I'm assuming each of you has your own story of scouring for that one song that is a needle in a haystack. We heard a music track, it came up in a playlist, it is on some archived cast album from decades back... As cabaret artists, we are often trying to find material that is uniquely "us."
On line music is a great asset, with possibilities on MusicNotes and others sites to not only purchase individual charts, but have them transposed to a key that fits our range. Our connection in TCCAN allows us to also exchange pieces or share obscure tabs from old vintage books in our collections. Even our public library has a reserve shelf that can provide us an occasional treasure if we are willing to dig a bit through an archaic card catalogue. But I am here to praise a new find in Hollywood Sheet Music. Enough so, that I am adding it as a resource in our links here. Their by line is "if you can't find it here, you won't find it anywhere."
I am currently work shopping a new set of Cy Coleman material and choosing to really delve into some of his lost trunk songs. Through an adventure chase that began with his own publishing company, I was lucky enough to get a lead to them. Somewhere along the way, some of Cy's songs are still owned by his estate, others went over to the Hal Leonard company. And yet there is a third option of those straggling songs that were never deemed important enough to be published, but merely copyrighted. Somehow Hollywood Sheet Music has assembled many of those stray ducks in a massive strip mall warehouse in Burbank CA. So if anything you are seeking may have come from a musical score or a film soundtrack, chances are that you might have some luck here.
Their website is hardly high tech. And the search engine there is deceiving and not always at face value. I was told to send a personal inquiry to Stephanie, the librarian there. And that is where I struck gold. Within a day, she responded back and had both rare tunes I was looking for; one from the original theater score and the other chart in Coleman's own notation. They were a bit more expensive than other on line sites - but far less than having someone arrange them by hand. Another great resource to remember!
Hollywood Sheet Music
Hollywood Piano Warehouse
This feature come to us from Vicky - who spends much of her time working with young students and their vocal training. The article's main point (from American Theater) centers on new expectations for musical theater students in a conservatory setting.
Before I made the leap to the cabaret world, I was starting to feel a bit of dismay at the unreal assumptions put upon a working actor. A triple threat was no longer an ace. Directors now ALSO wanted you to play the tuba, juggle, do stand-up comedy and speak fluid Italian. Ridiculous! But what is sad, is that there always seemed to be that one person in the room who was able to deliver on all counts. I had a close friend stage managing the recent Sweeney Todd revival and he talked about how impossible it was to cast understudies for the show - it needed to be someone who could sing their own role and play a fiddle and also be able to step in for a totally different role playing the trombone - throughout the entire score. Add in the new Cirque element and we should all be doing trapeze work in addition to Fosse choreography. So I got out!
But the new element that many conservatory programs are offering up is a fourth track; creative writing. Everything from scene work, composition and full script collaboration. And this concept I like. If you aren't finding the right work out there in the real world - Create Your Own! I think this is where we, as cabaret artists tend to soar. We relish in the idea that we are going to tell our own unique stories with our own personal spin. From conversations with actors - many rely on hiding behind the skin of a role that someone else has created for them. Instead of being their authentic selves. And this is something we strive for in our world - trying to be singularly unique. Some of the programs noted are the Cincinnati Conservatory, Pace University, Baldwin University and the Eugene O'Neil Center. I think those students are getting far more bang for their buck.
Musical Theatre Students are becoming Quadruple-threats
For those of us of a certain age, we can hearken back to the now shuttered Nye's Polonaise Room. It was never really cabaret, but for decades it was a song lounge and listening room when there was no other game in town. Before the Shout House, the Times, Dakota and Crooners. One never knew what "regulars" would roll in, or what tunes were on deck for the night. But the one constant that brought all of us back time and again was Lou Snider at the piano in the corner of the room. With her small rail of stools, a few mics to pass around and stacks of charts hidden behind the counter. Even I was in the final "class" of the golden age of Nye's before the college crowd made it a trendy go-to spot & far-too crowded room.
