Interview: Sharon McNight of SURVIVING CABARET: 40 YEARS OF STORIED SONGS at The Green Room 42

Sharon McNight is, what they called back in the day, a stitch. She's one of those people that is a perfect example of the difference between a comic and a comedian - A Comic says funny things but a comedian says things funny. Ms. Mc Night is a bit of both, but I'm going to lean on the side of the comedian. A conversation with Ms. McNight is, most assuredly, a stitch. She's been out in California for a while, but she's coming back to New York this week with her new show Surviving Cabaret: 40 Years of Storied Songs at The Greenroom 42. I had the chance to chat with Sharon and got a little insight into what makes this Diva tick.

My first question for you is why Surviving Cabaret? It seems to me like you've conquered it.

Well, I've been in it for so long and, actually, the whole title is Surviving Cabaret: 40 years of Storied Songs. Most of the people now are just, "I've learned 10 songs and I have an act," you know? No. No, you don't. You don't have an act if you just learn 10 songs. I mean, it's very strange. People are trying to cross over because they need to perform. I've been doing it a long time. A lot of fundraisers, a lot of benefits, a lot of awards, and you know what awards mean? That means you sing for free. Yeah, well, that's one of my canons in my in my book. Sing for free, you know?

I've got to ask because they're my favorite things that you do. Will you be doing any Sophie Tucker? Any Wizard of Oz, any Mae West?

No, and yes and yes. I'm not doing Sophie. I mean, I can't. I could. I didn't bring any charts for Sophie, but I'm doing a Mae West song, the one that every female impersonator says, "Why didn't I think of that?" You know, it's one of those. It's Everybody's Girl (from Steel Pier). Yeah, and it's very, very funny because, you know, I add my own little twist, as I always am want to do. And yeah, I'm doing the Wizard of Oz. We rehearsed it yesterday and it was weird that we both fell right into it. But I haven't done it in years, you know? Oddly enough, the Wizard of Oz has always been something to me, because when I was a park director, I directed - I wrote the play and I directed children in it. When I had a children's drama class, it became my master's thesis. I directed it and wrote the play, and then I directed it and added my own script with the music. And then all of a sudden I'm standing in a nightclub on 18th St. in the Castro. I do Glinda the Good Witch, and my piano player, Glen Kelly, who is now the famous arranger here, he started playing "Come Out, Come Out, Wherever You Are." I started singing it and we looked at each other and went, you know... he said, "Yeah." So we just kind of went into it. Then we went to Hawaii for six weeks and I brought the audio of it and I learned it, and we performed it at Bimbo's 365 Club, and it's been with me ever since that's, like, 1979 maybe. Wow. So that's been stuck in there for quite some time.

Do you still get recognized from Starmites and "It's Hard to be a Diva?" (Note: look up the 1989 Tony Awards on YouTube... She will blow you away.)

Yeah. I do, I do. Matter of fact, my hair is about that same length as it was before. I just mousse it up a little bit. I could look about the same but just a few more wrinkles.

That leads me to the next question. Is that why hasn't there been another Broadway show for you?

Well, I never was offered another one. I would certainly love to do it. You know, I wrote the Sophie Tucker show, which went off-Broadway. And so that was about as close as I came. I'm kind of a California girl. I love coming to New York, and I only come to New York when I have a job. That's just always one of the rules. You know, I'd love to do another show. I love discipline.

You're quite the raconteur. Now tell me one of your favorite stories.

Favorite stories? Hmm. I can't think because there's just too many stories. I'm actually compiling together a whole bunch of stories to tell between songs. I don't know if you know Michael Greer. He's no longer with us but he was a great, great comedian. Mona Lisa was one of his characters, and he and I lived together in Provincetown for the summer, just as, you know, two compatriots working for the same club. And he wrote a song. He had a parody to Wind Beneath My Wings that he didn't ever finish. And I said let's finish it. And so instead of "Did You Ever Know That You're My Hero?" It was "Did you ever know that you're a dildo?" "You're not an eagle, you're a dildo...you are contempt beneath my feet." Well, we did it in Provincetown, and there was this straight couple who thought I was going to sing it straight, you know, and they got all lovey-dovey and stuff because it was their song... And then I came out and butchered it. They got up and left, and as they passed by the guy who was taking the tickets, they said "Dildo? I've never heard the word dildo in this song!" They needed to get out more, you know?

Tell me about how this show came about, how this Surviving Cabaret came about.

