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The all-female vocal group Bad Attitudes took the cabaret community by storm in the mid-1980s, and kept the momentum going for well over a decade. Even in light of such other “girl groups” on the scene, including High-Heeled Women at the outset, Four Bitchin’ Babes at the same time and BETTY much later on, the troupe always provided their own unique spin on the art form by always remaining fiercely loyal to their feminist roots, while at the same time providing a breathtaking blend of tonal harmony along with abject truth and more than quite a few laughs along the way.
Though the group was best known after 1990, for members Sherry Nehmer, Suzanne O’Hare and Liz Zazzi, prior to that they had been a quartet featuring Anne Travers, and even further back as a quintet with members Bridget Crumpler before Wendy Matthews, and alternate members Betsy Keffer and Judy Rosenberg. And they’ve rarely been forgotten, either by the audiences who clamored to see their work week after week at the Duplex, or their detractors, a notable one of whom and who shall be nameless, to this day will scoff, “I can’t BELIEVE those women sang that filthy song about the size of a gentleman’s…his…well, you know.” It was, therefore, an absolute joy when Nehmer, O’Hare, Zazzi and former member Anne Travers consented to an interview with your humble reporter, so dearly have they been missed by cabaret folk at large.
O’Hare and Zazzi hail from the borough of Queens (in towns far apart from one another), Travers is from the upstate town of Utica, and Nehmer is from the Washington DC area. And one way or another, all set their sights on careers in performance. “I moved to New York after a career in advertising,” Nehmer says. “I'd gotten a journalism degree from Syracuse, despite the fact that I wanted to be an actress, mostly because I knew it was a tough life. But in the end, I guess the writing was on the wall; as a copywriter I kept writing myself into the commercials and documentary films I wrote. I got an MFA in Theatre in DC, and then arrived here in the late 1970s. I did tons of regional and summer stock theatre, a load of off-off-Broadway, and a couple of soap opera appearances.” O’Hare counters, “I am just a fine girl from Queens, who decided on a career in theatre, and decided that the classical program offered by Hofstra University was the best choice for me. Hofstra proved to be a professional blessing, in that the program supported and furthered my skills, and instilled in me a work ethic that served me well in the professional theatre.” Zazzi adds, “I always wanted to be an actor, and was fortunate to have a very supportive mom and dad, who encouraged me to follow my dream. I majored in Theatre at Fordham University (where Denzel Washington was a classmate) and when I graduated, I did the typical 'making the rounds' and attending lots of open calls.” And Travers finishes, “I was always acting in plays as a kid, whether at school, sleepaway camp or community theatre. Eventually I went away to Dartmouth College (where Travers met future husband, playwright Joe Sutton), and acted in many shows there. In fact,” she muses, “Joe and my theatre experience at Dartmouth inspired me to transfer to NYU, to study acting with Stella Adler and pursue acting professionally.”
Of all the unlikely happenstances for a group of such wondrous talents to meet, it took place when they were all working at the New York Renaissance Faire in Sterling Forest in the early 1980s. A production of Chaucer’s The King Of Bath proved providential, because Nehmer, O’Hare and Zazzi all played wenches (although Nehmer received an sudden overnight upgrade to portray the Queen), and a cherished castmate was the future SNL star Jon Lovitz. Nehmer jokes, “Only in America can you go from wench to Queen overnight!” Zazzi tells me, “Aside from the staged classical work, there was a ‘living history’ feel to the entire day, and the performers interacted with the attending public through in-character improvisation. Sherry was playing the Queen, and Suzanne and I were both wenches when not donning other garb to perform in the Equity plays. I looked forward to this job every summer, and the off-season was spent doing showcases or auditioning. I was probably where I should have been, career-wise, for my twenties.” The group itself, however, was borne at one of the first-season cast parties. There were maybe five or six of us,” Zazzi says. “We called ourselves Punk Sluts, and performed an original song with the same name. We were such a hit that at a subsequent cast gathering, we threw together another couple of songs and performed again. Our peers encouraged us to form a group, and that's how we started.” Travers continues, “That was definitely the genesis. Bridget and I had written ‘Punk Sluts,’ and afterward decided to try to write more songs together. And then we just started turning out a lot of them, starting with ‘Size Matters’ and ‘Thanks For The Stamp Of Approval.’ I was the main lyricist and conceiver, but eventually Sherry and Liz and Suzanne started writing material as well.” Nehmer adds, “Bridget left after a couple of years, and we asked Suzanne to become part of the group because she’s so wonderfully talented. Anne subsequently left and we briefly had Wendy Matthews replace her, but that was very brief. The three of us decided to then be a trio, and the rest is history. That's also when we started doing more parody material, and pretty much dumped all our serious stuff and went right for comedy.” And O’Hare finishes, “When I met the other women, they had already started on Bad Attitudes' path, but, as with many groups, were experiencing some growing pains. There was an opening, and I was, and am, proud to have been asked to join the group. The intention was already present to be a feminist group, and that fit well with my inclinations, but as we worked together, it was interesting to see that we veered away from social feminism and centered our performances in political feminism. That is to say, our focus moved from the personal viewpoint to the collective . Our songs broadened to encompass a collective that was cross-cultural, cross-sexual and cross–political. Well, OK, the politics were skewed to the left,” she laughs, “but we were trying. And then we moved to center our theatrical motives. We had an agenda."
