Tarot Cabaret |
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Joseph Janover |
Stevie Burggraaf |
Michaela Buckley |
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| Starring | ||
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Reece Gurell |
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| With music from: | ||
| Beauty and the Beast, Tick.. Tick.. Boom!, Spring Awakening, The Great British Bake Off Musical, Once, Cage the Elephant, Queen, Urinetown, Alice by Heart, Lizzy McAlpine, Billy Joel, Hadestown, The Beatles, The Chicks, Wicked, I Could Use A Drink, HAIR, Elton John, The Bridges of Madison County, Company, Big Fish, and AIDA | ||
| ASL Interpreting services provided by Greenfinch Interpreting |
Follow Us:
From the Directors
We are born, we live, and we die. A cycle of life that repeats over and over again across the globe and across millenia. Over 100 billion people have gone through the cycle before us and billions more will go on beyond us (hopefully?). Each individual is distinctly unique, living a life that no one else has even come close to living. Yet despite such a staggering amount of differences, there is one thing that every living creature shares across their life. The Fool's journey.
We each experience the journey of the Fool hundreds of times in our lives. Sometimes we may embark on the journey at dawn, and conclude the journey by lunch, only to start a new leg of the larger, overarching Fool’s journey that spans our life, our society, and our species. We share these motifs across cultures, languages, and mental processes in the form of symbols and emotion. For our purposes, we’re focused on the Tarot which highlights these beats and ideas of life in its cards.
Tarot Cabaret has proven itself to be a living, breathing piece of theatre that changes from performance to performance, song to song. A show that anybody can connect to. And it has done exactly that! From a sold out workshopping session in Rochester, NY, to an nearly sold out run at Rochester Fringe 2025, to an award winning performance at Old Greeny Fringe Festival, and a sold out show in NYC (with a soon to be monthly performance in NYC)!
Tarot Cabaret has nothing but pure potential. A potential that is thanks to your support for coming and sharing your hearts and energies to this space. Wherever you are on your Fool's Journey, we thank you for joining us here on ours.
- Stevie B
Throughout the many strange, profound, tumultuous, and exciting moments of my twenties there has been a consistent phrase, “let’s see what the cards have to say about that!” Whether it was self discovery in college, navigating personal and professional relationship dynamics, or a global pandemic, bringing out the cards opened the pathway to a new perspective.
Tarot cards are a tool to communicate archetypes that our soul knows and remembers. These archetypes are imprinted within us and recognizing them outside of us helps us find clarity traversing the many layers of life and self. Through this connection we can gain insight on our circumstances and possibilities moving forward. This insight is always within us- the archetypes help us to unlock it!
I have so many treasured memories sitting on the floor in some living room, a frat house in Oswego, a 4th story flat in Berlin, a childhood home in Fairport, and pulling out the cards. Sharing readings with friends, with loved ones, with someone who was a stranger before this moment, with people who I will never see again. These moments have been profound. They’ve been transformative and eye opening. They’ve been confronting. They’ve been uplifting. They’ve been silly. They’ve been fun. And tonight you’re invited to the living room floor!
In Tarot Cabaret we have encapsulated the experience of friends gathering together to pull cards and elevated it through theatrical magic. Instead of a friend sipping their Riesling and telling you how The Tower could be asking you to look at that relationship differently- you’ll get a heart felt ballad moving you to draw your own conclusions. These archetypes are present in all of us and all the cards. So by remembering your intention and being open to being moved through the music, everyone will have contributed to creating our group reading for the night! We hope you also leave with your own intimate interpretation of our reading and personal experience having participated in building this together.
I could not be more grateful for the wonderful humans who work so seamlessly to make this passion project possible and so enjoyable! And thank YOU so much for joining us- your presence matters and has an impact. So let’s see what the cards have to say about it!
- Michaela Buckley
Sponsors
Song List
Here’s our full list of possible songs, which will you see tonight??
A Change in Me — Beauty and the Beast
Louder Than Words — Tick.. Tick.. Boom!
The Song of Purple Summer — Spring Awakening
Grow — The Great British Bake Off Musical
Falling Slowly — Once
Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked — Cage the Elephant
Somebody to Love — Queen
Run, Freedom, Run! — Urinetown
Afternoon — Alice By Heart
To the Mountains — Lizzy McAlpine
We Didn’t Start the Fire — Billy Joel
When the Chips Are Down — Hadestown
She’s Leaving Home — The Beatles
Landslide — The Chicks
For Good — Wicked
A Little Bit — I Could Use a Drink
The Flesh Failures/Let the Sun Shine — HAIR
I’m Still Standing — Elton John
Wondering — The Bridges of Madison County
The Ladies Who Lunch — Company
How It Ends — Big Fish
Elaborate Lives — AIDA
Meet the Company
Michaela Buckley
Michaela Buckley is so joyful to bring Tarot Cabaret to Rochester Fringe! In 2023 she returned home to Rochester after completing an apprenticeship with the Michael Chekhov Studio Berlin. While there, she took part in "The Four Stages of the Creative Process" study in Groznjan, Croatia in affiliation with Chekhov Europe. She earned her BA in Theatre(Acting/Directing) from SUNY Oswego, where she had the opportunity to complete a Winter Intensive at The Moscow Art Theatre. This is some of the most creatively fulfilling work with the most excellent of people. Enjoy your reading!