Last Sunday, the #Strib did a lovely feature on Lou as one of those monumental souls we lost this year in the Arts. Of course Prince was the headliner, but it was rightly so that she would be named right beside him as an institution that touched so many people in her 45 years there. I was astounded to read what a tragic childhood she lived. A mother that died while she was young. And then a depressed father that shot her and her siblings in desperation. She survived but always walked with a cane from the injuries - I had often thought is was likely polio or a medical condition. Somehow she defied odds and brought her talents and joy for life to the masses. Lucky us!
Both are gone now, as are many losses in 2016. But I will often recall the many times together that we shared Since I Fell For You in the key of E flat. She always knew what song and what key for me.
This is a blog share of a blog post based on Porter Carroll Jr. Let me preface it by saying that this show is NOT the kind of cabaret we associate with us here at TCCAN. We are always trying to define very clearly what it is that we do. And this strays far from it. But I am also open to continued discussions of the broader concept of cabaret.
Background - Porter is a veteran Blues & R&B performer with a somewhat successful career as a member of Atlantic Starr who had a 70's history in the vein of Earth Wind & Fire or the O'Jays. So he does bring both clout and experience to the table. Looking at his work available, I think we would call him more of a song stylist hearkening back to the lounge acts of the late 1960's. The sort who is all about a slick showband, showcasing some vocal acrobatics in a small and savvy setting.
But what I do appreciate about the article is his sense of making a song uniquely his own, which we talk about often. Interestingly, he refers much to the Contemporary American Songbook which was a new concept to me. He talked about Gershwin & Cole Porter with a reverence. But he is also speaking about a baby boomer audience that gives that same respect to artists like Hall & Oates, Jimmy Webb & Frank Sinatra. Thinking about it, there is certainly an audience that would give credence to this mission. Here are a few quotes from him that I have to admire. "The listener
gets to enjoy some familiar songs, presented in an entirely new way. Me
and the guys in the band do, too. Every night doing this is a new
experience for us. It’s an incredible feeling.”
Then he goes on to say "But deconstructing old standards into new and imaginative creations is both a tricky and risky business." It begs us to ask the question what is an old standard? And for our members - we do bring a wealth to the table. Some consider that to be something between Rodgers & Hart or Sondheim. Others would say it is Johnny Mercer. Or Joni Mitchell & Carly Simon. As far apart as possible, but none exactly a wrong answer. Interesting water cooler discussion.
Full blog share:
Huffington Post: Porter Carroll Jr.
In promotion with our upcoming Cabaret Fest October 1st & 2nd, here is the next installment of our member features.
One cannot speak of TCCAN without the mention of Erin Duffy. Not only did she serve as our first president through a number of terms, but she was part of the original seed that brought us into being after conversations with other local colleagues that had experienced the Yale Cabaret Conference. It was predominantly her vision to create some of that same ideology with the population of cabaret artists here in the Twin Cities. She used her business sense to establish our ranks which aligns with her strong artistic integrity. A consummate cabaret presence, she has found a loyal audience with her recent show I Never Went Away in collaboration with Ben Krywosz & Tom Linker.
Why Cabaret:
Like everyone else noted so far, she is drawn to the intimacy of the art form. "I enjoy every
aspect of deeply connecting with an audience by telling the story of
a song. Ever since I was very young, when I listened to a piece of
music, it was always the lyrics that grabbed hold of me and took me
away. My imagination would just take off. The words became mine and I
would hear and see the stories for each song and live them, making them
my personal songs." She originally juggled theater as her creative outlet. Then steered her vocation into the corporate world. "It wasn't until I was older that I
discovered Cabaret. And, when I did I thought I finally found home." Erin
gets gratification from conversations with audience members after a
performance. Connections that are mutual resound with her. In
particular, tapping into a lyric and finding that listeners identify
with her discovery in the same way. "I found very often after performing maybe a
standard or very familiar tune, audience members would come up to me and
say "Is that what that song is about?" or "it's like I never really
heard that song until you sang it."
