Our History
High Society Cabaret was conceived in 2011 in Toronto by artistic director Anna Jaeger. Anna’s goal was to create an immersive experience like dinner theatre involving cabaret and burlesque. Anna was recruited by Laura Furtado into DivaGirl Entertainment enticed by the possibility of using the female operated network to help build the foundations of this new cabaret venture. While attending a Valentine’s Day themed DivaGirl networking event called LaTease, Anna met Knox Harter, who was performing, and the two quickly formed a working friendship. By July 2012, Anna, with the help of Laura, presented the first High Society Cabaret show at the upstairs lounge formerly known as Jezebel, with both Anna and Knox as featured dancers.
When Laura Furtado of DivaGirl Entertainment began collaborating with Carla Catherwood, founder of Army of Sass (formally Nuvo-Burlesque), they created a new entertainment booking and presenting entity called The Chic-A-Boom Room. Under the guidance of Laura Furtado, and with the branding of The Chic-A-Boom Room, Anna continued to plan new shows for High Society Cabaret. The shows were short vignettes often performed in event and club venues for one or two nights, and featured four dancers that were members of the DivaGirl network who were in good standing. The show structure typically consisted of a feature solo choreographed by each dancer, and 2-3 group numbers choreographed by either Anna or Laura, and eventually Knox. After a disastrous run of a set of Christmas themed set of shows, Anna worked to establish High Society Cabaret as its own separate brand of dance entertainment differing from that of Nuvo-Burlesque, while still working under the Chic-A-Boom Room name. It was through this process that Anna, with the help of Knox, worked to solidify a brand of dance and cabaret entertainment that featured more traditional burlesque and authentic vintage aesthetics.
When Laura Furtado of DivaGirl Entertainment began collaborating with Carla Catherwood, founder of Army of Sass (formally Nuvo-Burlesque), they created a new entertainment booking and presenting entity called The Chic-A-Boom Room. Under the guidance of Laura Furtado, and with the branding of The Chic-A-Boom Room, Anna continued to plan new shows for High Society Cabaret. The shows were short vignettes often performed in event and club venues for one or two nights, and featured four dancers that were members of the DivaGirl network who were in good standing. The show structure typically consisted of a feature solo choreographed by each dancer, and 2-3 group numbers choreographed by either Anna or Laura, and eventually Knox. After a disastrous run of a set of Christmas themed set of shows, Anna worked to establish High Society Cabaret as its own separate brand of dance entertainment differing from that of Nuvo-Burlesque, while still working under the Chic-A-Boom Room name. It was through this process that Anna, with the help of Knox, worked to solidify a brand of dance and cabaret entertainment that featured more traditional burlesque and authentic vintage aesthetics.
The Toronto venues and stages High Society Cabaret performed on at this time were relatively small, with shows lasting no longer than an hour. These venues included Nyood (Queen Street West), The Courthouse (Adelaide and Church), and Parlour (John and Adelaide). Parlour would become High Society Cabaret’s first secure home base for shows, allowing Knox and Anna to establish a unique artistic style, voice and methodology with the company. On top of producing an average of 3 cabaret shows a year, Anna, Knox and the dancers of High Society Cabaret would be frequently booked for event entertainment through DivaGirl, performing for weddings, product promotions, galas, annual events, private entertainment and clubs. Knox became a regular performer, choreographer and representative of both High Society Cabaret and DivaGirl Entertainment, and would step in as an operations manager for the company upon Anna’s first maternity leave by winter into spring of 2014.
Through Knox’s vision and organization, a structure of shows, rehearsals and administration was established for the company. Shows still featured 4 solos from 4 different DivaGirl dancers, as well as 3 group acts choreographed by Knox. Rehearsals were run by Knox, and would happen for 4-6 weeks, twice a week before a run of 1-3 shows. Knox also began introducing a feature guest artist for each show from the Toronto burlesque scene. Shows were a flat rate pay for each dancer, and a profit share between Laura, Anna and Knox. As the demand for better advertising and marketing for the shows arose, Knox began playing with creating promotional imaging and video for each production, and sometimes for each dancer. She began curating High Society Cabaret’s online presence with social media, and became dedicated to establishing High Society Cabaret's branding.
