Life is a Cabaret

It’s a week away people…..one week from today I will be at home getting ready for my big Cabaret Debut!

I’m excited and nervous all at the same time.  One minute I can’t wait for next week, and the next I’m trying to quiet the voices of negativity in my head (you know the ones, the ones that tell you you’re not quite ready, you’re not good enough, you should quit, etc. and so forth).   But I’m not listening to those voices, well, not much.   I’m trying to stay positive and realize that being nervous is normal.  This is my first show….on my own.  I’ve done workshop shows where I’ve sung between one and three songs, but never a whole show of just me and yes, that’s nerve-wracking.  It’s also so exciting I can’t stand it!

This week I’ve been spending time on my own going over my blocking, my patter, and my lyrics.  Tonight I’ll be looking over every single song in my show and asking myself the question Why?   Why am I singing this song?  What am I trying to say?  I’ve asked these questions before, but I will ask them again to solidify my motivations and my inner monologues for each song within the show, because that can change things.   A song can be about one thing on it’s own, but in the context of a story arc, it could be about something entirely different and I need to make sure I understand that for my own sanity.

This weekend I have my final rehearsals.  Sunday is a final music run-through with my wonderful musical director, Steven Ray Watkins.  Monday is a final (and full-dress) run-through with both Steven and my amazing director, Lennie Watts followed by an hour of cue-to-cue tech (which should be interesting and new).   Then I’ll have two days before the show.   Hopefully I can keep on with my positive thoughts and thinking….and not run away to Pennsylvania (where my parents live) — of course, if I did that, my Mother would just talk to me and make me realize how much I love this stuff and I would be back on the bus to NYC (probably with them as they are coming to all three shows — I love my parents!).

So….there you go….the show is a week away.   If you want details and dates, check out my homepage for all the details and a really great picture of my postcard (designed by Hector Coris - Thanks!) with a cute photo of ME on it!

Let me just say this:  Putting together a show is hard work.  It’s also exhilarating and a lot of fun.

So, a few weeks back I mentioned that my dear friend Dezur Kenna would be helping me with my postcards, well that was going very well until her computer died on her and she lost her only copy of the graphic design program that she needed to use.  :-(   So, she referred me to another cabaret performer and graphic designer - Hector Coris.  After a few dozen emails back and forth between the three of us, it was all set that Hector would be taking over and designing my cards.

Before Hector could start on anything, though, I needed to get approval from my director, Lennie, regarding name choice and some of the ideas that Dezur and I had come up with at our meeting.   Lennie enjoyed the name, but was not a fan of the concept we had chosen.   The name of my show is The Facts of Life and we had wanted to do a TV Guide theme, but Lennie was afraid that people would think the whole show was going to be about TV…and it’s not, so I nixed that idea and went to Hector to basically start over from scratch.

Well, I’m happy to report that after a few weeks of designing and back and forth between Lennie, Hector, and myself - I finally ordered my beautiful Show Postcards and will hopefully be mailing them next weekend.  I’m going to go buy postcard stamps tomorrow on my way home and have already printed off most of my mailing labels (I used the MAC list as well as a personal cabaret list -  I have a personal family and friends list started as well, but will be finishing that up after my mother-in-law and dear husband furnish me a few names/addresses).

Whew!  I have never had to name my own show before, design fliers, or come up with a marketing strategy.  The business side of this cabaret stuff is slightly overwhelming.   I think my administrative skill set does come in extremely handy - like I knew how to set up email blasts and mail merge labels from a huge excel file - all things that have shaved hours off of my set-up time so far.  The only thing left to figure out for me is:  Facebook.  I’ve never put something like this out there on Facebook before, but there’s always a first time, correct?  And I have many friends who have used Facebook to promote their shows so I can always ask if I get stuck.

So, you’re all wondering - when can we see the cards - right?   Well, I do have an electronic copy, but I’m waiting to unveil everything at the same time - so hopefully sometime next weekend.  Stay tuned!

So, where the heck have I been lately?  Well, when I’m not in classes I’m working my tail off on my show!!!

Yes, the elusive Cabaret Show is really happening people, and it’s coming up fast.  So, that has meant rehearsals, meetings, and home study on songs, patter, etc.

Firstly, rehearsals.  I have had a few with the boys, Lennie and Steve, to work on my TV Theme song medley (will have another medley rehearsal this weekend) and to talk about other issues with my show.  These are going really well and are alot of fun.  Steven and Lennie are a joy to work with - not only are they brilliant, but they are hilarious!