I was supposed to do a Randy Newman show and I just didn't. I just didn't have the energy to do it, with this whole pandemic thing going on. And I was just sitting at home in LA. It just, it wasn't conducive for it to be creative. And then I thought: I've had all these songs that people always request, these tunes, and there's a story that goes with every one of these songs that's pretty funny or emotional.

One song that I do is by Craig Carnelia. It's called "The Kid Inside." It took me six months to learn this song. Six months. And I knew I could do this song because every time I started to sing the song and learn it, I would start to cry. That was kind of an indication that I would cry. And I said if I can cry, I can make other people cry. I just have to get over this. And so it took me six months to learn. The same way with a Billy Joel song, "I've Loved These Days." That's been my theme song since the very beginning. Glen Kelly brought me a record of Turnstiles. I think it was one of his first albums and it had "I've Loved These Days" on it. I played it and I cried and I said, "That's my song, that is my song." When I did meet him, (my drummer at the time was the cousin of Billy Joel's saxophone player or something), we went backstage to meet Billy Joel and I met him and he's kind of a short guy, actually. His big hit was "Just the Way You Are." I mean, I had to sing it like 3 times a night because people would request that song so they could hold hands. And this was in the old days of the gay bars, right? It was just all men.

So I said to him, "You know, the greatest song you ever wrote is "I've Loved These Days" it's a great anthem." He was kind of put back because, you know, "Just the Way You Are" was such a huge hit for him. I just love "Just the Way You Are," I mean it's a lovely song, but "I've Loved These Days"? It's such a great poem, so that became my theme song. I have a song, "Your Sweet and Shiny Eyes," which I do the hula to. All the things that I learned or I was instructed in, my parents gave me lessons because I was an only child. "Keep her hands busy!" was kind of the deal. I took ballet, tap, hula ... until I took social dancing. So now I use the hula in "Your Sweet and Shiny Eyes" with just, you know, things here and there. But once in a while I play the flute, but I didn't bring the flute this time. It's using everything I ever learned. I'm just doing what I do best, which is put on a show. Yeah, that's it. It's a show. I'm old school. It's entertainment. I wanna make you laugh. I wanna make you cry. You know, variety. Variety is the spice of life. A lot of people can't do variety. I've been lucky in that way.

Tell me about your MD... Jim Bob is it?

James Followell. I had two Jims in my band, and he was from Oklahoma and he hadn't been to the big city before, so I called him Jim Bob and it stuck. All through the years it stuck with him. A lot of people know him as Jim Bob, especially if you're from San Francisco. Through the days, we were in San Francisco doing that stuff.

He's been your MD for a while.

We started in 1980 when he moved to San Francisco and he became my musical director. Then he fell in love and moved to England, then he moved back to New York, and we worked together there. And then I stayed in LA and got a pianist in LA, and it's back and forth. So, you know, it's whenever the clock is right, we work together.

You have been doing cabaret for so long and you know the ins and the outs. What I want to know is what has changed to you, as far as cabaret goes?

For me, nothing has changed. Nothing has changed. Other people have different styles and stuff like that. But I'm pretty much basically the theater major with a master's degree in direction and I kind of fell into performing and singing.

I was working in the film business and, all of a sudden, I don't know if you know her name, Wesla Whitfield, I went to college with her. She was coming out of a rehearsal and two young kids fired a gun, and the bullet hit her spine and she was paralyzed for the rest of her life. She was doing a show at Chez Jacques, which was a new cabaret in town, operated in San Francisco by a French teacher. And Jacques was his name. Chez Jacques was the name of the club. So my friends said to me, "Why don't you go audition? They're looking for somebody because somebody got shot and they needed a third person to do a show." So I went and auditioned and I got the part and then all of a sudden it just started to balloon from there. I knew some songs because I was in musical theater and I read music 'cause I played in the band and the orchestra in junior high and high school. So, it just kind of blossomed. And I was elected by my high school class, the wittiest person. So speaking extemporaneously came naturally.

Entertaining people it's always been my thing, you know?

Yes, Sharon, we know! We also know you're a joy! Thanks for talking with Broadway World and best of luck with your show!

Sharon McNight will be performing her One-Woman Show Surviving Cabaret: 40 Years of Storied Songs on April 13th and 15th at 7 pm at The Green Room 42 -570, 10th Avenue at 42nd St. For Tickets, visit www.thegreenroom42.com

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