Drury Lane Summer Series: Denise Tomasello: To Chicago With Love

Denise’s musical journey began at age 19, from performing with top show bands in the suburbs to eventually playing the Playboy Clubs in Lake Geneva and Chicago, where she opened for James Darren (Moondoggie from the Gidget movies). In 1979, she got her big break at Sage’s, at the time the city’s most prestigious cabaret. What started out as a two-week contract turned into an unprecedented six-year run – the longest run for a female nightclub singer in Chicago history. Denise Tomasello was THE must-see performer in Chicago and became a celebrity among celebrities, entertaining VIPs Elizabeth Taylor, Tony Bennett, Mary Tyler Moore, Tom Dreeson, Dennis Farina, Mayor Daley, Irv Kupcinet, Harry Carey, Jack Brickhouse, and many others who flocked to see her. She received rave reviews from every major newspaper in town, including an iconic photo cover on the Tribune’s Sunday Arts Magazine and the Tribune calling her “an entertainer of stirring voice and show biz pizzazz… Wildly glamorous and wickedly amusing, when she sinks her teeth into a belter’s delight, the room sizzles.” She went on to headlining and selling out in the city’s most prestigious nightclubs and concert halls: The Chicago Theatre, Park West, the Empire Room, The Pump Room, Arnie’s, George’s, Byfields, Davenport’s, and an unprecedented, record-breaking six-year engagement at Sages. Denise followed that with an unprecedented, two-year run at The Fairmont’s Metropole Room that was greeted by audiences and the press with the excitement of Judy Garland at Carnegie Hall. The Sun-Times raved that “with a voice that rivals Liza Minnelli in scope… those that have heard her once can’t wait to hear her again.” The Tribune was equally ebullient, calling her “a nightclub dream” and saying “so firmly has she stamped the room her own, she should stay there forever.” Her record-breaking reigns at Sages and The Metropole have been compared to Bobby Short’s run at The Café Carlyle in New York.

Her dazzling, renowned Chicago performances brought Denise national recognition and resulted in sold-out shows at the country’s top nightspots and stages, including New York’s Town Hall and Eighty Eights in Manhattan and Michael Feinstein’s Cinegrill in the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, The Four Seasons in Beverly Hills, and The Gardenia and Rose Tattoo in Los Angeles. She also became the first Chicago performer invited to sing at the New York Cabaret Convention. These high-profile performances along with the national recognition prompted her to make a move to California. While L.A. had its appeal, Denise missed the warm relationship she had with Chicago and its audiences, so she returned home to her beloved Windy City, where she currently lives with her husband Don Conover.

40 years after embarking on her music career, Chicago’s love affair with Denise Tomasello continues, proving she is the one and only Cabaret Queen of Chicago. In the past two years, Denise has performed triumphant SRO concerts at the Auditorium, the Metropolis Performing Arts Center, Empire Room, The Drake Hotel’s Grand Ballroom, two sold out shows at The Skokie Theatre, and memorable concerts at Festa Italiana. From belting a Broadway show-stopper to her spine-tingling delivery of an emotional ballad to her sultry way with a jazz standard, Denise possesses a rare and unique musical versatility, putting her indelible stamp on every song she sings. The way she engages the audiences with her spontaneous, sharp, quick-witted repartee makes every performance a unique and special experience. A true original, nothing compares to a performance by the exhilarating Tomasello. She is one of the most talked about and exciting performers around, with The Chicago Tribune exclaiming, “Let’s make one thing clear about Denise Tomasello: She was cabaret before cabaret was cool.” Witness first-hand why California’s Orange County Register calls Denise and her one-woman concerts “the best show of its kind in the country!” For further information and upcoming solo concerts, please visit DeniseTomasello.com, friend her on Facebook, or follow on her Twitter @CabaretQueen.