On August 5, Can Can Culinary Cabaret, now located in Post Alley but featuring familiar talents, opens for the first time in months. Staff and guests are looking forward to the reopening, starting with the Glitter Gala.

Audience members can expect a larger theater, an open-air deck, and a bar with increased hours of operation. The bar, called The Dressing Room, will display "all sorts of relics from the Can Can's past," according to founder, owner, and creative director Chris Pink. These will include costumes and other items on the ceiling above guests. The bar will continue serving food and drinks outside performance days and hours.

Moving a block from its previous location in Pike Place Market was a choice made for the company's survival during the pandemic. Pink said moving last May was "super sad for us, because we all had [put] endless blood, sweat, and tears into that space." Relocating from the former venue of 15 years was particularly difficult for Pink, who "built it from scratch" with his parents.

Pink's team is better able to implement safety measures in the new space, however. The location is larger, with better ventilation, outdoor seating, and more space for social distancing. It is also closer to parking and has 24-hour security on-site.

The new space is more conductive to some of the performers' needs as well. The ceiling is now 10 feet higher, allowing space for upgraded audio and lighting technology, as well as more movement room for taller performers. With the larger venue, the crew has new production options for how to use the space, including new special effects. The new Can Can location also includes two catwalks for performers, which increases visibility for the audience.

Celebration and connection
The Glitter Gala show — "a two-month celebration of being back in action" — will bring back familiar faces, including Shadou Mintrone (also co-producer and production manager), Jonathan Betchtel (also co-producer), Richard Peacock, Jasmine Sim, Hannah Mooney, Isaiah Rashaad, Erica Johnson, and Christopher Lopez. Some performers are local, from the Cornish School of the Arts, while others are new. Fae Pink is the choreographer, and TJ Davis is the visual production designer. The soundtrack is by Pink & Pezzner.

Drawing on guest feedback, the team is also bringing back favorite performances to celebrate their return to the stage, such as "Zombie Cheerleaders from Hell," "This Is Halloween," and "Wonderland," before new productions in the new year.

Pink is especially excited to welcome new audiences to the venue.

"That connection with our audiences is the most important thing in our lives," he said.

In that same spirit, a portion of sales gets donated to organizations every quarter, but those are matched by the company through Can Can Cares.

Pink also hopes that with every show, the Can Can will "enrich people's lives and give them an escape" and that attendees will "become better humans through our art." Part of this is what Pink calls "conversions," that is, when people who may be uncomfortable at the beginning of the show enjoy themselves and keep coming back, with a new understanding of different experiences that they may not have been exposed to before.

Pink is "excited that we can host people in a safe environment in a safe fashion and still be able to enjoy live performance and live connections."

Learn more and buy tickets at thecancan.com.