, on stage. She sang You’d be Surprised while he sat on a chair and she danced around him. She has a beautiful voice and obviously has had some training. She went on to sing Our Love is Here to Stay, while they showed a video of Xena and Gabby. Then she said that that song had been about love and the next one was about Lust and proceeded to sing Fever. She wrapped up with After You Get What You Want. She did a great job and exited to thunderous applause.

Hudson came back out and sat down in the chair that had been left on stage…she sort of lounged around in it, and then asked if we wanted to see her birthmark. Of course everyone said yes, so she started to hike her skirt up very slowly until she got to her knee, where she has a light brown mark on the inside of her left knee. Then she started playing with the handcuffs again. She alternated with teasing us with her ankle and then her knee, keeping up a running conversation about a variety of amusing things, many of which included mentions of frogs. Then she decided she’d go ahead and introduce Adrienne Wilkinson, who joined her on stage.

Adrienne was quite nervous about singing and said that if she got too out of key, they’d just start over again. She then launched into One Fine Day, which she did a decent job with. After that, she sang Black Velvet, and then said that she was going to sing one of her favorite songs, Shhh! by Bjork. She started that one off, but then stopped and restarted it. She obviously had fun with that one since she seemed more comfortable and relaxed while singing it. After she finished up, she went ahead and left the stage.

After a few moments, Hudson came back on stage, but she was carrying one of her shoes. She said she’d been taken by surprise after just trying to get a drink so she just rushed back on stage. After showing off her shoe and asking us if we thought it looked like a glass slipper, she decided it was time to auction off her dress again. This time a woman bought it for $1500 (she later raised the amount to $5000 so that it would match what the other dress went for) but told her that she wanted it to include Hudson and the handcuffs. Hudson brought her on stage and sort of flirted with her a bit before telling her that even with handcuffs she didn’t think the woman could handle her. After a bit more of Hudson playing with the crowd, she introduced Darien Tackle.

Darien came out singing Cabaret. She has a lovely voice and obviously has had a lot of experience singing and performing. She did As You Make Your Bed next and followed that up with Somewhere Over the Rainbow. Then she told us that she had gone to Hawaii a while ago and performed as Eva Peron in Evita. She wrapped up her performance with a fabulous rendition of Don’t Cry For Me Argentina.

After Darien was done, Hudson came back out and then brought the performers back on stage for a final ovation. All in all, it was a fun evening and the performances were good, but it was Hudson that really stole the show.

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