All cabarets for the 2025-2026 season will be held in the Mandell Theatre at Orlando Shakes. All seats will be a ticketed admission. Drinks are not included in the ticket price but are available for purchase at the lobby bar.

Desiree Montes

Live performances: October 15 & 16, 2025 at 7:30pm

Virtual encore viewing: October 31 – November 3, 2025

The multi-skilled Ms. Desiree Montes takes to the stage in her new solo cabaret Sounds of Desiree: Reprisin' and Manisfestin' on Wednesday, October 15th, and Thursday, October 16th for the Winter Park Playhouse's popular Spotlight Cabaret Series. Playhouse Music Director, Mr. Christopher Leavy, will accompany on piano. This cabaret will take place at Orlando Shakes in The Mandell Theatre, located at 812 E. Rollins Street, Orlando, FL 32803.

Join the acclaimed Ms. Montes in this unmissable cabaret event as she revisits some of her noteworthy, award-winning roles and shares her vision for future characters she is eager to bring to life on stage.

Desiree will leave audiences wanting more with her riveting selection of reprisal roles, including Mrs. Lovett (Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street), Aida (Aida: The Musical), Hélène Bezukhova (Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812), The Witch (Into The Woods), and most notably Billie Holiday (Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill).

Desiree Montes is a proud member of Actors' Equity Association and an accomplished singer, actress, dancer, puppeteer, voice-over artist, director, choreographer, intimacy director, audition preparation coach, and arts educator. She has been a part of the corporate theme park entertainment industry for over 15 years. At Universal Studios Orlando, she has performed as Mabel in The Blues Brothers Show and as the singing sorceress Celestina Warbeck in The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. At Walt Disney World, Desiree has performed Coral/Peach in Finding Nemo: The Musical and as a Gospel/R&B singer in Joyful! A Celebration of the Holidays!

Some of her notable theatrical credits include Norma Valverde (Hands on a Hardbody), Aida (Aida: The Musical), Sarah (Ragtime: the Musical), Daniela (In the Heights), Mrs. Lovett (Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street), Hélène Bezukhova (Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812), and Billie Holiday in what will soon be 6 regional productions of Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill.

She made her Off-Broadway debut in Flying Lessons at the 2019 New York Musical Festival. Desiree received the Orlando Sentinel's 2024 Critics' Pick: Special Recognition award for her most recent portrayal of Billie Holiday in Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill.

The Winter Park Playhouse Spotlight Cabarets are being performed inside the Mandell Theatre at Orlando Shakes located at 812 E. Rollins Street, Orlando, FL 32803. Tickets are $23 and all seats are reserved.

The cabaret will be filmed and available to enjoy virtually Friday, October 31st through Monday, November 3, 2025. A private link will be sent at 5:00 pm on Friday, October 31st, and will be valid for 4 days. Virtual tickets are $20 and can be purchased online or by calling the box office.