Joshua Lance Dixon Wins Mama’s Next BIG Act!

Joshua Lance Dixon Wins the 2016 Mama’s Next BIG Act!

Don’t Tell Mama, NYC, August 30, 2016

Photos by Maryann Lopinto

After 11 weeks of competition, Joshua Lance Dixon survived 40 competitors to be named the 2016 winner of Mama’s Next BIG Act! First runner up was Cheo Bourne. The other remaining competitors in the top five were JD Killikelly, Lena Moy-Borgen and Julissa Miranda. Joshua’s prizes include $1,500 toward a cabaret act, to be performed in early 2017 at the venue, a graphic design package, an article in Cabaret Scenes, a spot on Seth Rudetsky’s SiriusXM radio show, a show poster which will hang in Don’t Tell Mama, AND… a Hamilton Beach Blender!

This was the second season for the contest, held at  Don’t Tell Mama, located in the heart of NYC’s theater district. It was Lennie Watts, long a staple on the cabaret scene as a performer, director and teacher, who came up with the idea for the contest and served as host. (For two weeks while he was teaching at the O’Neill Cabaret Symposium, performers Karen Mack and Ruby Rims each took a week as host.) The contest began in June and ran on Tuesday nights for 11 weeks.

After three weeks of preliminary rounds, the top 18 receiving the most votes from a panel of judges (Tanya Moberly and Frank Dain were the permanent judges, joined each week by one guest judge) and audience members, moved on to vie for a spot in the top five. Contestants were eliminated each week until all only the five named above remained.  hose five performed over three weeks and the total votes from those weeks determined the winner.

While the votes from the final night were counted and tabulated with those from the previous two weeks, the audience was treated to performances by last year’s winner, Amorika Amoroso, last’s year’s 1st runner-up, Lisa Yaeger, and cabaret’s KT Sullivan and Eric Michael Gillett. Steven Ray Watkins served as musical director throughout the contest.

Tags: American Songbook, Amorika Amoroso, Broadway, Broadway Musicals, Cabaret, Cabaret Reviews, Cabaret Scenes, CD, Cheo Bourne, Clubs, Composers, Don't Tell Mama, Eric Michael Gillett, Frank Dain, Great American Songbook, Hamilton Beach Blender, Jazz, Jazz Singers, Jazz Vocalists, JD Killikelly, Joshua Lance Dixon, Julissa Miranda, Karen Mack, KT Sullivan, Lena Moy-Borgen, Lennie Watts, lyricists, Mama’s Next Big Act, Maryann Lopinto, Musicals, Musicians, Nightclubs, O'Neill Cabaret Symposium, Popular Song, Revues, Ruby Rims, Seth Rudetsky, Show Tunes, Sidney Myer, Singers, Songbook, Standards, Steven Ray Watkins, Supper Clubs, Tanya Moberly, Venues, Vocalists

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