Broadway performer Jessica Grové will premiere her cabaret, “I Have Found,” at the Encore Theatre in Dexter.

At this point in her career, actress/singer Jessica Grové — whose Broadway credits include A Little Night Music (with Bernadette Peters and Elaine Stritch), Sunday in the Park with George, Thoroughly Modern Millie, and Les Miserables — is ready to venture into new, more personal territory: a cabaret show titled I Have Found: A Journey Through Song with Jessica Grove, which she’ll premiere this weekend at Dexter’s Encore Theater. (Friday’s performance is concert-only, while Saturday’s is Encore’s gala fundraiser.)

“I’ve done concerts before — like, an hour-long concert of songs — but cabaret is a whole different art form,” said Grové. “You have to tie them together in a meaningful way, and have a climax, and have a realization and a summation. Those are writer things, and I’ve never considered myself a writer, but I’ve really enjoyed the process.”

Grové started thinking about creating a cabaret show while pregnant with her second child (daughter Lolly, who just celebrated her first birthday). This is hardly a coincidence since motherhood has profoundly changed her life and perspective in recent years.

“The show is basically about the journey of my life so far, and the things I’ve discovered along the way,” said Grové. “Having kids changes a lot. Your priorities shift. You start thinking, ‘I can’t leave town for a few weeks,’ or else, ‘I just don’t want to,’ whereas before, I maybe would have taken almost anything. So it’s about my journey to becoming an artist, and not just an actress.” READ THE REST HERE