Interview: Catching Up with Brandy's and Don't Tell Mama's Alison Nusbaum

An actor with a job is a beautiful thing, isn't it? And, lately, the actor with a job has been Alison Nusbaum. Although a happy staple in both the piano bar and cabaret communities, this lounge singer who started out as a singing actress had some great luck last season, performing in six plays, post-pandemic shutdown. Now, just two weeks out from heading West to revive one of those six plays in a new city, Alison is enjoying her work at Brandy's and Don't Tell Mama, as she packs her trunks for warmer climes.

Before that happens, Alison shared some chat with Broadway World Cabaret about dream roles, the need for diversity in cabaret rooms, and the impending madness of driving 'cross country.

This interview was conducted digitally and is reproduced with minor edits.

Alison Nusbaum, welcome to Broadway World!

Thank you, Stephen, for having me!

Oh, my gosh, you have had quite a year! You got to do a lot of acting last season, and you have more coming up! How many out-of-town gigs did you land in 2021?

I've been extremely lucky this past year! I did five shows, all at Surflight Theatre, down in Beach Haven, NJ. I was part of their summer season, as well as the holiday show.

And in a couple of weeks, you are heading out West for another job, right?

I'm leaving in a few days to head to Laguna Playhouse, in California. Surflight co-produces with Laguna and they are sending "I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change", one of the shows I did at Surflight this past season, out there. I may be completely out of my mind but, I've decided to drive to CA and turn it into a two-week road trip in each direction.

Wish me luck!

It must be amazing to go from over a year of not being able to act, to getting to play so many parts. Walk me through that experience.

I think you'd be hard-pressed to find a performer that didn't question their career path at some point during 2020. There were so many questions regarding how, when, and even if live theatre would be back. A lot of people chose to go into other careers. I know many people that went back to school and completely changed directions. Many actors left the city. I spent a good amount of time contemplating what I would do if theatre was no longer an option. Honestly, when regional theatres started opening back up, I was a little hesitant. I was hesitant about traveling, about living in communal housing with other people, singing into each other's faces! And it was difficult because in-person auditions weren't happening. Everything was being done via video submission, which I hate!! I'm not the most computer savvy person in the world and I just feel like I come across better in person. So I wasn't really back into the swing of things yet. But, I had worked at Surflight two years prior and when I saw what the summer season was, I emailed the producers and expressed my interest in auditioning. I was initially contracted to play Hannigan in "Annie" and Melpomene in "Xanadu", as well as being a pit singer for "A Chorus Line" (because no one wants to see me on stage for that show but, if you ask real nice, I'll show you my dance audition video). A few weeks into the summer contract I was asked to stay for "I Love You..." which went from a show I knew very little about to one of my absolute favorites very quickly! It was really great to jump back into things with those first two shows in particular. Hannigan has always been a dream role for me. "Annie" was both the first movie and the first stage show my parents took me to see and I've always joked that, even as a kid, I never wanted to be Annie. I wanted to be Miss Hannigan! And Xanadu is such silly fun, it's exactly the kind of thing I think people needed after the year we'd all been through.

Of course, even though you weren't doing character work during the pandemic, you were continuing to work within the club community. You are a part of the Brandy's Family AND the Don't Tell Mama family, both of which worked as much as they could during the pandemic. Describe the experience for me, from the worry of losing it all to the relief of bouncing back.

Oh man, it was all just so weird. I was actually working at Brandy's when the announcement was made that bars, restaurants, etc would be closing the next day. As much as we all wanted to believe it would just be two weeks, I think everyone knew better. On the way out, at 3 am, my coworker and I hugged each other and said "I sure hope we didn't just work the final night of Brandys". Luckily we did not. I think the first three or four months of the shutdown can be looked at as a testament to how loved and appreciated the piano bar community is by its patrons. During the first few months, staff from both clubs, as well as others in the city, put together virtual concerts. Those concerts were streamed and people watching could tip through a Go-Fund-Me account specifically set up for that club and anything received was split up among the staff. The generosity of some people was just overwhelming. And then, in July, we got word that dining establishments could reopen. For outdoor dining only. So, at both Brandys and Mamas, we spent the next few months playing and singing on the sidewalk. That was real interesting! It comes with an entirely new set of issues, mostly concerning noise ordinances... Mamas was also producing cabaret and drag shows outside on the stairs between the restaurant and piano bar buildings. It was really weird and pretty great all at the same time. It was a struggle, especially when winter rolled around, but we all struggled together. At a certain point, we were allowed to have people inside again, but with giant plexiglass or plastic walls between all the tables and between the stage and the audience. Though, I did turn the awkwardness of that into some pretty good 'bits' and was a little sad to see them go. Now, with Broadway reopened, things are pretty much back to normal, customer-wise. But it was scary for a bit.

