A Tale of Two Cabarets

My friend Peggy Noecker and I have recently performed two cabarets. We have been doing cabarets, as well as classical vocal recitals, together for about thirty years. We announced last night that we are going to keep doing them until we get it right.

Well, it's going pretty right as it is. We did the first one a week ago at my home in Massachusetts and the second last night at her home in New Jersey.


This is the obvious ambiance for an intimate concert like a cabaret. The performers have the audience literally in their laps. This makes our communication with them, and with each other, very compelling. The audience becomes a part of the show.

I have seen a lot of cabaret performances in my lifetime. Two of my favorites were Nancy Ford performing at the Firebird Restaurant on west 47th street several times, and Lena Horne doing her one woman show a number of years ago on Broadway. I worked with Nancy on the preparation of this performance. She got rave reviews in the New York Times. Lena did her own thing- as only she could do it!


Cabarets need to seem as if the performer is making it up as he or she goes along, while really having a very clear plan in mind of the direction the show needs to take. Off-hand remarks while performing need to be tested to see if they work and should be kept in the act. This may vary from performance to performance, but usually you can tell pretty quickly if something is going to sell. I saw Lena's show twice. Each time her apparent off-hand remarks and stage business was the same. She made it look as if she had just made it up. That's acting!

Whether one is performing in a private home, a café, or on a Broadway stage, the feeling of spontaneity is necessary. I guess this is true of any performance, but when singing Schubert, you can't do too much ad libbing or you'll be arrested for murder.

Not every classical singer can be convincing in both classical repertoire and show tunes. (See Renée Fleming and Barbra Streisand). Eileen Farrell could do it just fine. Lorraine was able to swing on both sides of the pendulum, stylistically speaking.

Once when we were Los Angeles to hear her sing Xerxes at the LA Opera, after the matinée we all went to dinner together and then, because it was still early, went on to a hotel lounge for an after dinner drink. Someone was playing background  piano music. One of Lorraine's friends spoke to him, suggesting he ask her to sing. After some coaxing, she got up and sang a couple of 'pop' numbers in great style, musically and vocally. The friend then told the pianist that she had just finished singing the title role in Xerxes at the Opera House just down the street. He was delighted; and so were we! It was a great evening.

Neither Peggy nor I is in our first blush of youth, but somehow we can still do it. Good luck or good genes! And lots of working together. To quote a line from the 1954 musical comedy, The Boy Friend, which introduced Julie Andrews to Broadway, 'Many a good tune's been played on an old violin'.

Think of Peggy and me as Stradivari. Priceless!