Ian Cannioto
Ian is ecstatic to be a performer in tarot cabaret! He was also in the first iteration of tarot cabaret last year (man time flies). Other favorite credits include Judas (Jesus Christ Superstar), Hanschen (Spring Awakening), Daniel (Once On This Island), and The D’Ysquith Family (A Gentleman’s Guide To Love & Murder). If he’s not on stage, you can find Ian tearing it up at karaoke, doing musical readings with his besties or watching the same videos and shows over again thinking they’ll have a different ending. A huge shoutout to everyone who has any involvement with tarot cabaret, your dedication and hard work are what make this show special. And of course a big thank you to his biggest supporters, Em, Kidane, Charlie, and Mar! Enjoy the show!!
Jocelyn Coburn
Jocelyn Coburn (they/them) is thrilled to be back with Tarot cabaret! Jocelyn is a NYC based actor represented by Baker Entertainment. They are a recent graduate of SUNY Cortlands BFA musical theatre program. Some of their favorite credits: Cinderella (Jean-Michel), Spring Awakening (Thea), Our Town (Emily Webb). When not on stage you can find Jocelyn sewing and embroidering or playing with her kitty, periwinkle. Jocelyn would like to thank Sunday Stages for allowing them to join in the magic, their family for always supporting their dreams, and their partner Charlie for sharing this brilliant little life with them.
Instagram: @Jocelyn.Coburn
Charlie Cowan
Charlie Cowan (they/he) is so excited to be returning to Tarot Cabaret! They are on the Sunday Stages board and are thrilled come back to the Fringe Festival with this incredible group of people. Favorite past productions include Spring Awakening with The Company Theatre and Legally Blonde with Pittsford Musicals. They would like to thank their amazing friends, family, and partner Jocelyn for their endless love and support!
Reece Gurell
Reece Gurell is a Sophomore at Nazareth University currently Majoring in music composition with a voice primary at Nazareth University. Reece takes part in Chamber Choir, Jazz Ensemble and plays piano for local bands and pits. He is exited to return to Sunday stages after playing Cello in “35mm” for Fringe Fest 2023 and performing in last year’s Tarot Cabaret.
Joseph Janover
Joseph P. Janover (he/him) is a music educator, music director, multi-instrumentalist and composer/arranger/orchestrator. By day, he teaches music and theatre at in Greece CSD and the University of Rochester. He earned his Bachelors and Masters degrees in music education from the Crane School of Music and is currently pursuing his doctorate. He is incredibly grateful to be a part of this project, and all who dedicated their whole selves to make this piece truly immersive. Special thanks to Stevie and Michaela for their brilliant minds guiding us, his beautiful wife Katya for her unwavering support, and the rest of the cast who are all truly masters of their craft.
Katya Janover
Katya Janover has always been passionate about musical theatre, in all facets. Katya has experience choreographing, directing, acting, music directing, production designing and more. Her favorite credits include Choreographer for Jekyll & Hyde (Stages), Heathers (Stages), Newsies Jr. (Stages), Be More Chill (Clarkson University), Music Director for Shrek Jr. (Stages), and artistic director of The Little Mermaid Jr. (Stages). Her favorite acting credits include playing the role of ‘Margaret White’ in Carrie the Musical, ‘Marian the Librarian’ in The Music Man, ‘Rona Lisa Peritti’ in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Rosa in The Mystery Edwin of Drood, and Vivienne in Legally Blonde The Musical. Katya holds a BM in Music Education and Vocal Performance with a minor in Theatre Studies, and a Masters in Music Education from the Crane School of Music. During the day, Katya has the privilege of being a Music Teacher at Merton Williams Middle School in Hilton. She is grateful for her loving family, friends, and husband for all their love and support. Lastly, she is thankful for the whole Sunday Stages board and staff for always being so supportive and loving.
Mike Janover
Tiffany Thompson
Tiffany (they/she) is so excited to show y’all the wonder of Tarot Cabaret! Developing this show with the team has been a wonderful learning experience for them and they cannot wait for you to experience it. As a Sunday Stages Co-Artistic Director, they are so proud of the work the theatre company has done and the constant improvement they are seeing year to year. Haven’t had enough of Tarot Cabaret? Then come see it in NYC where it will be performed monthly!
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