Broadway and concert performer and EMI recording artist CHRISTIA MANTZKE will be performing her first ever cabaret show as part of Coachella Valley Rep’s 2023 Summer Cabaret Series for one night only, July 27, 2023 at 7. Mantzke is selecting her favorite songs from productions she has appeared in during her thirty years as an entertainer. Ms. Mantzke will be accompanied by Michael Reno.
Jason Mannino had an opportunity to chat with Christia for Stage and Cinema about her career and this show.
Jason Mannino: This is your first cabaret; what inspired you to want to perform in this genre?
Christia Mantzke: I have always been interested in every aspect of creating, stage, film, music recording. There is something about being creative that feeds the soul. I am even a painter as well; during lockdown in particular I started painting a lot. Love being creative. Cabaret has always been greatly intriguing to me. I have been asked to do a cabaret a couple of times before but the timing wasn’t right. When [CVRep Executive Artistic Director] Adam [Karsten], who is a phenomenal being, asked me, I gave a resounding “yes!” The timing was perfect, and I have been wanting to do this for so long. I am grateful to be asked and very excited!
JM: Tell us about this show and how it has come together?
CM: Of course, after I said yes, I had to begin putting a show together. “What will I do?” Speaking with a friend with whom I did my first tour, Babes in Toyland, I got really clear what a wild ride this 30-year performing career has been. And that was the initial seed that became the walk down my theatrical memory lane, which is now the show. The show incorporates my own stories with the music that I have gotten to perform throughout my career. I have done a lot of jukebox musicals and recorded pop music. At one point I even went from having a principal contract on Broadway in Smokey Joe’s Café to homelessness. The show covers a lot.
JM: You have also had a billboard charting record?
CM: That alone would take a book. The recording industry is incredibly difficult to crack. I was signed on a major label, EMI in France. I had a single released in Europe called “I Am Not a Boy.” It was an enormous success, charting in the top 20 in three countries. Due to its popularity, it was placed on two “best of” compilation CD’s alongside such artists as Garbage, Alanis Morissette , and Kylie Minogue. I also made a music video and did a lot of radio interviews at the time. Following that I released my full-length CD The First independently. A single on that album, “Stop Asking,” which I wrote, got me the billboard award.
JM: What would you like the audience to know about your show before they see it?
CM: I love it when people understand the importance of being at the theater. It’s an amazing place where no two shows are alike. It’s a living, breathing and never the same. I am excited to break that fourth wall and bring them along on my inaugural cabaret journey.
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[From the press notes: “There will be vocal snapshots of her theatrical career along with stories from the road. With songs like “Proud Mary,” “I Get a Kick Out of You,” and “I Don’t Know How to Love Him,” the audience will be taping their feet, singing, laughing, and, perhaps, shedding a few tears as they join her along this musical walk down memory lane.”]
Tickets for CHRISTIA MANTZKE are $45 and are on sale now. They may be ordered online at www.cvrep.org, by calling (760) 296-2966, ext. 201, or at the CVRep box office located at 68510 East Palm Canyon Dr., Cathedral City. Box office hours are Monday-Friday from noon to 5:00 p.m. and two hours prior to performances.
Christia Mantzke is a native of Los Angeles County who went East to New York City immediately after high school to pursue her dreams in the world of theatre and music. Fortune followed her: shortly after her arrival, her remake of the ’˜70s hit, “There Go I,” became an instant club hit. This introduced Mantzke and her considerable talent and beautiful voice to New York’s discerning audiences. Composer/musician Mantzke found her home in New York’s rock circuit and performing in iconic clubs, including Le Bar Bat, CBGB’s, and The Bitter End.
Mantzke also found herself fulfilling her dream of performing on the Broadway stage when she was cast in the musical, Smokey Joe’s Café. She has performed on Broadway and National Tours. She has been selected by composers and directors to work in numerous original works, including the world premiere of Sleeping Beauty Wakes for LA’s Center Theatre Group and Elton John and Tim Rice’s Elaborate Lifes: The Legend of Aida. Her regional credits include Les Misérables at The Dallas Theare Centre, Bonnie and Clyde, Creep, Hank Williams: Lost Highway, Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story, Cinderella, Beehive, and My Way: A Musical Tribute to Frank Sinatra. For her work, Mantzke received the Inland Theatre League Award.