Hello, NiteLife Exchange Readers!  First off, I’d like to thank those of you who sent me comments on my first piece last week entitled Sondheim at the Cabaret.  The response was gratifying, and leads me to believe there’s a need for a column that puts the nightly events in the cabaret world in a larger perspective.  Please know that the blurb at the bottom of your screen is for real – if you have a strong (or weak!) reaction to my musings, I’d like to hear from you.  And do pass on the link to those you think might be interested.  Now, on to the show that’s my jumping-off point of the week.  Let’s hope the pool I jump into holds water!

On Monday, July 12, I attended the first night of the eight week MetroStar Talent Challenge at Metropolitan Room.  Hosted by Tom Gamblin, who kept the entertaining evening zipping along at a less-than-90-minute clip, this is the third annual competition, open to both seasoned and up-and-coming performers, offering a fully produced and publicized one-week prime time run, and a multi-track recording of the show as its first prize   Previous winners were Anne Steele (2008) and last year’s Liz Lark Brown.   This year, roughly 50 contestants are taking the challenge, chosen from a larger pool of entrants.  Their names, and which preliminary round they’re in, are listed on the club’s website-- www.metropolitanroom.com.  On the third night, the top 18 are announced and compete the following week.  The field is then narrowed to ten, then five, with the winner announced in a gala finale show on Aug. 30th.  The voting is split between ballots marked by each night’s audience and the seasoned assessment of a panel of expert judges.  I’ll be writing about the actual contest in more depth after the preliminaries are over.

As for the first evening, there was something quite different about MetroStar, as compared to many of the shows I’ve seen in that club.  “What was it?” I thought to myself.   Of course – the audience.  For the most part, I didn’t know them! I didn’t know most of the performers either, each of whom had encouraged friends and fans to attend and (hopefully!) vote for them.  There was a new element in the air for singers and audiences alike – a fresh, exciting aspect in the room.  Ah, yes.  Discovery!

The majority of the people in that room were discovering cabaret for the first time.  And they were enjoying it.  What started out as perhaps an exercise in self-interest and friendship obligation, had turned into a festive evening of surprises.  (“Hey, she’s good!  What’s her name again?”  “That’s a great song!  Who wrote that?”)  I spoke to audience members afterwards, telling them about cabaret in general, the range of music, performers and reasonable prices (“$20 for live entertainment!  And you can drink, too?!”).  They wanted to know more.  I directed them to the front of the room, to the card table, to Cabaret Scenes Magazine, to the MAC (Manhattan Association of Cabarets and Clubs) brochures.  Discovery.  There's nothing like it!

I discovered cabaret for the first time over 30 years ago, when a friend took me to clubs that no longer exist, like Reno Sweeney.  In 1980, my first directing job was the early solo work of Charles Busch at the original Duplex.  I moved on to other fields: musical theatre, free-lance writing, etc.  Then, about three years ago, I re-discovered cabaret, quite by accident, was excited by what I saw and decided to throw myself into it.  (And how!) I still do other kinds of writing and I’m still involved in musical theatre, but cabaret has become a major focus of my life.  I love the art form and take it as seriously as I do my other passions: theatre, film, TV, fiction, non-fiction, etc.

However, as cabaret critic David Finkle so eloquently expounded at a recent MAC Seminar, the state of cabaret today, in terms of audience attendance,  ain’t too pretty.  (My words, not his!)  Those of you reading this who are members of the cabaret community (in other words, most of you) know that we support each other.  A lot.  We go to each other’s shows.  A lot.  We have to, because, if we didn’t, the rooms would be empty!  Let’s face it, folks.  The general public in New York and the potential tourist planning a trip there is, for the most part, not aware of cabaret as a live entertainment option because there’s so little press coverage about it.  The New York Times stopped listing cabaret in its Friday weekend entertainment listings several years ago, in favor of more listings for jazz, rock and pop.  The irony is that those music genres can be found in clubs like Metropolitan Room, the Laurie Beechman Theatre, Joe’s Pub, Don’t Tell Mama, Iridium, The Triad, The Duplex, etc.   But not in the Times, the Post, the Daily News, New York Magazine or The New Yorker. Thank the Lord for Time Out NY, which has extensive listings, but doesn’t review shows regularly.