Meetings - I met with Sidney Meyer, the booking manager of Don’t Tell Mama to talk about my show, me, him, and Cabaret in NYC in general - it was a delightful and informative meeting and I came away knowing way more about cabaret and booking a room for a show than I did before (which, to my credit, was not much).    After our meeting I went back to the boys to discuss days they were free in September, looked at my calendar and my fan base (my family and friends!) and came away with three dates that worked perfectly.  Luckily, they also worked for Sidney and Don’t Tell Mama so I’m all set.   Are you ready?  Here are the dates for my Premiere Cabaret show - my debut as it were - September 10th at 7pm, September 13th and 20th at 6pm.      So exciting!!!

What’s next on my to-do list for the show?   Memorizing new songs, working on the medley, working on a few really new songs (things we just decided to add about two weeks ago), working on my marketing plan (in fact, I’m meeting with my friend and talented Cabaret performer, Dezur Kenna, this evening to go over postcard design), coming up with a title, writing patter, attending Summer in the City again (yeah!), and rehearsing, rehearsing, rehearsing.  Whew!   I’m tired after just writing that list!

So, I have two months to get this show up and running - way more than enough time, so says my crack team of experts, but I’m feeling a bit worried.  I know I’m in good hands though, so I’ll try to relax and go with the flow.  Most of all I’m going to have a great time with the process, learning all I can, and trusting that things will be amazing!

Well, I took a small hiatus from blogging about my Cabaret experience, because honestly I took a small hiatus from working on much.   After classes ended and we had our final performance, I just chilled with Family and my Husband.

After the small Holiday break, I did start looking for new music, looking at old music, and brainstorming some ideas for my Cabaret show because last week I started CabLab with Lennie Watts and Steven Ray Watkins.    This class is going to be geared toward each of us working on our own Cabaret shows.

This is it folks, I’m really doing this thing - I’m actually creating a theme for my show, starting to pick out and work on music, working with Lennie (my director) and Steven (my musical director), writing patter - the whole nine yards!  I’m so excited and nervous and scared and thrilled - it’s going to be a fun ride.

So, we’ve had two classes so far and we’re a small bunch, but so amazing - each of us is doing our own thing, but we’re all willing to encourage and help the others.    And watching others go through a smiliar process (although, everyone is different, and each show will be SOOOO different) helps me realize how normal the things I’m thinking about or worrying about actually is.

For me personally, right now, I’m just trying to concentrate on finding music that encompasses the “theme” that we’ve chosen — it’s not really a theme, in the sense that it’s about a certain time period or a certain composer, but we did choose a starting point using a song - Unwritten (sung by Natasha Beddingfield).    That’s our starting point.  Unwritten.   How I came to New York with a dream, a goal, and how different my life is today…some bad things have happened, some amazing things have happened, there were highs and lows and shifts and changes, but I’m not done yet - my life story is not finished yet and how exciting that can be.

Last night’s class I started working on some new songs that Lennie recommended and we discussed a few other songs that I was thinking about.   I worked on “Dogs in the Yard” from the movie Fame and “You Can Be a New Yorker, too” from the musical Mayor.   They are both great songs and this weekend I will be memorizing and rehearsing them.     The other songs that I”m thinking about are “Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters” by Elton John and “Dreams” from Fleetwood Mac.     I’ll also be thinking about patter, stories I want to tell, stories that I want to tell through song (stuff that I want to express, but maybe not explicitly talk about), and I want to think about a medley of some sort (although, right now, I’m leaning toward a fun medley of TV theme songs — I love theme songs, I wish I had a theme song some days). 

So, I’ll be back, talking about my music choices, where I find music (for example - I used pandora.com, typed in Unwritten and up popped Mandy Moore’s version of “Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters” which really caught my attention), what happens during class, and other things that pop up during the whole fun, crazy, process.

Here’s the 411 on the Shut Up and Sing Showcase that I will be performing in this weekend - come and enjoy, each of the seven performers will be singing two songs, one of which will be a Motown song with a twist!

The Motown Experience

Saturday, December 6th @ 2:00 PM

Metropolitan Room, 34 West 22nd Street

Reservations a Must!  Please call:  212-206-0440

$15 cover + 2 Drink Minimum

Director:  Lennie Watts, Musical Director:  Steven Ray Watkins

Here’s the 411 on our Vocal Technique Performance:

Tuesday, November 11th @ 7pm

Don’t Tell Mama - 343 West 46th Street

$15, plus two-drink minimum/cover

For reservations, please call 212-757-0788 (after 4pm) or visit their website: www.donttellmamanyc.com

*Also, please note that Don’t Tell Mama is a cash-only establishment!