Interview: Natalie Douglas of UNFORGETTABLE: A TRIBUTE TO NAT KING COLE For The CABARET CONVENTION 2022

Tonight will begin the the Thirty-third annual Cabaret Convention of New York City. This three-day event that is the major happening for the members of the cabaret and concert community of New York City is an occasion people wait for and plan for all year long, including some devotees of the art form who have been known to plan holidays around the the three performances at Rose Theater of the Jazz At Lincoln Center organization. These last three decades, the Cabaret Convention has given the fans a chance to dress up, go out, and revel in the artistry of their favorite singers, it has given club owners a chance to get a gander at the talented performers available for bookings, and it has given cabaret artists like Natalie Douglas an opportunity to raise their voices in celebration of the artistry that has become the mainstay of their careers.

This year, though, is a special one for Douglas, who will be hosting one of the three Convention nights, for her very first time.

Natalie Douglas has had a long and fruitfull association with the Mabel Mercer Foundation, from whence cometh the Convention, and KT Sullivan, the leader of both the Foundation and the cabaret community. Natalie is a trusted confidante and advisor to Sullivan, as well as an artist whose work KT supports and an instructor whose skills she employs. This year, KT Sullivan cast Natalie Douglas in the role of curator, creator, and Mistress of Ceremonies for the second night of the Convention, UNFORGETTABLE: A TRIBUTE TO NAT KING COLE. A dedicated fan of the legendary crooner who has created her own tribute shows to the trailblazer, a consummate artist, and an activist for diversity, Natalie Douglas has taken the job to her heart and to her drafting table, and what she has developed is an evening of entertainment for which everyone, audience members and Mabel Mercer board members alike, will be grateful.

Amid rehearsals and travels for her own Natalie Douglas shows, and all the planning that goes into orchestrating a Cabaret Convention concert, the multiple award winning singer took out some time to take a call and talk a bit about her first time in this role, her introduction to Nat Cole, and her unyielding quest for diversity in her industry.

This interview has been edited for space and content.

Natalie Douglas, welcome to Broadway World.

Thank you.

You are, for the very first time, hosting a night at the Cabaret Convention.

That's correct, yes!

How do you feel? Panicked, excited, nervous, prepared?

(Laughing uproariously) All of the above! I'm thrilled. I'm so excited. I adore Nat King Cole. I have created two tributes to him, in the last twelve years. I couldn't be more excited. We were originally going to do this in 2019 when it was his centennial, and then we were going to do it in 2020... and, well... So it is no longer his centennial, of course, but I'm happy to honor him anytime. I am excited to put this together. Between the ones in New York and the ones around other places in the country, I think I've done something 27 Cabaret Conventions. I love singing in them, I think they're great events, it's always so much fun, not just on stage and in the audience, but backstage - we're always having a blast. (Laughing) I look forward to it every year and I'm really excited to get to put together a whole evening celebrating someone I adore so much.

If they're smart, everyone has a relationship with Nat King Cole's music.

Yeah.

How did yours develop?

My parents were big fans, of course, and, like all good black families, (Laughing) we had quite an extensive Nat record collection. I grew up listening to him, and, at some point, my parents had some kind of connection to him, because, where he eventually lived in Los Angeles, Hancock Park, and they had to have a white friend represent them and buy their home because it was restricted, as neighborhoods go. My parents were part of an organization that, at the time, was trying to achieve that for other black families, so they were, in some ways, connected to his plan to integrate other neighborhoods. Before they adopted me, my parents had thought about or had been on some kind of track to do a similar thing and move into that neighborhood but they actually moved into a black neighborhood, and that's where they lived when they adopted me. That's where they built the house that I grew up in, and he was worshiped in our house. Once I realized that I could have endless amounts of music coming out of the record player anytime I wanted, (Laughing) I spent almost all my time there. There was never too much for me, in terms of one record after another, and my mom taught me to sing when I was four: she taught me a song and sent me to my room and said, "Practice it - come back and sing for us at dinner." That was my first act. I remember, vividly, having this thought, "I'm a singer." I listened to everything and I learned everything. It was not just Nat King Cole - Sammy and Nancy Wilson (who was a neighbor) and The Mills Brothers and Tina Turner and Joe Williams and Stevie Wonder and Dolly Parton and Fleetwood Mac. I got to listen to lots of great music, and he had something very special, he was one of those rare singers that you actually feel emotion in his voice. You don't have to see him to get the whole story. There are some singers who are extremely good at telling the story, but they use their faces to do it, you know? And you should, it's one of the tools that we have, but I feel like Nat is this rare gift, he's a treasure, he's able to convey so much with just the sheer sound of his voice, how he uses consonants. The phrasing is so exquisite, it just knocks me out every time. I never get tired of hearing the songs. I feel like I learn something new, even when I hear something I've heard a thousand times.

So, as a devotee of Nat King Cole... and you control the evening, you pick the artists, you pick the songs, right?

