By Carlotta Mohamed
Renee Katz is bringing her acclaimed show “Only from the Heart can you Touch the Sky,” to her synagogue for a cabaret night the entire Flushing community can enjoy.
The cabaret star will be performing Saturday, Nov. 3, from 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Temple Beth Sholom of Flushing, located at 171-39 Northern Blvd.
“I’m excited about it. It’s a fund-raiser for the temple. I’m always performing in Manhattan and it’s nice to be able to bring it to the community here,” said Katz. “It’s a terrific way to raise money [for the temple] and it should be a great event.”
The exclusive Queens event follows a week of four performances in seven days at the 29th Annual Cabaret Convention at the Rose Theater within Jazz At Lincoln Center.
Katz will be singing 15 songs accompanied by music director, pianist John Cook.
The performance will feature similar favorite standards and show tunes, including a medley of “It Could Happen To You,” “My Foolish Heart,” Hoagy Carmichael’s “Skylark,” Steven Schwartz’s “Meadowlark,” and “Come The Wild Wild Weather,” by Noel Coward.
“It’s an intimate art form where you can connect emotionally with your audience,” said Katz. “I do a lot of Broadway and American songbook… things that are typical to the Cabaret repertoire.”
A graduate of the famed High School of Music and Art and a student of Martha Gladston at Juilliard School of Music, Katz was the runner-up for the lead in Broadway’s initial run of Phantom of the Opera.
Katz had been a part of Manhattan’s cabaret community, being a MAC (Manhattan Association of Cabarets and Clubs) award nominee. She sang at venues such as Don’t Tell Mama, Eighty-Eights, The Metropolitan Room, and The Salon. She also vocalized with the New York Chorale Society and the Oratorio Society of Queens for many years before taking time off to raise her son.
When her son went off to college, Katz returned to Don’t Tell Mama’s stage last summer with an autobiographical show entitled “Never Been Gone” that earned her a Broadway World nomination for Best Show of 2017.
Following the success of “Never Been Gone” — the title of her first published book of poetry and recorded CD — there was a demand for more shows for a total of seven nights over a three-month period.
Upon conclusion of Never Been Gone, Katz returned to Don’t Tell Mama with a different kind of show, entitled “Winter Awakenings,” featuring the song cycle, “December Songs,” by Maury Yeston, which Katz will be reprising during the first two weekends in December.
She will also perform at Don’t Tell Mama’s located at 343 West 46th St. in Manhattan.
Tickets for Katz’s performance in Flushing are available for $36 and include the show — featuring an opening hour of entertainment headlined by The Waffles, Temple Beth Sholom’s music group — appetizers, desserts, soft drinks, and a donation bar.
Reservations can be made by calling the Temple Beth Sholom office at (718) 463-4143.
To learn more about Katz, visit www.renee
Reach reporter Carlotta Mohamed by e-mail at cmoha
