what good is sitting alone in your room...

our favourite place of entertainment in kansas city has turned out to be a cabaret bar halfway down main street

i've been to a lot of cabarets over the year but bar natasha i think is unique - k. and i first visited it a few weeks ago on some friends' recommendation - we went expecting the usual gay-oriented show tunes cabaret with a tranny compere - so we were pleasantly surprised by the difference we found to other cabaret bars we've been to - as we walked in we saw a large bar room with a circular stage in the middle of the room - a flamboyantly dressed grand-dame was seated at the grand piano on the stage playing in an equally flamboyant manner befitting her bohemian dress with occasional flourishes which reminded me of one of my old piano-playing infant school teachers but without the purple rinse - singing along to this accompaniment was a very powerful disembodied voice - we couldn't figure out where this voice was coming from and assumed that for some strange reason the pianist was playing along to a recorded voice - however, after the piano lady sang some songs of her own, which puzzled us even more that she would also play to a recording, the disembodied voice struck up again - at this point we were seated directly opposite to the open plan kitchen and after a couple of minutes we realised that the singer was the chef - there she was preparing food, opening cupboards, chopping and mixing, and all the time powerfully belting out a song a la liza minelli

it was then we realised that all the waiters and bar staff had radio mikes over their ears - they all do a turn either on or off stage and as they go about their serving duties, they also do harmonies and choral singing from wherever they are in the bar - you don't interview for a job at this place, you audition - the cabaret sections with the co-owner, missy koonce, were also excellent - she's very funny and belts out show tunes and pop songs linked together with an amusing line in patter with the audience, who are told off big time if they don't join in the songs loudly enough

it was a halloween-themed show which climaxed with a rocky horror show finale with all the staff up on stage doing the time warp and an enthusiastic audience on their feet performing the dance actions



one of the best nights out partly sober i've had for a while- an experience to rival wednesday mambo jambo nights at zouk in singapore for entertainment value