Pittsburgh Fringe 2025
A Cabaret of Legends
Dynamite Lunchbox
Genre: Cabaret, One Person Show, Solo Show
Venue: Mr. Roboto Project
Festival: Pittsburgh Fringe
Low Down
This solo performance by Tymisha Harris, co-founder of Dynamite Lunchbox, offers audiences an hour-long evening that is part history lesson and part cabaret event as she shares the histories and sings the songs of several legendary Black women who shaped the music industry and the world with their talents and their activism.
Getting to hear Harris’s renditions of songs by Simone, Turner, Franklin, Fitzgerald, and more in such an intimate setting feels like being granted a pass to a fantasy concert in which all the greats are present and putting on a show for you and a few friends!
Review
Many popular singers garner fame and fortune, but what does it take for them to become legends? Tymisha Harris began A Cabaret of Legends by defining the term “legend” for the audience, noting that the people whose stories and songs she’ll be sharing are highly respected and have achieved special distinction in their fields. But Harris isn’t interested in talking about just any legends. As projected images of different male legends appeared on the screen to the left of the stage, such as Sinatra, Nat King Cole, and Dean Martin are legends, Harris says they can “Get Their Own Show,” and she says the same of white women legends like Brenda Lee and Barbara Streisand. Black women are too often overlooked and thus they are front and center in this cabaret.
From the moment Harris walked onstage to sing the opening number, “My Funny Valentine” — Ella Fitzgerald’s version — she proved her prowess as a performer and a professional with decades of experiences in the business. She has an uncanny ability to mimic the voice stylings of the various singers whose songs she performs, whether it’s Billie Holliday or Whitney Houston, without completely losing her own unique qualities. In one of the later numbers of the act, for example, she sang Dolly Parton’s “I Will Always Love You” with a flair of Dolly’s sound but then threading some of Whitney in on the final verse. The control and creativity Harris has of her gorgeous, velvety, powerful voice blew me away!
In typical cabaret fashion, Legends weaves in humor – some planned and much that is spontaneous – as well as some audience Q&A. Every song involved Harris moving about the small stage and creating gestures that matched the song’s words, such as during “Chain of Fools” when she created little chains with her fingers as she mimicked Aretha. During that song she also encouraged the small audience to start clapping to the beat, but we started singing the background part instead. As any true professional would, she rolled with it and got us back to clapping before we even knew what had happened.
A Cabaret of Legends is a true fringe show in being barebones on the stage, but do NOT let that leave you thinking there isn’t any glitz! Harris’ costumes – two total for this show – are full of sparkles, and there is a wig and accessories. The venue, Mr. Roboto Project, a space normally used for DIY art gallery and community performances, had problematic audio equipment the night I attended, so there was a change of mics and mic cords more than once during the show. Harris again seemed unphased by these technical problems and even worked jokes about them into the show.
The only regret I have about the night I attended A Cabaret of Legends is that more people weren’t there to witness the truly amazing talent of Tymisha Harris who, in this production, invites viewers into an intimate environment to share stories and songs about legendary Black women. Make time to see this one if you ever have the chance!!