Tell me about your journey with each of these establishments and how it has changed you.

Well, I used to be starry-eyed and hopeful and full of life, and now... Haha, just kidding. I was never any of those things!

For real though, I have been working at both clubs for upwards of fourteen years. Brandys was off and on, as a sub, for the first few years and I actually just got my first regular shift there a little over a year ago. I've been at Mamas as a regular employee the entire time I've worked there. I've done everything from happy hour to piano bar to the cabaret rooms at Mamas. Working in piano bars has definitely changed me both personally and professionally. You've used the word 'family', but that is truly what it is. The people I work with have become some of my best friends. These are the people I surround myself with when I'm not at work. These are the people I cry to when I need it and these are the people I celebrate the good things with. They are my NYC family. It has also done wonders for me as a performer. I remember when I first started, I had a three-song set. That's it. Just one, three-song set. And I'd just kinda go up, sing my three songs, and go back behind the bar. It took me a long time but, let's just say, I've come out of my shell. It helped me figure out who I am as a performer. It is a safe place to try new things, some work, some don't. At the end of the day, if you go out on a limb and fall flat on your face, most of the people in the room are drunk and won't remember anyway. Over the years of doing piano bar, I've gotten much more comfortable in audition rooms. If you can sing ABBA, at 2 am, while being heckled by a drunk, you can handle anything an audition throws at you! In fact, more than half the theatre jobs I've booked have been from an audition I got because of someone I know from piano bar or cabaret.

It has been said that, due to the all-encompassing nature of the cabaret industry at large, and the niche-nature of the piano bar community, there are two completely different types of families in effect in Manhattan. Would you call that a fair breakdown?

Absolutely! I think there is a little bit of a separation between the piano bar and the cabaret community in general. My understanding is that it wasn't always that way. I know that it used to be more commonplace, until not too long ago, that piano bar performers did cabaret shows on the regular. That doesn't happen as frequently anymore and I think that may be where part of the disconnect is. My own personal opinion is that the actual timing of cabaret shows, especially at Mamas, does not help this. If you take a stroll through the seating area behind the piano, on the way into the rooms, there are posters from the 80s and 90s hanging all over the walls. If you take a good look at them, you'll see many with 11 pm and even midnight and 1 am showtimes. People were waiting to get into shows and exiting shows as piano bar was happening. Now, with the exception of the occasional Friday or Saturday night show, most cabarets are over before piano bar even begins, so there's very little occasion to stick around and check it out. Not to say it doesn't happen, but it's not right there waiting for you.

Your work in the clubs of New York City put you out front as a performer but also in the booth as a tech director. Was that something you had planned when you entered the nightclub industry or was that a development that presented itself?

I never went in with the intention of being a technician. I started out in the piano bar but, when I started, it was very difficult to get shifts. Like many at Mamas, I started working as a bartender/waiter in the cabaret rooms to supplement my income. One day Bobby Kneeland, who was head of tech for years, told me he thought I had a good eye for it and asked if I'd be interested in training with him. Of course, I said yes and now here we are!

Pretend I'm a tourist and compel me to check out the piano bar scene of NYC.

Couldn't get a ticket to "Wicked"? For the price of two drinks, and maybe a nice tip, we'll sing ya the whole show!!

As a member of multiple factions of the cabaret community, what could the industry lean into, as we continue to come out of the last two years, to be stronger as an industry and as a community?

Well, I definitely think the community needs work to broaden the appeal of cabaret. Draw in new, younger, more diverse performers. One of the most common complaints I've heard from people is that cabaret is too exclusive. One of the big issues is just that it costs so much to put a show together. The musicians, director, promo materials, rehearsal space, room fees... Forget about making money, unless a show is sold out, people are lucky to break even most of the time. And I know that it is not about making money, it is about doing something we love. But at what (literal) cost? How do we fix this? I'm not sure. I also believe that the idea of what cabaret "is" could benefit from a shift. I think we've all forgotten that drag, and burlesque, and musical comedy can also be cabaret. Cabaret needs to be fun. Especially right now, after the couple of years we've all had. I'd like to think that expanding the notion of what makes it cabaret might make getting involved a more exciting experience for badly needed newcomers.

With all the character acting you've done lately, you've played some real dream roles. What are the roles you're going to manifest next, and why must you play them?

I'm sitting here, fully ready for someone to cast me as Little Edie!!! Da da da da daaaaa.

Alison Nusbaum, thanks for visiting with Broadway World today, and have fun with I LOVE YOU, YOU'RE PERFECT, NOW CHANGE.

Thank you, Stephen!

Visit the Brandy's website HERE and the Don't Tell Mama website HERE.

Alison Nusbaum has her social media HERE

Photos from Surflight's productions of Annie, Xanadu, and I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change by Pat Trotter Photography

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