by E.M. Serensky On June 18^th, The Canton Cabaret, along with Tozzi’s on 12^th, presented the Divine Divas Dinner Show. The elegant room, complete with dance floor, white tablecloths, and perfect lighting, housed guests of every age and the three divine divas. The evening was plagued by technical problems, but the mood was always lightened by the performers positive attitudes and light-hearted banter. The “Divine Divas” consisted of Abby Knowles, Me’Na, and Terry Everett. Accompanying the vocalists was the Steve Dallas Trio of Canton. The group performed for approximately two hours and covered 26 songs. Dancing in the Street” was the opening number, sung by all three divas. Abby Knowles performed songs of the singer-songwriter genre. Her set list included hits such as, “I Feel the Earth Move,” “Fire and Rain,” and “Your Song.” Knowles has a commanding presence and a fantastic Broadway-style voice. She performed each song and gave it her own twist by singing in the fashion of Idina Menzel, Shoshana Bean, and Sherie Rene Scott. By being able to laugh at herself and interact with the audience, she easily won them over from the beginning. Another diva participating in the production was Me’Na (www.menasvision.com). Me’Na chose to showcase her vocal talent mainly by the means of classic Motown hits. “Walk on By”, “You’re the Best Thing,” and “Natural Woman” were a few of the songs that Me’Na chose to project with her soulful vocals. Her voice fit her song selections perfectly and she was very comfortable with the audience. She started the evening off with dancing with a fan. The final singer, in an alphabetical sense only, in the Divine Divas production was Terry Everett. Terry has a very classically trained voice and chose to cover songs from the Broadway/pop genre. Everett put on her boots and chose selections such as “I Only Want to be with You,” “Downtown,” and “These Boots are Made for Walkin’”. Her voice is a stable soprano sound with vibrato. She put a lot of emotion and feeling into her performance, which she passed on to the audience. Trio leader, Steve Dallas, provided not only the keyboard backings, he also sang backup to numerous songs and performed “I’ve Got You Babe” with his wife. This performance was a crowd pleaser. It was followed by “Can I Have this Dance”, which allowed many of the audience members to take their place on the dance floor. Technical difficulties aside, it was a great evening. I would recommend looking into the Canton Cabaret’s other shows this year: www.facebook.com/CantonCabaret. The cabaret is only going to get bigger and better. Become a part of it!