Improv Cabaret

What is Improv Cabaret?
It's got songs like a cabaret and stories like a cabaret, but the entire thing is improvised! Ridiculous, self-indulgent and sometimes funny, Mark Baratelli performs solo musical improv and storytelling in the format of a swingy, insane, bizarre cabaret act.
Reviews:
"Mark Baratelli is a freakin' comic genius! It is what comic improvisation should be."
- NYTheatre.com , Aug 21, 2007
"To witness Mark Baratelli in person is a completely overwhelming experience."
-TalkinBroadway.com
"Like a two-person Baby Wants Candy"
- Charleston City Paper writer Patrick Sharbaugh
"Your voice is amazing. Your improv is amazing. Every time I see you perform, I just hold my breath and then let out this awe sigh."
-San Francisco Improv Festival producer Shaun Landry
"Had the audience captivated from the moment Mark hit the stage"
- Dirty South Improv Festival Artistic Director Zach Ward
"Baratelli has an impressively showy singing voice and a nicely warped imagination"
- Orlando Sentinel 2006
"The songs were good, the singing was very good and the storytelling was fantastic"
- Orlando Sentinel 2007
"Mark is a star in his own right. Every word, every musical phrase...practically seamless."
- BloggingFringe.com
HISTORY:
In May 2006, Mark invented Improv Cabaret, performed it for the very first time at the 2006 Orlando Fringe Festival, sold out two of it's eight performances and won the Patron's Pick Award. Two months later the Orlando Parliament House had him as a guest performer in their cabaret room, where he sold out 3 of his 5 performances and was offered an open-ended run in the venue.
In 2007, the was accepted into many juried improv, cabaret and comedy festivals in New York, San Francisco, Charleston and Miami. Mark and the show returned to the Orlando Fringe Festival in 2007, again selling out two of his eight performances and winning the Patron's Pick Award.
In 2008, the show was accepted into the Chicago Improv Festival where Mark got to perform his show at the famous Second City venue to an almost sold-out house. That same year, he was invited back to the San Francisco Improv Festival and invited for the first time to the Santa Cruz Improv Festival.
BIO: MARK BARATELLI
NATIONAL TOUR: I Love a Piano (George), Oliver (Fagin U/S). OTHER: Royal Caribbean, Disney Cruise Line, Seaside Music Theater, Walt Disney World, Universal Orlando. IMPROV: SAK Comedy Lab Ensemble Member, Improv Asylum Ensemble Member (NYC Company), Dad's Garage Mice-Tro. TRAINING: Upright Citizens Brigade, Dad's Garage, THEM, SAK, Florida State University BFA Musical Theater program.
HIGH-REZ PHOTOS:
Download:
Press Photo 1 : 2.7 meg, color, 300 dpi
Press Photo 2 : 2.5 meg, color, 300dpi
Press Photo 3 : 2.2 meg, color, 300 dpi
THE OFFICIAL SHOW PODCAST:
Mark shares what's going on with the show: news, rehearsals, tech, marketing and producing. Subscribe now for free after you listen to a sample below:
PODCAST AND RADIO APPEARANCES:
Sometimes Mark is lucky enough to appear on radio shows and podcasts.
THE BLOG:
Producing Improv Cabaret for the 2006 Orlando Fringe Festival was the first time Mark had ever produced and performed in a show of his own. He kept a journal of the experience, from before he was accepted into the festival all the way up to opening night: Read it here.