Bremerton’s Admiral Theatre becomes a cabaret Friday night as singer Barbara Brussell presents her one-woman show.

New York critic Rex Reed called Brussell “the wittiest of girl singers,” and praised her for her ability to tackle standard torch songs and stamp them with “a branding iron of her own authentic invention.”

Brussell was bit by the stage bug at the age of 3, when her parents took her to see “The King and I.” Dance lessons soon followed, leading to a degree in music from the Academy of Music in Los Angeles, acting lessons on both coasts and cross country performances in numerous musicals.

She has been called one of the top 10 cabaret performers in New York, and has drawn particular praise for her interpretation of the songs of prolific lyricist Alan Jay Lerner.

“Lerner in Love: The Lyrics of Alan Jay Lerner” began as a stage performance and evolved into her second CD.

All of Lerner’s songs were written for musicals, which suits Brussell’s musical theater background.

Critics praised her for giving new life to old chestnuts such as “I Could Have Danced All Night,” and “On a Clear Day You Can See Forever.”

“She’s such a fine actress that she can shine a flashlight on the subtext of a Lerner lyric in fresh ways the make you feel like you’re hearing it for the first time,” Reed said.

After conquering the music of Lerner she turned to another classic, Johnny Mercer, and developed a show called “Mercer, Mercer Me, the Love and Songs of Johnny Mercer.”

A music critic who saw an early version of the work in progress at a New York nightclub last fall said, “She’s impetuous, she’s funny, and she makes you feel that with every song she sings, she’s telling her own story. (She) succeeds in finding the truth within her material…”

As well as being popular with the cabaret crowd, Brussell has won numerous accolades from the music business.

She received a BackStage Bistro Award in 1997 and is a six-time Manhattan Association of Cabarets and Clubs Award nominee. Industry magazines Theater Mania and In Theater Magazine have both listed her twice in the Top Ten Female Vocalists category. Beverly Hills Outlook named her Best Cabaret Singer of the Year in 2003.

She has performed across the country, including New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. She has also soloed with the Schenectady Symphony and the Catskills Symphony Orchestra.

Brussell performs 8 p.m. Nov. 17 at the Admiral Theatre, 515 Pacific Ave., Bremerton.

Optional dinner begins at 6:30 p.m.

Tickets are $49 for dinner and show, $18 show only, available at the box office or by phone at (360) 373-6743.