As Laura began to divert interest and efforts away from DivaGirl Entertainment, she began to relax on her responsibilities to High Society Cabaret. This resulted in shows not selling as well as was promised, and in one instance a personal financial hit to Knox. Knox and Anna began discussing parting ways from DivaGirl Entertainment so that they had more control over High Society Cabaret and its success. By the end of the fall of 2015, High Society Cabaret had severed all ties to DivaGirl Entertainment and began operating as its own entity.
As Laura began to divert interest and efforts away from DivaGirl Entertainment, she began to relax on her responsibilities to High Society Cabaret. This resulted in shows not selling as well as was promised, and in one instance a personal financial hit to Knox. Knox and Anna began discussing parting ways from DivaGirl Entertainment so that they had more control over High Society Cabaret and its success. By the end of the fall of 2015, High Society Cabaret had severed all ties to DivaGirl Entertainment and began operating as its own entity.
After spending an additional 8 months more at Parlour, Knox got word of a venue that was looking to book regular independent burlesque shows. Having achieved everything they believed they could in smaller lounge venues, Anna and Knox decided to take the opportunity in attempt to build bigger and more complex shows out of Revival Bar in Little Italy. The first show to be attempted was called The White Light Follies in November 2016, a pastiche of old MGM movie musicals complete with lead roles, an ensemble and a written script. The show would be Knox’s inaugural foray into script writing and directing. The production was met with many new challenges and hurdles, from scheduling, to tech, to issues within the ensemble. Knox pushed through to mount the production, though it was not well attended and did not sell enough to make the final budget.
Knox and Anna both took the time off after The White Light Follies to re-establish how they wished to produce these bigger shows, and together began drafting the script for Portrait of a Scandal for spring 2017. Knox began collaborating with the hired artists of the production to set weekly schedules for rehearsals. Knox also established a commission system for ticket sales with the artists to help with show promotion: $5 from every ticket personally sold by the performer either in person or online was theirs to keep, with the rest going into the budget to cover costs and the artists' profit share. Their new methods and structure were successful and the production met its proposed budget while getting pleasing audience reviews.
Knox tested High Society Cabaret’s new operational methods again by remounting The White Light Follies, and with a new production called The Silent Goodbye. While the remount of TheWhite Light Follies saw respectable success, The Silent Goodbye was the company’s biggest hit, allowing for an additional show to be added to the sold out run. From the success of The Silent Goodbye came a myriad of holiday bookings from patrons who saw the show and by word of mouth.
Knox and Anna both took the time off after The White Light Follies to re-establish how they wished to produce these bigger shows, and together began drafting the script for Portrait of a Scandal for spring 2017. Knox began collaborating with the hired artists of the production to set weekly schedules for rehearsals. Knox also established a commission system for ticket sales with the artists to help with show promotion: $5 from every ticket personally sold by the performer either in person or online was theirs to keep, with the rest going into the budget to cover costs and the artists' profit share. Their new methods and structure were successful and the production met its proposed budget while getting pleasing audience reviews.
Knox tested High Society Cabaret’s new operational methods again by remounting The White Light Follies, and with a new production called The Silent Goodbye. While the remount of TheWhite Light Follies saw respectable success, The Silent Goodbye was the company’s biggest hit, allowing for an additional show to be added to the sold out run. From the success of The Silent Goodbye came a myriad of holiday bookings from patrons who saw the show and by word of mouth.
High Society Cabaret began their 2018 year with the launch of a new monthly cabaret production called Speakeasy at Revival. The idea was to not only showcase current Toronto burlesque talent, but to provide a stage to present new talent. While the first few months of the cabaret production were well attended, it became difficult to bring back audiences, even with a new line up each month. By the spring, a new original production was written by Anna called La Dolce Vita, based on the first cabaret production of the same name, and inspired by the film Roman Holiday. Knox took a rare sole backstage role as producer, choreographer and director, as Anna was placed front and centre as the show’s leading lady. While audiences enjoyed the production, it didn’t make as much profit as was hoped after the success of The Silent Goodbye.
In an effort to make a mark on the Toronto burlesque community and to promote the remount of Portrait of a Scandal, Knox applied High Society Cabaret to The Toronto Burlesque Festival, and choreographed a group tease number called “The Salon”, which proved to be a standout of the festival.
In an effort to make a mark on the Toronto burlesque community and to promote the remount of Portrait of a Scandal, Knox applied High Society Cabaret to The Toronto Burlesque Festival, and choreographed a group tease number called “The Salon”, which proved to be a standout of the festival.
