Tag Archives: french cabaret

Cabaret

(née LaBarge)

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Elise-LaBarge-Poster-Flat-Web

I have already been asked multiple times if I plan on taking my fiancé’s last name when we marry in May. Since we still have half a year until that big day, I imagine I’ll get the question another hundred times, or so. He has a nice last name, he does, but it’s Scottish, not French. And what with my affinity for France and the music it has birthed, well, it’s hard to part with the current version of the name my great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, grandfather brought over from Normandy in the 1600s. Call me sentimental. Call me nostalgic. It’s in my genes. Seriously. You should have met my grandfather. And it’s what makes me step on stage each night.

That sense of sentimental nostalgia will make me step on stage next month, too, when I present my first solo cabaret in Chicago.  Robert de La Berge, I hope you’d approve.

Cabaret

Stay in bed.

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I was just searching for a quote I’m sure I heard on NPR years ago about Aristotle and naps and some sort of validation for staying in bed longer this morning.

I didn’t find the exact story I was thinking of, but this is close:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=3812295

In the end, I really didn’t need the validation, because I had already decided to stay in bed longer today.  In fact, I required it of myself.  And in doing so, I relaxed enough to contemplate a few things, and then I answered some of the lingering creative questions I had about my upcoming Paris cabaret.  All from my bed.  I feel like a million bucks.

My advice?  Next time you feel overwhelmed and unfocused and just want to think, make yourself stay in bed an extra hour or two.  If you need permission, just ask Aristotle.

 

Cabaret

Next

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I’ve talked to my singing friends, and we all agree that the time immediately preceding a show’s end is sometimes the most challenging.  The goal is to enjoy the production while it’s still in performances, but, oh, there’s that repetitive question, “what’s next?”  It’s the constant balance that I figure every freelancer seeks: arranging the next job while focusing on the current job.

So what is next for me after Unbeatable! closes this Saturday?  Auditions, of course.  Thankfully, there are a few other things on the horizon.  I spent this afternoon working on my French cabaret set for Grand Center’s First Night.   Henry Palkes has agreed to collaborate with me, which means I am a very lucky girl.   After listening to Hugh Macdonald’s lecture on singing and translation a couple of days ago, I’m motivated to try my hand at translating some popular ’20s and ’30s French songs.  Let’s hope the luck carries over.