Most shocking to me, is that the powers that be in the print and TV media (and their related websites) seem to have decided that cabaret’s bread and butter, the Great American Songbook (which nowadays extends well past Porter, Gershwin, Berlin, etc. to the songs of, among others, The Beatles, Motown, Madonna and Sting) doesn’t merit or warrant widespread attention.  It amazes me that the Times lists and reviews live performances of 19^th century European music while virtually ignoring our country’s own musical legacy.

Yes, Stephen Holden, a New York Times critic I respect and admire, reviews major engagements in the three upscale “hotel” rooms (Feinstein’s at Loews Regency, the Algonquin’s Oak Room and the Café Carlyle) but he generally doesn’t cover the recent spate of shorter, more moderately priced engagements at Feinstein’s or the aforementioned “mid-level” rooms where so many of the art form's most promising and exciting talents are experimenting with styles and material.   And why should he?  Ben Brantley, the Times leading theatre critic, doesn’t regularly cover Off-Broadway or the smaller not for profit theatres.  That’s what Charles Isherwood and other reviewers are there for.  And they do a great job, reviewing plays by up-and-coming writers with up-and-coming actors and when it’s a rave, the run’s sold-out and the agents and producers come running.  In cabaret, you can get raves from every trade critic, win a Bistro and a MAC and still play to thirty people (and know most of them)!        

The Times and the rest of the mainstream media are ignoring a vital part of the NY entertainment scene.  Why not hire a kid fresh out of Columbia to explore these rooms and write about them?  Why not at least put the listings up on their internet sites?  I’m sure they have their reasons for “why not?” and they’re probably connected to the good old bottom line.

To quote Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof, “Sounds depressing, no?”

So, what can we do about it, besides continuing to scratch out our melodies while trying not to break our necks (or our spirits)?  Well, I know that MAC is very aware of, and currently exploring ways to address this problem.  While it's doing that, we can continue to promote ourselves, only more so, and perhaps in a different way.  People are more likely to believe a recommendation if there’s little or no self-interest behind it.  So here’s a novel thought.  Let’s tell people what cabaret is, without trying to get them to see our own particular shows.  Take the self-promotion out of it and talk about the art form, tell everyone we know who is not in cabaret why it’s so special.   Tell them that at its best, cabaret is an exciting, affordable fun night out in NYC, in which talented singers and musicians of varying ages perform live music of varying kinds, in an intimate atmosphere that merges a concert format with the personal expression of a theatre piece.  Tell them that, yes, there are self-indulgent, not-so-great vanity shows out there.  There’s not-so-great everything out there.  But in any given week, there’s a terrific singer (or ten!) in one or more of these “mid-level” rooms (and, during the summer, at Feinstein’s), at moderate prices, putting an original spin on Sondheim or Elvis Presley or Frank Loesser or Joni Mitchell or yes, Cole Porter - often in the same evening!   Why not do the job that the Times and the rest of the media aren’t doing and spread the word to real people about what you think is worth seeing, a performer you really think is terrific – who isn’t you!  If you’re scared about offending the performer friends you don’t talk about – do it privately, not on Facebook.   Finally, tell every potential tourist you know (hell, tell the ones you run into at Starbucks!) that they should see a cabaret show while in town, and it doesn’t have to be yours!

Sound naïve?  A little too Mickey, Judy and the barn?   A little too personal?  Maybe.  But the personal touch has always been cabaret’s greatest asset – and challenge.   It’s one person communicating with an audience, creating magic with a mic, a piano or a small band and some of the greatest songs ever written.  So why not sell it the personal way, too?  One person telling another person, then another, then another, 'til someone close to someone high up at HBO tells him and he green lights a cabaret series featuring some of the incredibly talented performers in the field, including the winner of this year’s MetroStar Talent Challenge!   Now, that would be a discovery!

The MetroStar Talent Challenge continues at Metropolitan Room on Mondays at 7pm through August 30^th.  There’s a $20 cover and a two-drink minimum.  For information and reservations, contact: (212)206-0440 or visit www.metropolitanroom.com