Written by Patrick Chavis

Many talented theatre artists from Orange County and Los Angeles slip through the cracks or don’t get the exposure they deserve. So I’m creating these posts to let people know about these artists. I’m calling these “thank me later posts.” Hopefully, this will be the first of many. If you know of anything theatre-related in LA and Orange county that is good but overlooked, please message us and let us know. It might appear as a “thank me later post.”

I went to the Wayward Artist to review The Toxic Avenger about a month ago and had a wonderful time.  It was a fantastic show with a strong cast. Natalie Giannosa played Mayor Babs Belgoody, the villain pumping New Jersey with pollution. Giannosa is a recent graduate from CSUF (Cal State Fullerton), and I discovered she created a 23-minute cabaret film called Funny. It’s free to watch on YouTube. It’s a cabaret, but it’s also edited and filmed cinematically. Dramatic scenes play out in between the traditional cabaret singing.  It’s well-produced, the singing is on point, and the title is accurate. Actress Liza Minnelli was an obvious inspiration for this project.

What do you think; did you like Funny?  https://www.nataliegiannosa.com/

“In May of 2020, I was set to write/perform a musical theatre Cabaret as a final project of my BFA program. It was shelved due to the pandemic. This project meant a lot to me and I wanted it to mean something. I never truly finished writing it at the time, so I figured it just wasn’t the right timing. Fast forward two years, some rewrites, and many new life experiences later, I have finally tied a nice little bow on this thing. This project is a love letter to the tormented artist. Who deals with internal battles behind closed doors, but at the end of the day still CHOOSES to CREATE beauty and art, out of the tragedy. Tragedy informs the comedy. Tragedy informs the beauty.”  – Natalie Giannosa