Adelaide Festival

After my posting yesterday, I did some more digging on the Festival in Australia. There is even an app where you can manage a complete calendar. The festival is beyond huge - it is mammoth! There are 3 weeks of programming with huge names in every genre. Acts from around the globe that I can't wait to check out and build up a cabaret library of alternate artists. Masterclasses, open mikes, backstage meet the performers. This sounds like the motherlode of cabaret pilgrimages. Sign me up and G'Day Mate.

Adelaide Cabaret Festival

 

Cleveland Cabaret project & beyond

This just coming my way from Cleveland. Judging from the website - it looks like a small contingent there. But nonetheless they are offering a summer cabaret workshop during the week from July 28th - Aug 2nd. It looks to be led by founders Lara Workman and Charles Eversole with a concert performance at the Playhouse Square. Of note is the presence of song siren Liz Callaway and Alex Rybeck for some part of the masterclasses.

It is likely a long haul for any of our members, but certainly fuels for the fire
that what we are doing is also happening in other parts of the country as well.

Cleveland Cabaret

And if you feel like a major trip abroad - consider Adelaide Australia way on the southern tip of the continent. They are offering a gigantic Cabaret Festival for practically the entire month of June with over 64 classes and concerts. And these are big names stretching from Idina Menzel & Kristin Chenoweth to Martha Wainwright & Adam Guettel. Impressive barely describes it and if I had the ticket and time - just saying...!

 

Stephanie Blythe on Kate Smith

This tip comes from TCCAN member Jen Eckes and an email chain. We are always looking for cabaret features and she found a great one in this. Stephanie recently aired on a PBS Lincoln Center broadcast that focused on the late Kate Smith. She is a mezzo - soprano with a distinguished career at the Met & Lyric to name a few. She channels Kate during her show and engages us with her witty banter.

Our discussion as a group has been, do we or do we not use a music stamp? Is it a crutch to performers or a back-up plan for confidence? The verdict is still up for discussion. But Stephanie certainly had one on hand and it did not seen to bother the rapt crowd at Lincoln Center.

PS - I am attaching the link the her concert on PBS. But the website is well worth bookmarking for other great recent performances - in their entirety. Kristin Chenoweth, A Kander & Ebb celebration, the music of Marvin Hamlisch. Another great resource of material for us to use.

Stephanie Blythe - PBS

The Mavenettes

Another interesting piece coming out of the prolific Davenport's in Chicago. They seem to have an endless roster of talent giving an intriguing slate of options. We need the same here in the Twin Cities.

This one features Carla Gordon & Jan Slavin as they sample a song catalogue calling it the Mavenettes. The piece will showcase songs by famous Jewish American women writers; Dorothy Fields, Betty Comden & Carole King among "other nice Jewish girls." "You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll plotz." Two Sundays on 4/21 & 4/28 if anyone wants to make the drive south.

Define Me

This is a posting that I shared on my personal blog, has very little to do with actual cabaret work, but struck me nonetheless. It is a Brooklyn based songwriter named Ryan Amador collaborating with Jo Lampert in a piece called "Define Me". I guess what strikes me about the piece is how heartfelt and personal the message is and that is what we yearn for in the material we choose. The song is about all the labels inflicted onto us from others and the metaphor of washing ourselves clean of these. Beautiful imagery and a story that could be any one of ours. Enjoy.

Happy Days Are Here Again

Our own lovely Rhonda Laurie is bringing a new piece to the black box @ Bloomington Civic in the next few weeks. She will bring the cabaret art form to the classic music of the 30s, 40s, and 50s while sharing the history of the times. Learn the stories behind “Sentimental Journey,” “Dream a Little Dream,” and more. Shows are Saturday 4/13 & Sunday 4/14 with a link for tickets below.

Happy Days Are Here Again

Playing for Singers

And to piggy back on the talent of noted below Mike Greensill - he has just published a new book for those sitting behind the keyboards rather than in front of the mic that is getting great press. In addition to his own distinguished musical career, he is noted as the steadfast musical mind behind Wesla Whitfield on over 20 albums.

He describes it as a "how-to" book for the jazz and cabaret piano player. "I've spent most of my piano playing career as an accompanist, and it's time to share some of the knowledge I've gleaned from toiling all those years in the nightclub/concert milieu. It's a practical guide to the secrets, both musical and psychological, of the accompanist's art." His webpage features the first chapter of the book for free download and read. 


Playing For Singers

Eugene O'Neill Cabaret Conference

We have a huge contingency here that has experienced the cabaret symposium scene out East. It continues again this year in August for two weeks and applications are now being taken for a lucky 8 fellowships to study. Full web submission via the link below. Needed are a video demo with two contrasting songs and a $35 fee.

Selected individuals for the Fellows Program are provided with an intense course of study under the direction of master artist teachers Donna McKechnie, Wesla Whitfield, and Mike Greensill. With two sessions daily, Fellows prepare for a public performance during the conference, and are also encouraged to experiment and sing at the conference's open mic sessions. Under the new artistic leadership of Grammy and Emmy Award Winner John McDaniel, the Cabaret & Performance Conference reexamines, redefines, and revitalizes the Cabaret art form for the 21st century using a definition of cabaret as "any kind of live performance in an intimate space that often breaks the fourth wall".

Go forth and sing!

O'Neill Cabaret Conference