I was sitting at lunch yesterday with Bob Gerding (for whom the Armory Theater is named) and he said, “Hey, I heard a rumor that this Storm Large woman is going to play what’s her name (Sally Bowles) in Cabaret. Is that true?” I said that INDEED it is true. Hurrah!

And yes, indeed, Mr. Wade McCollum (star of Hedwig, Batboy and I am My Own Wife) will return to Portland to play the Emcee.

More on Storm: I was having dinner at Mark Acito’s (author of How I Paid for College) last Fall after West Side Story, and the question arose, “So what musical are you going to open with next year?” I demurred that I didn’t know yet and Mark chimed in: “You should do Cabaret. Wade would be great as the Emcee, and Storm Large would be amazing as Sally.” Byron Beck (Arts Editor for Willamette Week who was also present) almost swooned: “Oh my god, she IS Sally Bowles. She would be amazing.”

I sort of knew who Storm was, but didn’t want to confess that I hadn’t kept track of her meteoric rise as a local Rock celebrity, and recent national success on CBS’s Rock Star: Super Nova. But because of the enthusiasm at the table, I went home that night and googled her.

After clicking through a few clips of performances on “You Tube”, I saw what everyone was talking about. Not only was she gorgeous and vulnerable and rough around the edges – but this girl could sing and tear up a stage. I called Rick Lewis (our musical director) and asked if he knew of her. He immediately called back and said, “I’ve worked with her. She is rock solid (no pun intended) and she would kill as Sally.”

So with a little intro from Rick, Storm and I began having lunch and I found out that though she doesn’t admit it often (lest she be outed as a drama freak), she began life as an actress. After several months of checking dates, and getting to know each other – she made a firm commitment about a month ago! Wooohooo!

We just had our first round of local auditions for other roles in the show last week. More on the results in next week’s column! Stay tuned.