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The Importance of Knowing Who You Are

Shellen Lubin
Article #2 in this running series. “Just be yourself on stage.” Sounds easy, right? The truth is it’s anything but easy. Every time you go on stage, you’re playing the role of some person. In theatre, it’s through a character. In cabaret, the person is you. Defining who you are on stage—the aspect(s) of yourself...

The Development of the Medium We Call Cabaret

Shellen Lubin
This is article #1 in this new running series by Shellen Lubin. You go to see a show. It’s in a nightclub, or a concert hall, or outdoors in a park. There’s one person onstage, or a few people, or maybe there’s no stage at all. They’re singing, and maybe they’re talking, too. There’s one accompanist...

The New Cabaret Artist’s Handbook (From the First Note to the Encore)

Bistro Awards
  EDITOR’S NOTE: Twenty years ago, I compiled and edited The Cabaret Artist’s Handbook - Creating Your Own Act in Today’s Liveliest Theater Setting (Back Stage Books). The text was based on the hundreds of “Bistro Bits” columns that Bob Harrington wrote in Back Stage where I was his editor. The chapters covered all the...

Heart to Heart: Carol Fredette on communicating with an audience…and much more

Bistro Awards
By Wendy Lane Bailey To interview jazz singer Carol Fredette is to get a master class in the art of musicianship taught by a smart savvy woman who is passionate about her craft. Bronx born and raised, she says what she thinks and her thoughts are always worth hearing.   WENDY LANE BAILEY: What was...

Anything Does Not Go: Cabaret Performance No-No’s

Bistro Awards
By Jeff Nishball Cole Porter’s classic Anything Goes can be heard in cabarets around the world, its lyrics presenting a loosey-goosey world, where rules and structure be damned. But when it comes to cabaret performance, anything, in fact, does not go. There are a few guidelines a performer should follow,...