Cabaret Snapshot:
Erin talks in her one-woman show about the magic of meeting Julie Wilson. She was in Chicago for a friend's celebration and Julie was the entertainment at that party. When she entered the room "she was the most stunning woman I had ever seen, with her hair - a gardenia perfectly inset. She walked up on the stage, looked out over the audience, smiled that gorgeous smile and began. She owned that stage, she owned that room! And although there were 100 people in the room I felt in that moment that it was just she and I."
In promotion with our upcoming Cabaret Fest October 1st & 2nd, here is the next installment of our member features.
Jennifer Eckes has to be one of our most prolific members. She has a family where everyone shares a musical talent of some sort. Theater is a mainstay where she has had roles in everything from Sondheim to Frank Sinatra tributes. Work at the Ordway, Artistry and the Plymouth Playhouse shows her versatility. If that isn't enough, she has regular stints with the MN Opera where she is currently in Romeo & Juliet. Along with fellow TCCAN members she merged the worlds of cabaret, theater and pop culture in the successful venture of Pop Up Musical. But the cornerstone has always been her engaging cabaret sets and shows where she is afforded the chance to show us her true identity.
Why Cabaret:
In her own words: "Coming from a background of doing musical theatre, operetta,
and opera, I’ve been cast in roles based on my vocal type, my movement
capabilities, my age and gender, and how I look. In cabaret, I can choose to sing songs that I normally never would be cast to sing, and I get to reinvent them to suit me
and the audience. It’s challenging and
fun for me to take a song out of its original context and make it something
new, something my own, and to make the audience hear it in a new and
provocative way. In cabaret, there is no “fourth wall” as there is in theatre -
we create a connection to the audience, and taking that audience along is part
of the journey of the moment, which we all get to experience together."
Cabaret Snapshot:
For her cabaret shout out, she talks about finding the humor in her set. We talk at length in TCCAN about making sure our choices are not always a therapy session where we lay our personal struggles out in the open for everyone to sympathize with us. There is something to be said about opening up in the same way, but finding the humor in the hubris. "I really love to make people laugh, especially unexpectedly.
There’s a story I like to tell about an old pen pal of mine who used to make mixed
tapes for me, and I sing a song he once recorded for me, “Won’t Last a Day
Without You”. It’s a beautiful lyric, a song about getting through tough times because
of a loyal friend. But about halfway through the song, I start to sing it as my old
pen pal did... which was terribly off-key, but nonetheless dedicated and above all, totally sincere in his delivery. I
love the moment when this juxtaposition happens, and the
audience goes from being pleasantly content to being a little
bewildered, and
then laughing hysterically at the absurdity." I have seen Jennifer present this and it is indeed endearing. There are many ways to tell a story and she always finds one that is uniquely hers!
In promotion with our upcoming Cabaret Fest October 1st & 2nd, here is the next installment of our member features.
Vicky Mountain is a long time veteran of the Twin Cities Music scene. Her cabaret sets have given us glimpses of her many personalities along the way; from bar-band queen in the 70's to Jazz warbler with a killer whistle. She spends her days teaching voice at MacPhail, but in addition to her cabaret work, she also pens original pieces and always brings her unique stylings to every offering.
Why Cabaret:
We always try to refine what cabaret is by saying it is a collaboration between story and song. But Vicky goes one step further by calling it a "collision of story and song." The semantics of this single phrase means that she brings an unpredictable quality to the stage. From the theater side of the genre she appreciates the "absolute uniqueness of each performer." From her jazz roots she explores "the vast possibility of styles and repertoire" at her disposal. It then becomes her job to forge that intimate connection that holds an audience "attentive" and under her control.
Cabaret Snapshot:
Among her memorable moments in the cabaret world, one that resonates with her goes back to our showcase project 5 years prior. It was a project called Women: A Broad View which gave our members the chance to do material that had anything remotely to do with women. Some chose women composers, others told stories about strong female role models. For Vicky she was really drawn to focus her experience through a lens of her own early roots in the Rock and Soul era of the 70's. In particular numbers like Carole King's It's Too Late and Nina Simone's End of the Line.