Right.

How did you create this Nat King Cole Cabaret Convention tribute?

I thought about people whom I adore, personally, and something about them reminded me of Nat, that there was some connection in my head, a way that they phrase something, or me knowing that they have a love. In 2019, I think it was a month after I did my show, or maybe a month before I did my show (I know it was like back to back) Clint Holmes and Billy Stritch did their Nat King Cole show at Birdland, so I knew we shared this love, and they were obviously going to be on my list - I had an endless list. If I could cast everyone I wanted to castin this show, (Laughing) it would be weeks long 'cause there are so many artists I adore and I wanted... but there is a fine line between a wonderful evening and a hostage situation. So I had to keep a limit on it. (Laughing) These are the people that I happened to reach out to first, who got back to me with yeses. I couldn't be more delighted. Some of them are people who are dear friends and some of them are heroes, people I have admired a long time. A couple of them are young ones - two of them are the first and second place winners of the Jim and Elizabeth Sullivan Foundation Scholarship. It happens every November in Durango, and it's referencing KT Sullivan's parents - they raise money to help kids pursue their love of the arts. If a kid wants to learn to play the guitar but doesn't own their own guitar, the foundation will help them get a guitar, it's stuff like that. They give kids rides to voice lessons and they do act active work to help kids further their connection to the arts.

Since 2016, we have gone out every year, in November, and we do two days of master classes. I'm lucky enough to get to teach these kids with KT and her mom, and on Saturday we have a morning class, then, that evening, we have a concert. In the concert we announce the kids who have placed, and they get a scholarship. Usually it is the first place kid who gets to come to New York the following October and perform at the Cabaret Convention but this year there were two of them that we really thought should be seen. So, two of them are coming and they're both that wonderful thing we discover every once in a while - these 15, 16, 17 year olds who love this music. It's songs that are five times their age but they love this music. I'm really excited that they're going to be part of it and they're both darling. I'm also really thrilled that in putting this cast together I was able to do my best to make the cast look like the world, so we have a very multiracial cast. That's something that's always been really important to me. We have indigenous people in this cast, and we have black people in this cas,t and we have AAPI people. It makes me very happy that that's something we can bring to the stage on this night celebrating Nat, who was as much an activist as he was an artist, even though he was quiet about it.

You and I have talked a lot about the importance of diversity in the industry.

Mm-hmm.

...and how exhausting it is to continue to fight this fight and push this envelope. But we're not going to stop, are we?

NO! I am disheartened to see some of the people who made a big show of putting their black squares on Facebook or Instagram in the summer of 2020, and who reached out to me with private messages and Zoom calls, making sure I knew they were allies and they were going to be different, going forward. Some of those very same people have clearly decided the work is done - and they are back to all-white programs. And I know for a fact that these are people who are the ones making the decisions. It's one thing if someone else makes those decisions, and someone who wishes they could change it doesn't have control. I know the people who make the decisions, 'cause those are some of the people who told me they were going to do better from now on. I think it's important to congratulate the people who are still fighting and still making a difference. I don't know if you saw the Gingold Group - their new Shaw play has a mostly black cast. Doing plays from the last century, especially the first half of the last century, is one of the excuses that theater companies sometimes use for why they're casting all white. I'm so glad to see that that's not preventing them from casting it differently, you know? And I'm so proud of them. I think that's amazing. But there are people who seem to have decided it's too hard or they don't wanna do it anymore. I've had conversations, I'm sure you've had some of these conversations too, and all I can say is it's an excuse. Because we all know if you had a show to do and you booked it and promoted it, and there was a date on a calendar, at some venue, and you lost your music director, there would be no stone unturned until you found one.

Yeah.

You wouldn't just throw up your hands and go, "Oh, well I guess we'll sing acapella." You can't do the show without that. So you would make it happen, even if you had to teach yourself piano in the middle of the night, you would make it happen. And when people tell me it's hard or they tried, what I hear is, "It's not as important as doing the show. It's not as important as having my friends in it."

Mm-hmm.

"It's not as important as having these six people that I think will impress the audience" or whatever the reasoning. That's not what's spoken. What's spoken is "I tried. I made so many phone calls." But the truth is it wasn't important enough for you to do it. If it was, then you would've done it.

All of the priorities have to be at the table, full time. Like your work on this Convention night and KT's work with the Mabel Mercer Foundation, the growing diversity and the mentorship of young talents - they go hand in hand.

This music comes from so many black artists. I think it is especially egregious to celebrate Ella and Nat and Sammy and Louis Armstrong and Bobby Short and Mabel Mercer, and talk about your great love for them, going on about how brilliant they are and how much they mean to you and how much they've influenced you... And in your celebration of said person, you can't be bothered to hire more than one black person or any Latino people. It's sad. We all work really hard, you know? We do. I know that. It's just as important to work hard at that.

You can do all the work. It's tiring, but you can do it.

