Interview: Becca C Kidwell Teases IF YOU HADN'T...BUT YOU DID at Don't Tell Mama

Becca C Kidwell is bringing “songs of love, sex, and murder” to Don’t Tell Mama this month with IF YOU HADN'T...BUT YOU DID. The show runs April 22nd & May 19th at 7 pm. Kidwell, a MAC nominee and BroadwayWorld Cabaret Award Winner, will be exploring the dark side of romance in this show, with musical direction by Jon Weber and direction by Jeff Harnar. We spoke a bit about the inspiration behind the show. Read our conversation below.

Can you tell me a bit about your upcoming show?

At its core, it started grounded in Great American Songbook songs and then it became twisted through the lens of the femme fatale and my love of true crime.  There is still an acknowledgment of the romantic nature of some of the songs, but we deliberately shied away from that main theme in this show.

Where did the idea to do a night of songs about murder come from? 

Through looking though our options in the Great American Songbook and the femme fatale photos that came out of my photo shoot with Matt Baker.  We had started with different film genres, but when we saw those photos, we knew we had a show and Jeff even said, "this is the show."

The title song of your show – "If You Hadn't But You Did" – is quite a tongue twister! What was the process of learning that one like?

I took it line by line.  The lines are so poetic and not common spoken language that I had to make sure I had the EXACT wording before moving on; this is not a song that can be paraphrased.  So once I would get one line, then I would add on another line until I would have an entire verse and then run the verse until it was natural.  And then learn the chorus.

If you could murder one thing in your life or the world right now, what would it be? 

My fear.  I always have fear creeping around the corners of my life and I wish I could just let go all the time without having to put out so much effort to overcome it.

What's coming up next for you? 

I'm taking the show up to Boston, I'm writing new songs that are going towards a new show in December AND a full album release on my fiftieth birthday in May 2026!

Is there anything else you'd like to say or add about the show or anything else? 

Eventually, I also would like to do a one-woman fully improvised musical and teach musical improv, but that's still in the far future as I'm still studying musical improv, but I LOVE IT!  Thank you for interviewing me!

(Header photo credit: Matt Baker Photography)

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