Richards will kick off cabaret series

the vindicator

YOUNGSTOWN — The cabaret series at Stambaugh Auditorium’s Christman Hall begins Saturday with a 7 p.m. performance by Broadway singer-actor Tony Richards.

The intimate show will be about 75 minutes long. Patrons are seated at tables in the elegant room and provided with hors d’oeuvres and a glass of wine.

Richards’ show, entitled “A Touch of Broadway,” will include jazz and pop standards and some fresh arrangements of Broadway classics. His wife, Stephanie Riso, who is also a cabaret performer, will join him for a few songs. Richards and Riso have a standing cabaret show at the Renaissance Hotel in Pittsburgh.

Mary Jo Maluso and Rick Blackson, a cabaret duo based in the Mahoning Valley, will serve as hosts.

Most of the evening will be a solo show featuring Richards, who is a baritone.

“He brings a warmth and smoothness to the songs he sings and has a beautiful soft pianissimo which always surprises audiences,” Riso told The Vindicator. “Singers such as Arthur Prysock, Johnny Hartman, Billy Eckstine, Vic Damone, Frankie Laine, Bobby Darin and Johnny Desmond have influenced Tony, and it will be apparent in his show.”

Richards is best known for playing Raoul in the long-running Toronto production of “Phantom of the Opera.” He will be accompanied by Jeffrey Klitz, a music director/conductor, arranger and orchestrator from New York.

Tickets are $45 and are available by calling the Stambaugh box office at (330) 259-0555, or online at stambaughonline.com.

Sponsors are Springfield Grille, Hampton Inn of Canfield, Embassy Banquet Center and WFMJ Channel 21.