No one can quite remember where the name Bad Attitudes came from. “I can’t recall which of us it was,” Zazzi volunteers, “but I believe one of us had a boss at one time who criticized her for having a bad attitude.” Infinitely more memorable are the group’s first appearances in cabaret, and especially for O’Hare, who, joining the group after their initial establishment and launch, describes it as rather a trial by fire and yet comfy and cozy. “My first gig with the group was an evening at The Duplex,” she says, “where we did a three-minute show. I was terrified, as I'd had a luxurious three-day on-and-off rehearsal period, but I soon discovered that in performance, these women were hammock-like, surrounding me with their personalities and talents, ensuring a great show.” Zazzi illuminated further, “Our very first gig was at a place called Dr. B's, on Greene Street. I was the only member of the group there at our first gig and also our last. At the time, aside from me, the members besides me were Anne, Bridget, Betsy and Judy. On the same bill that night was a group that went on to be quite well-known; They Might Be Giants.”
When asked if the group ever found their success and/or accolades surprising, Nehmer leaps right for the jugular as always. “Not a surprise. In fact,” she laughs, “I think
we felt we deserved more accolades and awards. We were always flattered and grateful. Stumbling blocks included when our musical director, who had been extremely helpful early on, suddenly had a huge fit when we didn't want to come with him to Provincetown, just to sing backup for his show. Anne famously said, ‘We're not backup singers,’ so he was offended, and that was that. He and his partner got into really immature behavior, like leaving us abusive phone messages. Fortunately, we ignored him, found a new musical director/accompanist, and moved on. I want to mention that our last musical director/accompanist, Mike Aragon, was a real sweetie, and a very devoted friend. Sadly he passed away a few years ago from a very premature heart attack. He was a great guy. And,” she continues, “when people left the group, it was done pretty seamlessly. Again, we regrouped, literally, and moved on, luckily getting to work with wonderful new people. Of course we had to sort out the expected squabbles and differences, but always somehow came through. We also had some briefly rough times trying to find directors, until we threw up our hands and I started directing the shows, with huge input from the others, of course. It was a real collaboration at all times. And we had some AWFUL shows! The best story was when we were insanely booked into a Kosher nightclub, the Dairy Planet, as an opening act to Cantone! Picture this; a Catholic Gay comedian and four women singing to an audience that doesn't want to see women perform. I was personally offended, being Jewish, but the girls talked me down from the ceiling. It was a horrible night, though funny as hell in retrospect.” Travers takes a more somber view. “I don’t remember accruing much success,” she tells me. “We were such a niche act, and we certainly didn’t make any money; I think the best you could say is that we had a cult following. Our high watermark was probably getting the audition for SNL,but it fell flat. Al Franken looked at us blankly as we sang and didn’t even crack a smile. Nonetheless, I felt very personally successful with my writing and seeing my work performed. Each of us was quirky in our own ways, and Bad Attitudes was so custom-tailored to ourselves that it was a wonderful experience, but it left a lot of challenges for us to have individual careers.” Zazzi finishes, “We were so unique. People tried to compare us to other groups like High-Heeled Women, but that just wasn’t us, and so as much as we were well-reviewed and well-received, the cabaret community wasn't quite sure what to make of us. We were repeatedly nominated for Best Vocal Group at the MAC Awards, and we lost every time! We used to call ourselves the Susan Luccis of cabaret. Anything that caused a hiccup actually made us stronger. If a member departed the group, we always found a wonderful new energy in the woman who came in next. I also loved our shorthand when writing together. We were good about keeping egos in check for the most part.”
