Performer, Amanda Passanante Joins Paul Hope Cabarets Presents WITH A SMILE AND A SONG, A DISNEY CABARET in May 2026 at Ovations Night Club

GROWNUPS ONLY Shows will be May 4, 11 and 18, 2026 at Ovations Night Club

Paul Hope Cabarets is bringing back the classic Disney songs, but not in the way you expect. It’s an GROWNUPS ONLY performance with shows scheduled on May 4, 11, and 18, 2026 at Ovations Night Club in Rice Village. Expect classics from the Great American Songbook by Disney animated features except with a twist.

Shows are 7:30 p.m. with doors at 7 p.m. Tickets range from $25-$40. Tickets are available at TicketLeap.com.

Joining onstage will be Amanda Passanante, who returns to Paul Hope Cabarets after hiatus from performing to raise her children.

Learn more about her behind the scenes stories in her own words:

1. Share a little bit about yourself and how you started in the performing arena.

I’m originally from a suburb of Philadelphia and was lucky to grow up in a household where music was highly valued and played often. My mom liked musicals, so she took me to see my first ones locally as a kid and, when I got older, she made sure I had the opportunity to travel to New York to see a few Broadway shows. 

According to Mom, I sang constantly as a child, so singing has always been a source of joy for me. I fell in love with musical theatre during an educational summer stock program’s production of Me and My Girl, when I was entrusted with my first ever leading role. What cemented theatre as a permanent fixture in my life, though, was my first paid gig at a dinner theatre when I was 16; I played “Luisa/The Girl” in The Fantasticks with a cast of actors all above 35 and far more experienced than I was. I was absolutely intimidated by them, but they were just the most fantastic(k) human beings. They always treated me like an equal, not a kid, and that production changed everything for me; I knew then that theatre would always be in my life. I also met my most influential theatre mentor in that production, Susan Barto, who made me feel like I could do anything. I miss her every day.

I was the first member of my family to pursue a performing career (after getting a BS in math with a theatre minor from Penn State), and it was NOT smooth sailing. This career and New York, in general, are not for the faint of heart; it was much more auditioning and rejection than performing, and there was a huge learning curve, but every time I did get on stage, I knew that’s where I belonged. Performing in a musical, pretending to be someone else, paradoxically always made me feel more myself than anything else.

2. Share some of your past performances and roles.

I’ve been very lucky in my career to have been entrusted with a pretty wide variety of roles, and I’ve gotten to do several Sondheim shows, which are my absolute favorite! Some of my most treasured past roles include: The Baker’s Wife in Into the Woods (Main Street Theater, Houston); Guenevere in Camelot (Unity Theatre, Brenham); Dot/Marie in Sunday in the Park with George (NY Regional); Lucy in Jekyll and Hyde (NY Regional); Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady (NY Regional); Pippi in The Great American Trailer Park Musical (Stages Houston); and Darlene in The Great American Trailer Park Christmas Musical (Watertower Theatre, Addison). The most unique performing experience I’ve had, though, was an Off-Broadway production of Pirates of Penzance, entirely in Yiddish (Di Yam Gazlonim! with the National Yiddish Theatre) that was nominated for a Drama-desk Award for best revival of a musical.

3. Do you have a favorite performance and why?

The most surreal and amazing experience I have ever had as an actor was originating the role of “Rebecca” in a world-premiere of the newly revised version of Rags at Lyric Stage in Irving, Texas. First of all, we had a powerhouse female director, Cheryl Denson, who saw right through me  to my imposter syndrome and was certain I would learn through the rehearsal process that I wasn’t actually a fraud. (Spoiler: she was right!)

Charles Strouse (composer of Rags, as well as Annie, Bye Bye Birdie, etc) was involved in the production and flew in for tech week to give notes and make some last-minute alterations. He was so kind, humble, and unassuming, and he told me privately that he’d written the role of Rebecca to be extremely vocally demanding and that I’d more than risen to the challenge. I’m really proud of the work I did in that show, and meeting Charles Strouse was absolutely a career highlight.

