Back in March, I was heralding the welcome return of a full-time cabaret club at last to London, with the establishment of a permanent residency of the American Songbook in London at Pizza on the Park. But last night, sitting amongst a meagre audience of just 19 spectators including myself and partner (plus four more who arrived later) for the long overdue return of Maureen McGovern to these shores, I started wondering if we actually deserved such a club - or artists of such calibre - if they can’t be more actively supported.
Already the producers have been forced to “postpone” two of their planned artists, Paula West (who was due to appear there from May 5-16) and Andrea Marcovicci (June 2-13) - the first completely unknown over here, though I’ve seen (and loved) her in San Francisco where she is based, so she was probably a tough sell, while Marcovicci has visited more regularly over the years, most recently in 2007 as part of the inaugural American Songbook in London season at Jermyn Street Theatre, so she may have become over-exposed.
That’s part of the paradox of musical cabaret: there’s only a tiny pool of artists to draw on, and to build and sustain an audience for them is a fine juggling act.
There’s not much of a cabaret press to speak of, either, to help the promoters in their cause: outside of The Stage’s own pages, the only regular reviewing outlet is The Times (where Clive Davis thankfully continues to fly the flag for cabaret, and reviews McGovern enthusiastically today) and, occasionally, the Evening Standard.
In yesterday’s Standard, Jack Massarik pointed out one of the problems of the season: as he writes, she “starts work promptly. Her opening set began at 7.45pm, the cabaret equivalent of dawn, and ended at 9.15 with Knightsbridge still in broad daylight.” That’s not really cabaret’s ideal hour; nor, to be frank, is a Pizza Express menu, marked down in choice but up in price, ideal to set the ambiance. When we protested at the sorry size of the portion of chips, at £3.30, that accompanied the £9.50 cheeseburger, the waiter thoughtfully brought a second helping.
But none of this matters when McGovern sings. And while the best of cabaret artists, as I’ve frequently said, make you feel like you’re being sung to alone - whether you’re in the Metropolitan Opera House or a small room like this - last night it was almost literally true. It certainly made for being part of a very exclusive club. It saddened me, however, that she had to give her considerable all to such a tiny audience, and I hope that she isn’t discouraged from returning in the future. I once saw Ann Hampton Callaway, one of my all-time favourite cabaret performers, perform in this room to just 12 people - and she’s never been back.
It was all a far cry from McGovern’s first visit to this room over 15 years ago, in the early 90s. I had seen her the year before at Rainbow and Stars, the cabaret room high atop Rockefeller Centre in New York (now alas no more), and it was one of the most electrifying evenings of my life, in every sense: a massive lightning storm accompanied her performance, and since the venue had undraped windows to allow views over Manhattan to play behind the cabaret, you kept seeing flashes of lightning.
There’s no such possibility in the subterranean Pizza on the Park, of course; but McGovern is her own lightning conductor to interpreting great music, and when she came here first, with a Gershwin-inspired collection based on her fine 1990 album Naughty Baby, I remember coming to seven or eight nights of her 12-night run! (Yes, I was suffering from OCD, even then!)
Her current show, based on her latest CD release last year A Long and Winding Road, abandons showtunes entirely for a programme that revisits pop classics from the likes of Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Lennon and McCartney, Jimmy Webb and Carole King. It is unmissable.
The question of cabaret is a difficult one to answer. I wonder if part of it is simply that there's not much of a cabaret culture in London vs., say, New York where you would find Broadway performers doing their show and then hitting a late show at various nightclubs.
Of course, there's still drag cabaret a-plenty in London, and some places (e.g. the Battersea Barge) are establishing themselves as a home for fringe groups to showcase new material, try new things, etc. in cabaret form.
I think a major problem with the present cabaret season at the Pizza On the Park is the cost of the evening. Previous seasons at Jermyn Street Theatre enabled punters to book for the entire season at a reduced price which included a complimentary drink. Now, I know Jermyn Street theatre is not an ideal ambience for cabaret as far as the audience is concerned but it was reasonably priced. At Pizza On The Park with a lengthy season, I just could not afford to go and see every artist (much as I would have liked to)when I would have to pay a £25 cover charge plus the cost of a meal. Another problem is the length of the show. In the past when I have seen Steve Ross he has performed two sets of an hour each, but in this season all the artists perform for just about an hour. Not good value.
Incidentally, Steve Ross played to less than a full house the night I saw him - very unusual as he has a tremendous following in London.
Another problem is the Pizza On The Park's publicity. There may well be people who can afford to go every week but unless they know who is on they won't show up. The night I saw Jeff Harnar I spoke to several people who had only discovered by accident that there was cabaret at that venue that night.
Finally, a word about Andrea Marcovicci. I have seen her several times in the past but was saddened to discover when i saw her at Jermyn Street that her voice had declined somewhat. Her personality and chat remained joyous but her voice seriously blighted the evening. That made me decide not to book to see her at the Pizza On the Park and could have influenced others.
Cabaret Fan's point about publicity is very well taken. Pizza on the Park pretty clearly doesn't have a publicist at all for the various acts that it has booked - I'm the target audience and I never hear about engagements until you write about them in your blog . Where are the e mail blasts? Where are the interviews in the press? where are the leafltets spread throughout the West End? And of course there is the ridiculous expense as well. There seems to be an assumption that an audience for certain stars of cabaret simply exists and that it is that audience's obligation to show up whenever these stars perform. But what have they done over here to build a following in the first place. It's silly to think that a performer such as Paula West who doesn't really fill up small rooms in New York would cause any excitement in London. She's sort of obscure in NYC but in London she's not obscure - she's just unknown. The world of cabaret is a small and self-aggrandizing one and they create stars within their own circles of each other. They have to figure out a way to expand those circles by reaching out to younger audiences - that could begin by tapping into not the West End audience but to West End performers - the casts and companies of West End shows - if they build up a community of appreciation from fellow performers and writers and musicians ( and lower their prices) then maybe performers like Ms McGovern won't have to face only 19 people on her first night in London.