Porter Joins Espinosa Solo Debut as Special Guest at Upright Cabaret Starting 12/15

Eden Espinosa, star of WICKED (currently at the Pantages Theater in Los Angeles) makes her solo debut directed by Billy Porter at L.A.'s renowned Upright Cabaret at Mark's Restaurant, 861 N. La Cienega Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069. She will perform Monday evenings, Mon, Dec 15, 22, 29, 2008 and Jan 5, 2009 at 9pm

(Due to her Wicked schedule, Edens Monday, Jan 29th performance has been cancelled. An additional performance will be added in January. Please stay tuned)

Upright Cabaret producers/hosts Chris Isaacson and Shane Scheel proudly present Broadway star and Los Angeles native Eden Espinosa in her first solo effort entitled Eden Espinosa - ME to be directed by Broadway & recording star Billy Porter with Ben Toth taking over Music Direction.

During the last month of Wicked's run at the Pantages Theatre in Los Angeles, where she is currently starring as Elphaba, Espinosa will take off the green to perform four solo concerts which will feature a different special guest each night. Special guests T.B.A.

Eden Espinosa recently returned to Wicked in Southern California, where she was born and raised. She has performed the role of Elphaba to critical acclaim on Broadway, the San Francisco stop on the national tour, and in the Los Angeles production from its opening through December 2007.  Following her stint in Wicked, Eden performed the title role in Flora, the Red Menace for Reprise! in Los Angeles, and then joined the final Broadway company of Rent as Maureen at the Nederlander Theatre in New York. She created the title character in Brooklyn the Musical and performed it from the original workshop, on through its Broadway run. You may have heard her on such recordings as Hair (BCEFA benefit recording), The Maury Yeston Songbook, Bright Lights, Big City, John McDaniel Live at Joe's Pub and Scott Alan's Dreaming Wide Awake

Billy Porter is a native of Pittsburgh PA. He is a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University where he received a B.F.A. in drama. Film and Television credits include: Sundance Film Festival features "The Broken Hearts Club" (Sony Pictures) and "Intern". "Noel" (with Susan Sarandon and Robin Williams), "Shake Rattle & Roll"-Little Richard (CBS mini-series), "Another World" (recurring),  "Twisted", "A Very Rosie Christmas" (ABC), The Tonight Show, The Oprah Winfrey Show, In The Life and multiple appearances on "The Rosie O'Donnell Show". Broadway credits include: Miss Saigon, Five Guys Named Moe, Grease (all original cast), Smokey Joe's Café, Dreamgirls (20th Anniversary Broadway Concert and LA Ovation Award) and HAIR. Off Broadway and regional credits include: Romance In Hard Times, The Merchant of Venice, House of Lear and Radiant Baby @ (The New York Shakespeare Festival), Birdie Blue (Second Stage starring S. Epatha Merkerson) Angles in America (Actors Theatre Of Louisville), Going Native (The Long Wharf), Topdog/Underdog (City Theatre), Jason Robert Brown's Songs For A New World, Jesus Christ Superstar, Antigone, A Chorus Line, Chicago. His concerts credits include: Opening Act for Rosie O'Donnell and Aretha Franklin. Carnegie Hall, John McDaniel and the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, as well as The Buffalo Philharmonic, Peter Nero and The Philly Pops, soloist for President Bill Clinton, Vanessa Williams and various AIDS benefits throughout the U.S. His recordings include: Debut solo CD "Untitled" on A&M records, A Very Rosie Christmas, Jim Brickman "Destiny" (top ten AC hit), Grease (revival cast album), Adam Guettel's Myths & Hymns, Gershwin and Sondheim Benefit Albums, Hercules (Disney) and Anastasia (Warner Bros.), Liz Callaway - The Story Goes On, Alvin Ailey/Revelations, Broadway Cares Home For The Holidays, Dreamgirls in Concert (featured as James Thunder Early), HAIR (Actor's Fund Benefit recording), Great Joy: A Gospel Christmas (with The Broadway Inspirational Voices) and The Human Rights Campaign's Love Rocks . Billy is also a graduate of The Professional Program In Screenwriting at UCLA and is an adjunct professor at Carnegie Mellon University's School Of Drama, where he has directed productions of Company and Letter's From ‘Nam. He also directed a critically acclaimed recreation of The Wiz and conceived a musical revue entitled Signed, Sealed, Delivered: The Music Of Stevie Wonder, which starred Chaka Khan and ran at The Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas in the spring of 2002.  Billy's other directing projects include:  Being Alive: The Soul Of Sondheim, which premiered at The Westport Country Playhouse in the summer of 2007 transferring to The Philadelphia Theatre Company, Once On This Island for Reprise Theatre Company, and the upcoming Twilight In Manchego for The New York Musical Theatre Festival. His one-man show, Ghetto Superstar: The Man That I Am debuted at The Public Theater in NYC in the winter of 2005 transferring to City Theatre in Pittsburgh. The show was nominated for a 2005 Drama League Award for Distinguished Production of a Musical and Distinguished Performance as well as a GLAAD Media Award. His sophomore CD, At The Corner Of Broadway + Soul - "LIVE" from Joe's Pub is available for purchase at www.sh-k-boom.com and on iTunes, and his song "Time" was featured on the second season of "So You Think You Can Dance." His new one-man show, The Standard will debut at Joe's Pub in Dec 2008. 