The remount of Portrait of a Scandal was met with awe from audiences and proved to be relatively successful. Knox pushed the promotion of the production hard, believing it to be a strong show and eager to repeat the experiences of The Silent Goodbye. According to Knox, this remount of Portrait of a Scandal would be the last notable success the company would see.
To rectify this issue, Knox attempted to a new original production called Ballyhoo. Unfortunately, communications and the relationship with Revival was beginning to dissolve, and the production would be cancelled due to ongoing scheduling conflicts with the venue.
After taking a month off, Knox quickly got back to work planning the 2019 production year. The initial plan was not only to continue on with the monthly Speakeasy at Revival starting in January, but to add three full length productions to the year. Two of those productions would be remounts: The Silent Goodbye in February, and La Dolce Vita in September. The third production would be a second attempt at Ballyhoo in November, and would give Knox a chance to better flush out the script, which to her still felt unfinished.
To rectify this issue, Knox attempted to a new original production called Ballyhoo. Unfortunately, communications and the relationship with Revival was beginning to dissolve, and the production would be cancelled due to ongoing scheduling conflicts with the venue.
After taking a month off, Knox quickly got back to work planning the 2019 production year. The initial plan was not only to continue on with the monthly Speakeasy at Revival starting in January, but to add three full length productions to the year. Two of those productions would be remounts: The Silent Goodbye in February, and La Dolce Vita in September. The third production would be a second attempt at Ballyhoo in November, and would give Knox a chance to better flush out the script, which to her still felt unfinished.
The Silent Goodbye was originally set for February 4th-6th, 2018 at Revival. While watching Instagram stories, Knox happened upon promotional posts by a local drag queen for a show featuring a couple of RuPaul’ Drag Race queens set to appear at Revival on the dates Knox’s had thought she’d booked. Knox inquired with the queen on the dates, and learned that the drag event had put down a rental payment on her set dates. To Knox’s recollection, the venue owner had recently shown a disinterest in communication with Knox and High Society Cabaret, and this particular snafu cleared up any ambiguity in Knox’s mind. Inevitably the show was cancelled, and rescheduled for May in a new venue. Knox continued to have communication and booking issues with Revival when Speakeasy returned in January, and began to set plans to find new venues for High Society Cabaret’s productions.
Speakeasy was picked up by Katana on Bay, a sushi restaurant in the financial district Anna has connections with. The initial agreement was that Speakeasy would receive a monthly allowance to cover costs of production, High Society Cabaret would take ticket sales to pay performers and Katana would keep food and bar. As productions marched on, High Society Cabaret began having issues with Katana upholding the integrity of the agreement, and inevitably Speakeasy was scrapped after a final show in April 2019.
High Society Cabaret remounted The Silent Goodbye in May 2019 at The Commons Studio and Theatre in Little Italy. Knox had a friendship with the venue owner and bartered her labour around the venue for time in the space. Because of recent hurdles and having her own personal challenges to manage, Knox asked her cast for assistance in remounting the production, assigning assistant directors, help with social media and a dance captain. As the rehearsal process continued, Knox noticed that work was struggling to progress forward. At one point a member of the ensemble had to be recast two weeks before the show opened. The new dancer was not equipped to take on the content and would create issues throughout the production. By the time the run began, Knox could feel her health waning and struggled to accomplish what she set out to do. It wasn’t until after the production had closed that Knox learned that members of that ensemble, including the dance captain, were creating issues with gossip, back talk, and interfering with the hired light and sound technician.
Defeated and exhausted, Knox went on hiatus. Anna continued to push the company forward to prospective clients for bookings. By the fall of 2019, a relationship was built with the Broadview Hotel, and Anna was in talks about making regular events. Upon her return, Knox also began collaborating with Daniel Walsh, a music director for La Nuit Shanghai and helped to create a weekly cabaret set with live musicians at the venue.
After Covid-19 swept the globe in early March of 2020, priorities around careers and life changed, and Knox and Anna decided to shelf High Society Cabaret for an indeterminate amount of time. By mid 2021, Anna and Knox finalized the decision to close the book on High Society Cabaret. Knox began to turn the current website into an online archive and portfolio of the company’s work, beginning the process in September 2021, and finishing it in April 2022. Anna and Knox remain dear friends and talk regularly, often reminiscing on the wild ride that was High Society Cabaret.
