Alexandria singers host intimate night of cabaret at Diamond Grill

Melinda Martinez, Alexandria Town Talk
·2 min read

In their first foray into the world of cabaret, Laine Berry Miller and Enrico Cannella held an intimate show of song, dance and storytelling that was a year and a half in the making.

In "Birds of a Feather Cabaret" held at the Diamond Grill in downtown Alexandria Saturday night, Miller and Cannella sang a variety of songs from Broadway shows like “Pippin,” “Damn Yankees,” “Sweeney Todd,” “Sunday in the Park with George,” “Funny Girl,” “Shrek,” and more. They also included songs from crooners like Dean Martin and movies such as “La La Land.” Michael Sterne accompanied them on keyboard.

The show happened to come about just by chance, said Miller right before the show started. She ran into her old friend Cannella at a performance by Alexandria Country Day School which was being held at Louisiana Christian University.

“He and I have known each other for years. We even did a play together,” said Miller, an actress and director who teaches voice and acting locally. “So this isn’t our first time on stage together.”

Miller told the crowd that she admired Cannella’s work from afar for a long time.

In “Birds of a Feather Cabaret” held at the Diamond Grill in downtown Alexandria last Saturday night, Enrico Cannella (left) and Laine Berry Miller sang a variety of songs from Broadway shows, crooners like Dean Martin and movies such as “La La Land.”
In “Birds of a Feather Cabaret” held at the Diamond Grill in downtown Alexandria last Saturday night, Enrico Cannella (left) and Laine Berry Miller sang a variety of songs from Broadway shows, crooners like Dean Martin and movies such as “La La Land.”

She told Cannella, an assistant professor of vocal performance at LCU, that they needed to do something together.

“Shortly after that, he started coming over to the house and we started working on a cabaret act,” she said.

Then three months ago, she enlisted the help of her friend, Faith Prince who won a Tony Award for her portrayal as Adelaide in “Guys and Dolls,” to direct their show.

“She’s also done a ton of Broadway and cabaret,” said Miller.

So “Birds of a Feather Cabaret” is a culmination of all their efforts.

There will be upcoming opportunities to catch more cabaret shows if you missed this performance.

“We're planning on doing more performances of this as well as bringing it to New Orleans and New York,” said Miller, adding that Alexandria is a “bouncing off place.”

“You’ve got to start where you know the people love you,” she said while smiling.

This article originally appeared on Alexandria Town Talk: Alexandria singers host intimate night of cabaret at Diamond Grill