4. Have you performed with Paul Hope Cabarets at Ovations before?

I have been a Paul Hope fan for quite some time. I started doing his cabarets about 15 years ago, and I’m always amazed at his knowledge of the Great American Songbook (I always encounter songs I never knew existed) and his ability to assign songs to just the right actor to deliver them. I took about a 10-year hiatus from performing to be with my children fulltime (Clara, 10,  and Marshall, 4). In the theatre world, that might as well have been a century, but Paul never forgot about me, and finally I was ready to get back to it when he asked me to do his Rodgers & Hammerstein cabaret at Ovations in September 2024. I’ve done every cabaret he’s invited me to do since then! As a mom now, performing  hits a lot differently than it used to. Firstly, my priorities have changed, so in order to commit to being away from my family more than usual, it has to be a really rewarding experience artistically and personally. Paul Hope Cabarets always delivers on both of those things. Paul assembles incredible vocal talent, but most impressively, really kind human beings on top of it. It’s such a treat for me to get back to singing and to be in adults-only shows; it brings me back to myself, and I’ll never be able to thank Paul enough for that. The most incredible thing about working with Paul Hope Cabarets, for me personally, is that Richard Paul Fink has made his home (our rehearsal space) so welcoming for my children on nights I need to bring them with me. My four-year-old now gets upset when he DOESN’T get to come to rehearsal. Paul curates such a supportive environment, with the help of Richard, and it is so valuable to me.

5. What are you most looking forward to for this upcoming show, With A Smile and a Song: A Disney Cabaret for Grownups? 

First of all, I’m a huge Disney fan! My family has a Disney vlog, @HappilyEverAfterAdventures on YouTube. And we are fortunate to be able to travel with my husband, Josh (a dueling piano player at Two Tones in the Woodlands), when he is a guest artist on DisneyCruise Line Alaska sailings in the summer. More than that, Disney music is not only entwined with my own childhood memories, but now with many of my most cherished parenting memories. These songs mean a lot to me, and it’s especially fun to revisit them as an adult and approach them within the context of a Disney Cabaret that is geared toward adults instead of children. There’s so much nostalgia attached to Disney that it’s easy to overlook how influential and essential this music is to the Great American Songbook. Approaching them in an adult environment allows me to think about them only as pieces of art and culture in their own right, so it’s deepened my appreciation for them. In particular, I’m looking forward to singing “Baby Mine” from Dumbo. Besides being just a heart-wrenchingly beautiful song, it was the first thing I ever sang to my oldest, Clara, just hours after she was born. Paul didn’t know it, but he assigned me the song I treasure above all others. I told you the man has amazing instincts!

ABOUT AMANDA PASSANANTE

Off-Broadway credits include Khaye (Kate) in Di Yam Gazlonim! (The Pirates of Penzance! in Yiddish) at the National Yiddish Theatre. She originated the role of Rebecca in Lyric Stage’s world-premiere reimagining of Rags, developed on site with composer Charles Strouse. 

New York regional credits include Lucy (Jekyll & Hyde), Dot/Marie (Sunday in the Park with George), Eliza Doolittle (My Fair Lady), and Johanna (Sweeney Todd). Houston regional credits include the Baker’s Wife (Into the Woods), Guenevere (Camelot), and Pippi (The Great American Trailer Park Musical). 

In addition to musical theatre, Amanda is passionate about incorporating the arts into early childhood education. She spent over a decade teaching, performing, and writing curriculum for young children, first as a resident performer/teacher for Casa Manana’s theatre for youth audiences and theatre school. She spent several years as a manager and teacher at Kidville in the Woodlands before collaborating with her husband, Josh, on an immersive narrative educational music program with original songs (Rock It! Rocket: a Musical Space Adventure), for which she sang and puppeteered with a live rock band.

ABOUT OVATIONS NIGHT CLUB:

For more information about upcoming performances, visit https://www.ovationsnightclub.com/schedule.htm

Photo courtesy of Amanda Passanante