Given that we now live 2,759 miles away from New York City, a mere 5 +/- hours by plane, plus another four+ hours of transit time to/from the airports (not to mention whatever unexpected but still somewhat ordinary hassles occur at the airports on either side of the country), Kim and I do our best to coordinate our visits to accommodate as many multiple purposes as we can. The cost of air travel for us (we pretty much have to upgrade to Business or First Class given the width of my derrière) makes such coordination a logical requirement. My family way be gradually moving out of New York and my business friends spend less and less time here in the City, but Kim’s cabaret crowd is firmly imbedded in the Theater District that centers itself these days around 46th Street (Restaurant Row), and the center of the block between 8th and 9th Avenue is where Don’t Tell Mama (DTM) sits. DTM has been the center of Kim’s cabaret world since I have known her. Besides its two-barrel cabaret stages, always active piano bar and usually mediocre dinner service, DTM is home to both Sidney Myer, the 35-year booking manager of the kitchie cabaret club and Kim’s cabaret “husband”, Lennie Watts, the performer/producer/arranger/instructor to the cabaret world of New York and beyond. Whenever we plan a family visit to New York City, we try our best to coordinate it so that Kim can honor her strong connection to the New York cabaret community, which is driven largely by Lennie and Sidney.
This holiday season, our visit overlapped with the Singnasium Annual Gala. Kim was president of the Board of Singnasium for its first 8-9 years and now she still sits as a board member. So, Kim is not only a presenting fixture, but also a performer on the roster for such affairs. This year was the best gala I can recall, which is a testament to the steady growth of importance of Singnasium to the New York cabaret community. The Gala was held at The Players, a theatrical club at 16 Gramercy Park. That large townhouse was built Elihu Townsend, a NYC banker, in 1847. He sold it to Valentine G. Hall in the days when New York Centered around the downtown areas between Greenwich Village and Gramercy (with the Ladies’ Mile of stores in between). Hall is perhaps most famous as the grandfather of FDR’s stalwart and progressive wife, Eleanor Roosevelt. The house was bought in 1888 by Edwin Booth, the brother of assassin John Wilkes Booth, who was made infamous by his murder of Abraham Lincoln at Ford’s Theater.
The Players (specifically NOT called The Players Club) is a private social club established by Booth, a well-respected Shakespearean actor. It’s location on the south side of Gramercy Park makes it special all by itself. Gramercy Park is one of only two private parks in New York City and the only one in Manhattan. These sorts of parks are far more prevalent in London, which makes this small enclave between Park Avenue and Third Avenue from 20th to 22nd Streets, one of the most unique two acres of Manhattan. In theory, only people who live around the park have access to it through a private key system that gets renewed each year. These sorts keys are tightly controlled and cannot be copied (supposedly). When I lived on 22nd Street from 2002 – 2005, I had a key to the park, which I obtained for $500 per year through my doorman. I was not technically entitled to it, but as New Yorkers know well, a well-connected doorman can pretty much do anything in New York City. My one problem with the Park, where I would do my morning laps, was that there are more rats living amidst the ground cover than are in the subways or streets of lower Manhattan. No amount of elitism or private club ambiance can overcome some realities of urban life.
None of that entered the picture for our gala evening. This clubhouse was redesigned back in the Golden Age of Nee York by none other than the famous architect Stanford White. It’s a lovely and roomy townhouse with a wonderful ballroom, where the staged gala was held. There were passed hors d’oeuvres, a cash bar and a buffet meal, all set with a stage for the show. Needless to say, a fundraising gala with all the normal raffle ticket sales and schmoozing is so much better when done in the midst of a community of cabaret performers. Everyone has a fancy costume (supposed a 1920’s theme, but interpreted very widely to include anything sparkly or flamboyant) and a song at the ready to sing. More than most cabaret gatherings, this gala was very high-powered this year with notable stars like KT Sullivan, Karen Mason, Klea Blackhust, Farrah Alvin and Marilyn May. Singnasium is THE cabaret school of New York and everyone in that community wanted to be there. I’m not able to remember all the great songs that were sung, but after 20 years of going to cabaret with Kim, I’m confident in saying that I know good cabaret when I hear it, and this was great cabaret, none better than Kim’s arrangement mash-up of Sing and Make Your Own Kind of Music.
We were joined for the evening by our dear friends Matthew and Phillip, who also enjoy a good cabaret show, especially one with Kim in it. Matthew and Kim ho was back to both summer stock theater in Vermont and then a period of drama teaching at private girls schools in Manhattan. Where Kim moved from musical theater to cabaret about the time we connected, Matthew rose through the private school ranks to become the Headmaster of a significant girl’s middle school. I believe Matthew is Kim’s oldest and dearest theater friend and I have known them both for twenty years now. Despite the high noise level in the theater during the show, it was still nice to catch up with both of them.
I often say that one of the greatest gifts that Kim has shared with me is her love of musical theater. I’m not sure I would have had too much song and music in my life and I’m sure that my life would have been the lesser for it.
So, as they say in the song…..
Willkommen, bienvenue, welcome
Im Cabaret, au Cabaret, to Cabaret
Welcome to the Kit Kat Klub!
Thank you for this nostalgic post. Back in the days when I was ‘in commerce’ I was also a member of The Players – they used to have a membership category called ‘Patron of the Arts’ for potential members from the other side of the footlights. Someone in advertising could squeak through with the help of a friend. Mine was a composer who did commercial work. The Players was one of my four favorite spaces in NYC – along with Luchow’s, The Century Assn, and Gage & Tollner (in Brooklyn). The threshold at their doorways was like a time machine. Now that I’m thinking about it, The New York Yacht Club was pretty good, too. Step across those thresholds and you were immediately whooshed back 100 years. In the case of The Players, going out was as good as going in. I always thought I might run into Stanford White drawing up to the curb facing Gramercy Park
Glad it brought back good memories. Great space.