Oh, yeah. I literally have not slept . I said yes - it's my responsibility to do all that work and do it to the best of my ability, and that includes, when I'm the one doing the hiring, making sure I'm not the only brown face in the room. You know, sometimes I'm not the one doing the hiring, and I can't make that happen. I can suggest it, but I can't make it happen. But when I'm the one doing the hiring, it happens, or else we don't have a show. .I don't think that's an impossible ask.

Yeah.

In fact, I know it's not because there are people besides me who are doing it. I know it's not. And I really don't ever wanna hear it again, "I called you and you couldn't do it." Well, I am not the only black person in New York City who sings.

You're not?

(Laughing) You'd be shocked to know! I know someone to whom I said that, because that was that person's excuse for why their evening was all-white, and that person has not hired me again. I am being punished for bringing that up.

We're always punished for telling the truth. Didn't you know?

Absolutely.

They hate us for telling the truth.

And I will say, thank god there are some allies who are out there doing the work. But you know - I said this to you - people cannot do an all-white show if the people in that cast say no.

Yes, ma'am.

So when you see, if you happen to be a white person and you see that that's what a flyer looks like, when it comes down, maybe you were told something else. Maybe you assumed something else. But when you see what it looks like, you can say no.

In the last year, I've had some white artists come to me and apologize for being in an all-white show and tell me they didn't know that it was going to be all-white when they signed on.

Right.

It shows that people are beginning to think.

I have had that too. And I understand that people are beginning to think, I do appreciate that, but I have been fighting this fight in cabaret for 30 years.

Yes ma'am.

In this city. And so, to me, I can't help but think a part of it is: you want the credit for caring about it without actually taking the risk. You want a gold star for noticing it and saying it's wrong. But you don't want the cost of saying, "I can't be in your show."

Mm.

You don't want the backlash of leaving somebody in the lurch, and who does? I mean, we wanna be professionals. We want to abide by our commitments. We want to be as good as our word, you know? I understand that we have reputations to protect, I get it. But if you make it known that, if they're going to hire you, then they also have to hire some BIPOC members.

Yeah.

Then, there's no breach because you made it clear when you said yes. You're doing exactly what you said you would do. You're in the show unless, come showtime, it's all white - and then you're not. Tell me that story. Don't tell me the story about how shocked and sad you were, and you went ahead and did it anyway.

Mm-hmm.

That's just where I'm at. But different people are at different places in their journey and they're going to do what they need to do. I'm not in charge of anyone else's story. I am only in charge of my own.

On the subject of being in charge of your own story, and before we get too political...

Yeah, we've already turned that corner.

Let's talk about something really and truly important.

Okay.

What are you going to wear?

(Laughing Hard) I can't tell you! It has to be a surprise!

Well then let's try this one... and I don't know if it's going to be an easy one. What's your favorite Nat King Cole song?

Oh, no, that's impossible. That is totally impossible. I will say that I have several favorites. Unforgettable is perfect. It simply is. But I also love some of the weird off-the-beaten-paths. I am really partial to the L-O-V-E in five different languages.. It's an amazing thing. He sings it in English and then he sings it in I think it's French first, and then it goes to German, and then it goes to Italian, and then it goes to Spanish, I think, and then I know it ends with Japanese, which makes me super happy. Come on, that's just amazing.

Tell me, as we wrap this up, how proud are you that you got Nat King Cole for your first hosting gig at the Cabaret Convention?

I really wept when KT told me. I was so happy, I had happy tears. It means so much to me. I have been a fan of the Foundation for a very long time, much longer than I have worked at the Foundation. I was at the very first Cabaret Convention, even though I was nowhere near the stage - when I heard that it was happening, my best friend John and I bought tickets, which were $10 back then, and those were orchestra seats, and it was amazing, spectacular! It was also hours long and we were still sitting there. It was like one fantastic performer after another, some of them I had heard of and admired, some of them I had not heard of. I'm always honored and delighted if my name gets picked, 'cause I know they have so many singers from which to choose. It's a total treat. I didn't dream of ever curating one - it was a complete surprise to me, and a joy, I loved putting the show together. It is a real thrill to have this material and these artists and that venue, and under the auspices of Mabel Mercer, who is another one of my heroes. It's just heaven.

I know how busy you are and I'm so grateful that you took time out today to talk to me. Have fun being the Grande Dame of Nat King Cole night.

Of course, my darling, it's always good to talk to you.

The CABARET CONVENTION will play Rose Theater at Jazz At Lincoln Center October 26th, 27th, and 28th.

October 26th is LOOK TO THE RAINBOW: THE SONGS OF Yip Harburg

October 27th is UNFORGETTABLE: A TRIBUTE TO NAT KING COLE

October 28th is THROUGH THE YEARS: CELEBRATING TIMELESS AMERICAN STANDARDS

For all information and reservations visit the Mabel Mercer Foundation website HERE.

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