Speakeasy was picked up by Katana on Bay, a sushi restaurant in the financial district Anna has connections with. The initial agreement was that Speakeasy would receive a monthly allowance to cover costs of production, High Society Cabaret would take ticket sales to pay performers and Katana would keep food and bar. As productions marched on, High Society Cabaret began having issues with Katana upholding the integrity of the agreement, and inevitably Speakeasy was scrapped after a final show in April 2019.
High Society Cabaret remounted The Silent Goodbye in May 2019 at The Commons Studio and Theatre in Little Italy. Knox had a friendship with the venue owner and bartered her labour around the venue for time in the space. Because of recent hurdles and having her own personal challenges to manage, Knox asked her cast for assistance in remounting the production, assigning assistant directors, help with social media and a dance captain. As the rehearsal process continued, Knox noticed that work was struggling to progress forward. At one point a member of the ensemble had to be recast two weeks before the show opened. The new dancer was not equipped to take on the content and would create issues throughout the production. By the time the run began, Knox could feel her health waning and struggled to accomplish what she set out to do. It wasn’t until after the production had closed that Knox learned that members of that ensemble, including the dance captain, were creating issues with gossip, back talk, and interfering with the hired light and sound technician.
Defeated and exhausted, Knox went on hiatus. Anna continued to push the company forward to prospective clients for bookings. By the fall of 2019, a relationship was built with the Broadview Hotel, and Anna was in talks about making regular events. Upon her return, Knox also began collaborating with Daniel Walsh, a music director for La Nuit Shanghai and helped to create a weekly cabaret set with live musicians at the venue.
After Covid-19 swept the globe in early March of 2020, priorities around careers and life changed, and Knox and Anna decided to shelf High Society Cabaret for an indeterminate amount of time. By mid 2021, Anna and Knox finalized the decision to close the book on High Society Cabaret. Knox began to turn the current website into an online archive and portfolio of the company’s work, beginning the process in September 2021, and finishing it in April 2022. Anna and Knox remain dear friends and talk regularly, often reminiscing on the wild ride that was High Society Cabaret.
Production TimelineCabaret Productions July 2012 - A Decadent Scandal
October 2012 - Dangerous Dames and Wicked Little Girls December 2012 - Santa Baby June 2013 - In the Boudoir September 2013 - Diamonds and Daggers November 2013 - Down in Old New Orleans April 2014 - Meanwhile Back at the Office July 2014 - Tiki in the Moonlight November 2014 - La Dolce Vita May 2015 - Meet Me at the Diner July 2015 - Tiki in the Moonlight November 2015 - How the West Was Swung February 2016 - After Five April 2016 - Down in Old New Orleans February 2018 to May 2019 - Speakeasy Full Length ProductionsNovember 2016 - The While Light Follies
May 2017 - Portrait of a Scandal September 2017 - The White Light Follies November 2017 - The Silent Goodbye May 2018 - La Dolce Vita September 2018 - Portrait of a Scandal May 2019 - The Silent Goodbye The Lost Production - Ballyhoo |
|
What audiences had to say....
- "I highly recommend (Portrait of a Scandal)! It's sexy, funny, well choreographed and staged. Bravo for producing this magical show and to all the cast and crew for their talent and grace." - Bonnie H.
- "Super fun and hilarious show!! Thanks to everyone in the cast and crew for showing me a wonderful time!" - Sam A.
- "I just wanted to say THANK YOU High Society Cabaret! The theatricality and atmosphere were so immersive; it was beautiful, energetic, so well-put-together and thought-out and ultimately just so FUN!!" - Stavros K.
- "I don't remember the last time I saw such tight choreography and such a sexy bunch of talented artists." - Vince C.
- "Congratulations to everyone for keeping the stage alive and shimmering throughout this intelligent, funny, sexy, tender and meaningful show. These very experienced and talented artists have an intense love for their art and audience. I am impressed!" - John N.
- "Such an entertaining evening, the production is as funny as it is beautiful!" - Teddy M.
- "Thank you so much for this truly amazing show, perfect on every level! I was mesmerized! You have so much talent and I can't wait to see more!!" - Anais M.
- "These talented performers always put on an amazing show - sexy and with high-quality production values and dancing!" - Jay B.
- "Fantastic choreography and talent. An amazing production!" - Stephanie N.
- "So amazingly talented... the energy, the vibe, the whole thing was awesome. Looking forward to this seeing more from this group!!!" - Angelo D.
