Brad Ruder of Limelight Entertainment on stage, where he belongs.

Limelight Entertainment’s next Cocktail Cabaret, which presents top-notch local music theater performers belting out songs — this time with a strong focus on Broadway show tunes — is set for Friday and Saturday at the Tower Theatre in downtown Bend.

An intimate audience of 55 will share the stage with performers, who will have their backs to the empty auditorium, making for a more intimate performance afforded by the smaller space.

After all, intimacy is the name of the game said Brad Ruder of Limelight, which has been hosting cabarets for eight years, sometimes through challenges such as the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced venues to change their operations and occupancies, once they were able to reopen.

When the shutdown occurred, Limelight’s home was Seven Restaurant & Nightclub, a space that didn’t allow the required social distancing.

“We had to move out of Seven, which was very close quarters, and so the Tower was gracious enough to be like, ‘Hey, we can separate seats. We can make that work,’” Ruder said.

And they did, in April 2021. In fact, Cocktail Cabaret was the first live, in-person event when the Tower reopened its doors that month, albeit in an amended manner with a new seating arrangement. Limelight held a few more cabarets at the Tower, the last one being in January 2022.

Now that we’ve emerged from our drastic bubbles, if you will, it was time to get back to more usual business of intimate cabaret evenings. An idea of how to do that at the Tower came from Bend musician Matthew Gwinup’s recent concert at the Tower, the audience seated on the stage itself.

“So (they Tower) kind of previewed this type of event with Matt Gwinup last month,” Ruder said. “The performers, their back will be to the auditorium, and everyone will be on stage, sitting. A little bit different than we’ve normally done, but more to the true nature of what the Cocktail Cabarets are, which is supposed to be an up-close-and-personal event.”

Milestone moments

Ruder said the Cocktail Cabaret is approaching some milestones, including 450 unique songs — meaning sometimes a performer will repeat a song someone else sang a few years back — and 100 performers who can more than carry a tune.

You might have figured from the difference in those two numbers there’s a chance some familiar faces will be on hand to croon, and good news, you can do math! Also, Bend musical theater “staples,” as Ruder called them, will fill the stage including Ryan Klontz, Megan and Robert Flanagan, Simeon Purkey and Grey Conant.

More than half the cast, though they’ve certainly sung in area shows, has not performed for Cocktail Cabaret before, Ruder said.

Whether or not their performers are new to the Limelight set, the producers keep their mitts off the setlist.

“We never really harp on people about their song choices,” he said. “It’s singer spotlight. You find the songs that best suit your voice so we can best entertain the audience. And that’s what cabarets are all about. … And we couldn’t be happier about the people we selected.”

What: Broadway-themed Cocktail Cabaret

When: 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, doors open 7 p.m.

Where: Tower Theatre, 835 NW Wall St., Bend

Cost: $36, plus fees