Rittenhouse Grill has taken the concept of dinner and a show to a whole new level.
Diners can experience the magic of Broadway right here in Philadelphia, thanks to Rittenhouse Grill’s cabaret series. Now in its second year, the series kicks off with An Evening with Me, Sept. 23, featuring performer Storm Large, followed by the Tony-nominated Callaway Sisters on Oct. 14, and wrapping up with a holiday show on Dec. 17. It is presented by Randy Swartz, Rittenhouse Grill, and the Warwick Hotel Rittenhouse Square.
“We’re starting out really strong with Storm Large — she just toured Europe with Pink Martini,” said owner Garth Weldon. “They’re going to be at the Kimmel Center in November. She cycles in and out of the group.
“And then the Callaway sisters (Liz and Ann) — they’re longstanding cabaret performers with a whole collection of Emmys, Grammys and Tonys between them,” Weldon added. “They have their own careers, but occasionally they perform together as sisters.”
The final performance is the holiday show with Stritch, Blackhurst, and Caruso from the Birdland Jazz Club in New York.
Last summer, when Weldon met Swartz — who retired after 50 years of producing dance at the Annenberg Center in University City — Swartz asked why the restaurant was closed on Mondays.
“I used to be seven nights a week pre-Covid but there hasn’t been enough kitchen staff,” Weldon explained at the time.
With Broadway also closed on Mondays, Swartz told Weldon he could get him top talent to come down for the night “because it’s only an hour and a half from New York.”
It was an intriguing idea to Weldon, and he agreed to give it a try.
“We only had three weeks before the first one to sell it,” he recalled. “We sold out for Tony Yazbeck last December. And then we had Karen Akers in February. She was a sellout—a long time cabaret performer. In April, we had the original Annie—Andrea McCardle. She’s got a local connection. She’s from Bucks County.”
McCardle also had a sellout. John Lloyd Young performed for their last show in May. “And his Monday sold out so fast, we asked him to do a second night because he wasn’t in a Broadway show at the moment,” said Weldon. “And his second night sold out.”
Weldon said the idea seems to have struck a nerve — Philadelphia must have been craving cabaret.
“It’s the perfect marriage of the setting—my space and the concept—because it’s intimate, like the Café Carlyle in New York,” he said.
Weldon foresees by the third season, they’ll be on a monthly schedule. “That would be my long-term goal — on a monthly basis. I think we’re going to get there because he (Swartz) continues to come up with really strong talent.”
Tickets went on sale last week, and already, there has been a strong response, Weldon says, adding that the restaurant can seat approximately 122 people.
“There’s a sunken main room with about five steps down,” he said. “The performers are right at the top of the steps. The upper level can see them and hear them. The whole lower level is like in a regular theater… everybody can see, everybody can hear. Randy has a lighting guy and a sound guy, and we transformed it into a real top-quality showcase.”
For more information or to purchase tickets, visit rittenhousegrill.com
