Fire And Ice

Fire And Ice

Kim had her annual gala for Singnasium, the New York based cabaret singing school of which she is the founding and now outgoing President of the Board. I have told her dozens of times that as the head of the Board and not an employee, she should not be the President but rather the Chairperson of the Board, but that has all fallen on deaf ears. These are cabaret people after all and they do not always respond to reason of a business or organizational nature. She is stepping down after eight years, so she has truly done her duty for her friend Lennie Watts, who is the main driving creative force of the organization. And she can feel good about what she has wrought with Singnasium if last night’s gala is any indication. The gala is primarily a fundraising event, but being cabaret people they cannot help but put on a show for any occasion and this was just such an occasion. Cabaret is 95% about the singing and only 5% about the themes and the pitter patter, but you always have to have a thematic core around which to form such an event. That theme, for one reason or another, was Fire and Ice and people were encouraged to get into costume (something cabaret people both love to do and usually spend their lives doing anyway). I sense that most of these people have very interesting closets, so I imagine that dressing for something as broad a category as Fire and Ice is probably easy. I never got the costuming memo, which was just as well since I doubt my closet would easily yield something interesting, but I enjoyed seeing everyone else with their sequins and sparkles, replete with some fantastic headgear worthy of an Easter Parade (an event this crowd probably turns out for in full regalia).

The show took the form of a classic variety show that showcased singing by cabaret practitioners, teachers and students. Part of the point of the gala is to drum up business for the Singnasium classes that are on offer all through the year, so showing off what people with a range of talents from minimal to amazing seems to make sense. This is also a crowd that likes listening to music and singing and especially enjoys the theatrical, all of which were in good supply. The lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer crowd tends to dominate the cabaret world and therefore there were more than a few drag queens performing. They ranged from the Marlena Dietrich look-alike to the bedazzled and sultry queens of the current and past years of cabaret life. Galas are most often put on by long-time practitioners (of which both Kim and Lennie are the respective Queen and King), so there are lots of awards and commemoratives. Some of the performers are in their prime or even early stages of their careers on stage, but there were also some of those longer of tooth who were applauded less for their current entertainment value and more for their aggregate lifetime achievement entertainment history. The common element that is not really on display, but which I know from experience mostly exists is that this cabaret work is not these people’s day job. Most of them have “survival” jobs which they do diligently in order to afford to follow their passion for cabaret singing and generally being part of the theatrical community.

Speaking of community, that seems to be some sort of dirty word among these people because there was a running joke amongst those who performed wherein they mentioned that they owed money to the cabaret equivalent of the swear jar if they used the word. The alternative word of choice seemed to be family. This cabaret family does seem to be just that. The relationships seem deep and longstanding with people like us flying in from San Diego to participate and others coming from Key West and Chicago, ostensibly just for this evening of song. There were probably thirty performers all singing songs mostly from The Great American Songbook, which is the primary province of cabaret.

One of my personal and general fan favorites is Sydney Myer, the long-time dean of cabaret, singing one of his prototypical pattery, half-spoken with great verve-filled story songs, for which he and his gay-ish lilt are quite famous. His act always brings a smile to everyone in the audience and Sydney is the much beloved father of these events. He usually holds court at his club, Don’t Tell Mama, but this event was being held at the very similar Laurie Beechman Theater, located appropriately on 42nd Street.

My son Tom is a Board member of Singnasium, specifically for his digital marketing and videographic skillset, but also because he is a legitimate member of the family, not just by virtue of being raised in cabaret by Kim for the past 18 years, but also because between his band playing in the West Village during high school, his a cappella singing in college, his participation in the Mama’s Next Big Act cabaret contest a few years ago, and, indeed, having performed a cabaret show with Kim a few years ago. In addition to live-streaming and filming the event, Tom also sang a song for the crowd. I love to see Tom participating in Kim’s world and enjoying song as much as he does. It is a double pleasure for me since its fun listening to him sing and its equally fun for me to think of it as a great bond that he has with Kim.

I always feel very generous when I attend cabaret events with Kim. I consider these events as a dimension to my life which has broadened me thanks to Kim’s passion. I always make sure to pay for whichever of our friends attend with us (we had a few last night), but I also know that Kim gives a lot of money to help make these events get very special. I also always buy more of whatever raffle tickets are on offer though thank goodness, once again, I did not win anything, since I like greasing the giving wheel, but have little or no need for whatever give-aways they were able to solicit from local merchants. In fact, this year’s gala was both better represented with sponsors and better attended than any in the past, which is a nice moving-on gift to Kim, making her feel like she is going out on the proverbial and thematically appropriate high note.

Kim and Lennie were in evidence on stage throughout the show acting as the impromptu masters of ceremony. This is one of the times where the term masters and the term ceremony are appropriately used. In fact, they closed the show with a duet medley from the show Chicago called Now-a-Days (with a touch of New York, New York thrown in for good arrangement measure). I don’t know how much Fire and Ice made the show special last night, but I know that these events are always fun and most special to see the cabaret family enjoy itself so much.