SPOTLIGHT: Rock Cauldron Cabaret brings some ‘hocus pocus’ to Orlando

Fans of the Sanderson sisters, the witching hour is here!

The Rock Cauldron Cabaret is a jukebox musical that brings the “hocus pocus” of Winifred, Mary and Sarah to the Dr Phillips Center for the Performing Arts this weekend.

Jennica McCleary plays Winifred and is the creator and producer of Rock Cauldron Cabaret. She was a longtime Bette Midler impersonator before Winnie “put a spell on her,” so to speak. Although she lives and performs in Salem now (of course), she was in Orlando as the first woman since Bette Midler to play Winifred Sanderson for Disney, when the Hocus Pocus Villain Spelltacular show opened at the Magic Kingdom about 10 years ago.

Jennica McCarthy

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McCleary’s own upbeat and raucous Rock Cauldron Cabaret, though, has a surprisingly somber origin story. McCleary says it was born of her desire to offer what she could to a grieving Orlando back in 2017, a year after the Pulse shooting.

“We had just passed our one-year anniversary of gaining 49 angels, and I saw that we needed to laugh. I needed to laugh. I needed to remember that it was okay to laugh,” said McCleary. So she teamed up with some musicians in Orlando’s LGBTQ community and put together a show featuring the Sanderson sisters. “We did a small cabaret, and the rest is history. I immediately started working on what would become Rock Cauldron Cabaret. I really credit Orlando with so much of how I became the type of artist that I am now…and I'm really thankful to Orlando being the place that I just recognize this is where I want this to happen first.”

Since then, the show has toured and evolved. McCleary said the jukebox musical features familiar songs with a Sanderson sisters twist.

“Our show opens with Pat Benatar's ‘Shadows of the Night.’ And of course near the end of the show, you will hear ‘Come, Little Children,’ and ‘I Put a Spell on You.’ But you're also going to hear some Donna Summer, ‘Bad Girls.’ You're going to hear a little ‘Vogue,’” said McCleary.

There’s a powerful message in the show, too, McCleary said, adding that the musical’s journey has mirrored her own fight against breast cancer. She’s now cancer-free.

“Yes, you're coming to see the three silly witches that you love, and we can't wait to put on a show for you, but we also want you to walk away with a little bit of a message that you can do tough things, you can empower yourself, and, you know, hex the patriarchy.”