What, therefore, truly accounts for the group’s dissolution in the mid-1990s? “Well,” says O’Hare, “as with many performance groups, we were each active in many different venues. When we were finally faced with all our activities, I think that we realized, over some time, that we could not fulfill our Bad Attitudes obligations. Although it was difficult, we concluded that the time had arrived for ending our fine endeavor.” Zazzi, meanwhile, lays a portion of the blame upon herself and the fact that she lucked into something bigger. She tells me, “I got cast in Tony'n'Tina's Wedding, which was a seven-show week for me, and it became impossible to find times we could perform that wouldn't conflict. Because we were topical, we also needed time to write and rehearse new material. We gave Monday nights a shot, but it became grueling physically and vocally for me, and I had to make a choice. So I'm afraid it's my fault. But you also have to realize, I was the lone gang that sang those many years ago at the Ren-Faire, so I was looking at over ten years of this. I still hold this group in the highest esteem, because I got a commercial agent out of it, and have enjoyed a long and successful career because of the good work we all did then.”
Naturally and as happens, each has found their own path. Travers says, “I’ve been married for twenty-four years and have two wonderful sons, aged thirteen and twenty. After I left the group, I worked for Planned Parenthood Federation of America, lived in Central Europe with my husband and our little son for a year and went to work for a human rights organization when we came back. I’ve spent the last twenty years working for many such groups, here and overseas, helping with their fundraising and organizational growth. And I don’t feel very different now from the way I felt when starting Bad Attitudes; I STILL have a bad attitude. It might even be a worse attitude,” she laughs. “I’m just older and grayer.” Zazzi, as said earlier, continues a career as a thespian. “Mostly I’m in regional theatre and doing voice-overs for commercials,” she says, “though you might see me pop up on camera as well from time to time. Last year I did a musical, and my audition song was ‘Jealous Aria,’ which was my showstopper from Bad Attitudes. So the group is still getting me work! And I'm married to a fabulous man, who,” she continues, “has actually seen some of the old footage of the group and just loved it.” Nehmer has made an almost complete departure from the business of show with a few exceptions. “Much to my surprise,” she tells me, “I now am Senior Staff at the largest synagogue in the world, here in NYC. And I'm not religious, trust me,” she laughs. “I've been there over a decade. I run events like weddings, and am one of the administrators. I like to say it's like theatre, only more dramatic, and with far more divas. As for performing/directing, I have kept my hand in, but lately I find I don't have the need. Ironically, the moment I 'gave up' theatre, was when I finally got reviewed by the New York Times. Favorably,” she chuckles, and then goes on to say, “Personally, a few years back, I got my physical act together, started working out, and have lost sixty-five pounds. I’m thin now, for the first time in my life. Of course, my co-workers and boyfriend think I am glamorous and theatrical, even if I'm not in the biz. Apparently I am still the Queen, and still a diva.” And it’s O’Hare who seems to have gone through the greatest transformation of all besides a weight loss. “Around 2001, I decided to retire from the theatre,” she says. “I took the LSATs, and applied to law school. This was a decision that I had spent much time on. When retiring from theatre, I considered what field I could enter and successfully transfer my skills. And I concluded that my next career should be law. My presentational skills, improvisation and work ethic would translate beautifully, and so they have. I am now an Assistant District Attorney in Queens County, currently assigned to the Appeals Bureau after being recently transferred from Homicide Investigations. I am so happy working to uphold the laws of . I am very lucky.”
Speaking of luck, will the New York cabaret community possibly have the good fortune to be treated to a Bad Attitudes reunion on stage at any point in the near future? Travers is quick to shoot down the idea, saying, “I have no idea and it seems unlikely.” O’Hare, true to brilliant form, coyly offers the reply, “TREATED? I don’t think so. We’re WAY too expensive.” Nehmer replies, “I'd do it, but it seems unlikely for a number of reasons. I miss the fun and excitement, but not the paying of dues and the smell of beer at the midnight show, and having to self-promote endlessly.” Only Zazzi gives a ray of hope by saying, “An old contact from Paper Moon, the terrific comic Eddie Brill, recently mentioned a possible reunion night of some of the best acts of the 80's and wanted to know if we were interested. So as soon as Eddie's ready, I'd love to!”
This reporter can safely say that we’d all love them to do so. In the meantime, those of us who were so enchanted by the gilded sight and sound of Bad Attitudes, will happily cling to our copious memories and dream of the day that they might return to the stage as a group.
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