One Woman Shows

Occasionally, Julie takes to the theatrical stage for full-length shows involving a mix of original and classic songs, interleaved with monologues and stories based on her worldwide adventures.

Double Entendre
“I did that in NY at Don’t Tell Mama’s. It was an early version of French Kiss.

Ciao Bello
“I performed it at Thumper’s. It was about my trip to Sicily, singing and romancing and reconnecting with my Sicilian family who had no idea who I was. I met a man and of course I fell in love. I thought I’d finally found Mr. You’ll Do.”
French Kiss 
(co-written and directed by VIctor Janusz): An autobiographical account of a Paris rendezvous with a dashing but fatally aloof Frenchman; featuring cameo appearances by two of her cabaret characters, Sam Turner and the Chanel Lady.

I Love Being Abroad
 (Tales of the Orient)
A two-act saga that premiered at the Bumbershoot arts festival, then had an extended engagement at Thumper’s Cabaret. In Act One, Julie tells how it was like to sing at the Hong Kong Sheraton over Christmas. In Act Two, she takes a side trip to Thailand and falls in love with a local man. She contemplates marrying him and living together on an island.

I Love Being Abroad, Bali Hai, 
Tales of a Globetrotting Chanteuse!
Julie travels to fascinating exotic places that we only dream about. She gets there by having a 5 Star Hotel hire her to be their in-house-jazz singer. (“Every hotel needs one”, Julie quips) She usually stays on a contractual basis for 3-6 months. After her contract she takes a vacation in that country, and comes home with lots of tales to tell!
Interspersed with songs that help her ‘plots’ unfold. As unreal as it all sounds, this really happens to Julie! There’s a good reason there’s an exclamation mark after her first name.

I Love Being Abroad, 
The India Odyssey
told of the adventure for Julie to sing on the sub-continent at a remote resort without women in the jungle of India. She learned to sing Hindi, ride a horse and love Indian food! It’s vegetarian and YUMMY. Fast forward to 2009 Julie is contracted by a 5 Star Hotel in Bali, and finally gets a little closer to Australia, where the man she’s been chasing for 5 years lives. Romantic intrigue, wild boat rides into caves and temples located in the golden triangle. Geckos falling from ceilings into her low cut dresses… what’s next?

“…Dressed in a faux tiger-skin coat, Cascioppo makes a dramatic entrance. With false eyelashes slightly longer than a direct flight from Seattle to Chicago and a smashing, Asian-inspired diva dress, the popular comedienne/singer looks every inch the cabaret star. In telling her tale of a three-month gig at the Hong Kong Sheraton in a basement bar called “Some Place Else,” Cascioppo’s banter is quick and bright. “Did you know I left Seattle,” she asks a friend at ringside, “or did you just think I was in rehab?”

“My Guy,” one of the all-time girl group anthems, becomes “My Thai” as she tells of her affair with an Asian gigolo — “$2 a day for an incredible escort,” she swoons. “He took me to Victoria’s Peak one day. I thought it was an underwear shop for men!” she deadpans. “It turned out to be a mountain.” Stories abound — propositioned by a Polish pilot who offered to trade “marriage for a green card for free flights for life,” a local cabaret performer who wouldn’t give Cascioppo the music for a new, unpublished cabaret rarity (“I got it anyway,” she smiles). Her one word description of a bad date — “Insect!” — got the biggest laugh of the show from the intimate opening night crowd.

The songs all work well. “It’s Been a Long, Long Time,” “Is It Hot In HERE?,” the wistful “Bird Alone,” “Fools Rush In,” “Bali Ha’i,” “I Haven’t Got Anything Better to Do” (with its melancholy lyric “I never loved him and he never moved me”) mix popular standards with cabaret classics.”
Milton W. Hamlin,
Seattle Gay News, on
I Love Being Abroad

” Rather than sentimentalize emotional dependency, French Kiss satirizes love addiction… and offers some stylish singing and goofy vignettes… Cascioppo really is a skillful dramatic singer.”
Joe Adcock,
Post-Intelligencer, on
French Kiss

” The show has really surprised Julie’s fans… she has gone to a deeper, more complex place… Now when she gives a situation her characteristic comic twist, it resonates even more.”
Victor Janusz on
French Kiss