Ben Toth (Music Director) has worked with some of the most popular actor/singers currently working on the stage, including Mandy Patinkin, Lea Salonga, Tommy Tune, Lea Michele, Jane Monheit, Liz Calloway, Darius de Haas, Andrea McArdle, and Billy Porter. He recently debuted Melora Hardin at the Catalina Jazz Club and served as associate conductor for this past summer's Hollywood Bowl production of Les Miserables. Ben was asked to return to New York this past season for a workshop of Death Takes a Holiday, a new musical by Maury Yeston, which starred Brian Stokes Mitchell and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio. Also back east, Ben served as musical director for Duncan Sheik's The Nightingale at the Eugene O'Neil Theater Center and made a splash as the MD for two star-studded evenings presented by Broadwayworld.com that benefited BCEFA. Ben is also a composer and has had collaborations with Mark D. Sanders ("I Hope You Dance"), Steven Sater (Spring Awakening), Nell Benjamin (Legally Blond) and Pulitzer-Prize-winning poet Paul Muldoon. In 2006, he was invited to join the Ucross Foundation as resident composer. Ben's original songs were recently showcased at the opening concert of the MacDowell Colony's centennial celebration and in the film Flicker Flutter.

Created by producing partners Chris Isaacson and Shane Scheel, Upright Cabaret, L.A.'s famed "new generation cabaret" has quickly become the place for cabaret and live performance in Los Angeles. After only three years, the Upright stages in West Hollywood, Palm Springs, Catalina Island and Santa Barbara have been home to performers from over 75 Broadway shows as well as stars from Ugly Betty, Grey's Anatomy, Cold Case, How I Met Your Mother, Dancing with the Stars, American Idol, House, Nip/Tuck and countless other film and television productions. At Mark's Restaurant in West Hollywood, Upright is more than an inventive cabaret, Proprietors Chris Diamond and Chef Wayne Elias along with a welcoming staff dish out charm, class and California cuisine at its finest.

Eden Espinosa - ME

Directed by Billy Porter, Music Direction by Ben Toth

4 weeks - Mon, Dec 15, 22, 29, 2008 & Jan 5, 2009 at 9pm

Upright Cabaret at Mark's Restaurant - 861 N. La Cienega Blvd. - West Hollywood, CA 90069 - (310) 652-5252

Dinner/"10 Cane Rum" Drink Specials begin at 7 PM / SHOWTIME 9 PM

Show Tickets: $15-25 Main, Patio & SRO, available in advance online at www.uprightcabaret.com/events or at door on day of show (if available). Dinner Reservations required with all Main & Patio Seating. Table minimums apply.

For more info including show times, tickets and scheduled performers please visit us at www.uprightcabaret.com.