Versatile vocalist Karlah Hamilton tops the cast of Signature Theatre’s annual fund-raiser, a concert version of Stephen Sondheim’s “Anyone Can Whistle.” As evidenced by her rŽsumŽ, Hamilton revels in playing loud, lusty and somewhat shady characters. Now she is in her element as crooked town mayor Cora Hoover Hooper, the role that marked Angela Lansbury’s Broadway debut.

“I love the fact that Cora’s so deliciously, unabashedly self-centered,” Hamilton says. “She reminds me of an evil queen in a Disney movie who’s greedy and rotten to the core. The opening song, ‘Me and My Town,’ is my favorite because you discover all about her in the first ten minutes of the show. The music is surprisingly vampy, jazzy and bluesy and she sings it with a bunch of men dancing behind her, like a showgirl number.”