Celebrate the Music of the ‘Genius” at the Reid!
The Reid Cabaret Theatre at Casa Mañana will kick off 2023 with Unchain My Heart: The Music of Ray Charles. Often called the “Genius,” Ray Charles pioneered the genre of soul music during the 1950s, combining blues, gospel, R&B, rock, country music and jazz to create groundbreaking hits such as “Unchain My Heart,” “I’ve Got a Woman” and “What I’d Say.” This show is suitable for most audiences and runs February 7-18.
Unchain My Heart: The Music of Ray Charles stars Matt Manuel, Trisha Jeffrey and Winston Daniels. Eugene Gwozdz is music director, Mike Drake is on drums and Louis Carfa is playing bass.
Matt Manuel made his Broadway debut as David Ruffin in Ain’t Too Proud, the hit Broadway musical that documents the story of The Temptations. Prior to this, he starred as Marvin Gaye in the National Tour of Motown, The Musical. Matt has also sung as a lead vocalist in the Simone Vitale orchestra and performed as a soloist with the guest entertainer group, Legacy. He was also seen as a contestant on Season 13 of American Idol.
Trisha Jeffrey previously performed on the Casa Mañana mainstage as Marlena in Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story. Trisha was most recently seen as Vivian Dandridge in the new musical Dorothy Dandridge at Carnegie Hall. Broadway credits include Little Shop of Horrors OBC (Crystal), All Shook Up, Rent (Joanne/Mimi+) and Motown, The Musical (Mary Wilson, Diana Ross). National Tour credits include Rent and Sister Act 1st National Tour (Deloris). Film/TV: Roxie in the upcoming film Things Like This, Lisa in An Anomalous Love and Apple TV’s Dear Edward.
Winston Daniels has previously been seen at Casa Mañana as Victor in Smokey Joe’s Cafe, Teen Angel in Grease, Uptown Santa in ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas and Sebastian in The Little Mermaid. Other regional credits include Kids Who Care’s Shrek the Musical as Donkey, Stolen Shakespeare Guild’s Oklahoma as Mike and Theatre Arlington’s Hello Dolly. Daniels also teaches stilt walking with Amphibian Stage Production’s outreach program.
Eugene Gwozdz is back at Casa – he is a music director and arranger from Fort Worth, Texas. He is the music director, arranger and orchestrator for American Dance Machine 21; Chita Rivera Dance Awards; the Jerome Robbins’ Broadway 30th Anniversary Concert at the Guggenheim; Our Guy, CY, with Tony Award winners Randy Graff, Cady Huffman, and Lillias White; The Jerome Robbins Awards honoring Chita Rivera, Harold Prince, and Stephen Sondheim. His Broadway credits include The Full Monty and Oklahoma!. Gwozdz has worked Off-Broadway on Spamilton. His National Tour credits include Sunset Boulevard and Swing.
The Reid Cabaret Theatre at Casa Mañana opened in February 2018. Our audiences loved the intimate setting and table side food and drink service, and the high-caliber, cabaret-style shows consistently sold out. This high demand led to an expansion of the performance space in 2022, adding booths and increasing the capacity to 100 seats. Work is currently being done to add a bar and catering kitchen, set to be completed in the first half of 2023. The Reid Cabaret Theatre is a continuation of our mission to bring live professional theatre unparalleled in artistic excellence to its diverse community and to future generations of artists and patrons.
