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Cabaret Singer Victoria Gordon Brings Her One-Woman Show to the Hollywood Fringe Festival

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June 24, 2019
Victoria Gordon in her one-woman show.

“When I was growing up, we would watch a lot of TV Land and Turner Classic Movies and I would dream of being my own Judy Garland or Debbie Reynolds, starring in a movie musical and finding love on the screen.”

So says Victoria Gordon during her one-woman cabaret show currently playing at the Hollywood Fringe Festival. Simply titled “Victoria Gordon — Live at the Hollywood Fringe,” during the hour-long performance, the 25-year-old actress/singer takes the audience on an intimate journey of self-discovery, performing a wide array of beloved Broadway songs interspersed with observational comedy vignettes.

Born and raised in Los Angeles, Gordon was always drawn to the performing arts, even as a young girl. “I grew up in a musical family. My mother’s uncle, Ernst Katz, was a symphony conductor so everyone in my family played instruments and as a kid I played the violin,” Gordon told the Journal. “But I really enjoyed singing and not so much the violin, so when I was nine, I begged my parents to let me switch to singing and it took two and a half years before they finally let me start taking voice lessons, so when I was 12, I started taking formal singing lessons.”

Gordon cites Bernadette Peters, Jane Krakowski and Andrea McArdle as a major influence on her career. “Growing up, I remember in school we did biography reports and kids would pick Lindsay Lohan or Britney Spears, and I was like, ‘Can I find a biography on Bernadette [Peters]?’ I was just a theater kid and I always wanted to part of a Broadway show or something more in that vein versus what was popular at the time.”

Having worked for many years in film and TV production, Gordon’s idea for her one-woman show came about following a conversation with her mother, Lori; after Gordon’s voice coach of nine years announced that she was moving to Nashville.

“Growing up, I remember in school we did biography reports and kids would pick Lindsay Lohan or Britney Spears, and I was like, ‘Can I find a biography on Bernadette [Peters]?’” — Victoria Gordon

Gordon brought her mother to her final lesson with her teacher. “[My mom] listened and said, ‘Look you are great at what you do. Take those skills and put them on the stage because your singing is incredible and you deserve to give it a shot.’ So from there I started developing a one-woman show.”

Gordon’s love of musical theater comes through during the show, as she performs selections from a variety of shows including “The King and I,” “Oliver,” and “On the Town.”

“Some of them I picked because they really spoke to me and I wanted to sing them like ‘It Might As Well Be Spring’ from ‘State Fair,’” Gordon said. “I always dreamed about singing that song in a show. But some came from other sources of inspiration like ‘I Am What I Am’ from ‘La Cage Aux Folles.’ My sister said that this song just speaks to who you are and you should do it. It’s probably one of my favorite songs in the show.”’

Gordon does not write her own music or lyrics, a fact she finds amusing because she is a comedy writer by trade. “The fact that I don’t write music surprises people, but there is so much beautiful music out there that I don’t think has necessarily gotten the attention it deserves and I feel like those are the kind of songs I gravitate toward,” she said. “The ones I wish more people knew and had gotten a greater amount of exposure when they were first released. Those are the songs that I mostly try to put into my show.”

Moving forward Gordon’s goal is to produce this show in New York during the winter. From there, she hopes to record it maybe as a CD and tour with it.


“Victoria Gordon – Live at the Hollywood Fringe” has one more performance on Thurs. June 27, at 8:30 p.m. For more info and tickets click here.

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