Behind the curtain: What it’s like to be a professional performer
Behind the curtain: What it’s like to be a professional performer
These days, it’s not all that common to land a job and stay there for most of your career. For performer Jonathan Betchtel, that’s been the name of the game.
In high school, Betchtel aspired to be a performer after watching the film “Moulin Rouge.”
“It blew my mind. Specifically the Roxanne moment. If I ever got a chance to, you know, wear a tank top, suspenders and do a tango on stage — like, yes please. Sign me up.”
A few years down the road, he landed a job as a busser and server at Can Can Culinary Cabaret in Seattle, Washington. “Early years of Can Can, it was very, very much a small crew making everything happen. So everyone that was on stage was also pulling double-duty as a server. I cleaned, I think for the first seven, eight years. I would need to be the janitor. So it was all hands on deck to make it succeed,” he said.
Nearly a decade in, Betchtel now wears many hats as performer, producer, MC and co-owner of Can Can, along with Chris and Fae Pink.
To learn more about the life of a performer and how Can Can survived the pandemic, click the audio player above.
There’s a lot happening in the world. Through it all, Marketplace is here for you.
You rely on Marketplace to break down the world’s events and tell you how it affects you in a fact-based, approachable way. We rely on your financial support to keep making that possible.
Your donation today powers the independent journalism that you rely on. For just $5/month, you can help sustain Marketplace so we can keep reporting on the things that matter to you.
