Catch-Up on Cabaret: Do the math. It's only days away. Tuesday

In case you are a cabaret fan who has been living in a cave, was kidnapped by aliens who don’t have the word “cabaret” in their vocabulary (but probably know a few Cole Porter and Sondheim songs anyway), or had an extended Rip Van Winkle-like nap for twenty-plus years, it’s time for the MAC Awards this Tuesday.  Yes, that annual giving of acknowledgments and hugs to cabaret folks for their work over the last year, as voted by the members of MAC, the Manhattan Association of Cabarets and Clubs, during that awkward slow, dull period between the Bistro Awards and the Tony Awards. 

The voting is done and submitted (hope you made the deadline and didn’t end up sending your envelope overnight mail for ten bucks or hiring trained carrier pigeons).  It’s all over but the fretting and anticipating, and some nominees I know are fussing about their sequined outfits and fussing over their hair being just so. And I hear the women have things on their minds, too.  Once again the festivities – and it is not just the handing out of awards and the drawing-out of speeches, but lots of entertainment bang for your buck - your show of shows and your show of support, too. If you’re a nominee, I hope you will prepare a speech that is terse and memorable without pausing every time you mention a name so that we all are expected to clap again and again - you’d be surprised how that is one of the things that, all added up, makes these evenings so long. Do the math. Why not try to make your speech memorable and interesting and entertaining and well worth our attention---just like the show or CD or song you have won the award for?

If you haven’t gotten your tickets, or need a refresher course on what the deal is with the MAC Awards, see articles here, or at www.MACnyc.com – I hear one ticket price level’s quota is sold out.  This Times Square event is more fun than going there New Year’s Eve and watching some ball drop with a bunch of half-drunk, crazy people.  Why not be indoors with music and a different bunch of half-drunk, crazy people?  

It takes a lot of time to put together the show and the hoopla and the voting. Lots of hours. So I asked someone who did the math. I asked Julie Miller, busy producer of this year’s MAC Awards for some comments.  Here’s what she had to say:  “There are so many things involved in putting on the MAC Awards show.  It feels like I'm constantly switching hats throughout the course of each day.  There's always something that needs to be done, with ten more things impatiently waiting their turn.  With press releases, ticket sales, putting together the program, dozens of different issues to coordinate with the venue, making sure all the people working the show that day will have what they need, getting presenters lined up and coordinating all of the people who are busy doing their own individual parts, it's a full time job-and-a-half.  The entire Board of Directors of MAC gets involved and plays a part in putting it all together.” 

I also asked her what made the experience special for her and she replied, “What's been special for me is being so readily and openly accepted into this community, and the warmth and generosity I've encountered.  Everyone is willing to lend a hand or a piece of advice. And I owe a lot of personal thanks to Lennie Watts, whose returning to direct the show again this year.  He's lined up some amazing talent to perform at the show.”

There’s always a new twist or new little bit of history to begin at the Awards.  Julie pointed out one that some may not know, about but a lucky few will soon hold in their hands: “As for what's new, people attending the show this year will be the first ones to see the new MAC Award statue we've just designed for our winners and honorees.  It's sleek and elegant; the must have accessory for every fireplace mantle or back closet shelf,” she adds with a wink, which also colored her next comment: “We've decided to continue our popular practice of leaving the choice of where to display the statue up to each individual winner.”

And then, besides the prizes and praises, there’s the palate.  Julie adds, “Everyone should come hungry and thirsty to the show.  For the first time, we've worked with the chef at B.B. Kings who has designed a special three course prix fix menu just for the MAC Awards, and the bartender will be mixing a specialty MAC Martini.”  And what would MAC be without music, not just honored but played at the show?  There’s another first, she reminds us.  “We're also very excited this year to have an ‘all-girl’ MAC Band.  Tracy Stark, our brilliant musical director, will be on piano, and she'll be joined by MaryAnn McSweeney on bass and Donna Kelly on drums.  Lennie and Tracy have come up with this wonderful production number called “Coming Out of the Dark,” for which they've done all the arrangements.  I won't give away who the performers are, but let's just say they're sure to light up the stage, and almost everyone in the audience knows them.”

No need to be in the dark about Stark or the other stark realities of the MAC Awards Show … except of course for who the winners are.  It’s top secret.  Only the accountants know.  They did the math.

See you Tuesday.