Venus Cabaret

The Big Red Show – Venus Cabaret – June 17, 2019

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Watching Meghan Murphy, a.k.a. Big Red, wipe off the sweat, excuse me, glisten, between numbers made me wonder how many signature, low-cut, red dresses she must own in order to put on her show three nights in a row.

At least this night she had the foresight to bring a small towel on stage with her. Both she, and the bartender before the show, told us that he had to give her napkins the night before to stem the tide.

Seeing Murphy on a Monday added an extra level of entertainment, as the audience was filled with her show business friends who had the night off from their own gigs, and who were not shy about emitting a plethora of joyous sounds of appreciation throughout the evening to the amusement of all, including Murphy.

And Big Red is not shy about enjoying herself on stage, as when she calls extra attention to the length of a note she’s holding by turning around slowly, then looking at her watch, except she isn’t wearing a watch, and mugging her reaction to that faux realization.

Murphy plays the part, not only of actress and chanteuse, but also of storyteller and philosopher. When she told the crowd she doesn’t like people to try to fit her talents into a neat box, I half expected her to transform into a mime trying to get out of a box, though it’s hard to imagine her remaining silent, or keeping a straight face, long enough to do that.

She also played the part of music critic, taking the time to pause and humorously parse Heart’s All I Wanna Do Is Make Love to You in the middle of singing it. She didn’t invent this. I found a 2013 article online that forges the same ground. Still, when Big Red does it, it’s more fun, because, as embodied in her final song as Mama Rose, some people ain’t her.

Big Red and the Boys – Venus Cabaret – December 9, 2018

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Secretariat, widely considered the greatest race horse of all time, was nicknamed Big Red. He wasn’t part of the show at the Venus Cabaret.

But Meghan Murphy, also nicknamed Big Red, was. This was the first stop on what Murphy described as the act’s world tour – Chicago, Philadelphia and New York.

I love the Venus Cabaret, which opened this year adjoining the Mercury Theater (get it?). It’s an attractive space, with its own bar, and without a bad seat in the house, though there was some glare off the screens behind the stage, which I didn’t hesitate to tell management about when they sent me a survey after the show.

In honor of Big Red, the bar offered a couple of red drinks, one with vodka, one with whiskey. I wonder what they’d have at the bar if Michael Lee Aday (Meatloaf) were performing there.

Though there was some new material in this, their eighth annual show, Big Red and the Boys pleased the crowd by performing the group’s “standards”, like Get Your Holiday On, often encouraging the audience to sing along.

Big Red also broke out her holiday costume, complete with well-placed lights outlining her physical assets. The costume, along with the boys’ flashing bow ties, came in handy when Murphy occasionally had a hard time finding her spotlight, which just served as another excuse for some of her off-the-cuff, contagious humor. Murphy, whose website describes her as actor, singer, dancer, and badass, always seems to be having a good time on stage.

I couldn’t help but wonder what kind of perverse show could be created by combining Big Red’s with the play next door, Avenue Q, having Murphy as Lucy, who is described as “a vixenish vamp with a dangerous edge.”