Interview: Kimberly Oliver of BROADWAY ON A TUESDAY: RELOADED at Alexandre's Bar

The local, fan-favorite Broadway cabaret series Broadway on a Tuesday is back and bigger than before! Broadway on a Tuesday was first onstage at Alexandre's in August 2016, with Ms. Oliver and singers from the DFW Theatre Community rotating weekly and will be back at Alexandre's on Tuesday, January 10th, 2023. I sat down with Florida-based Kimberly Oliver to discuss some of the biggest news coming to the DFW theatre community in 2023.

Lorens: What was your inspiration for starting BOAT?

Kimberly: In 2016, I had previously booked a gig on Tuesday nights with a guitar player [at Alexandre's] and it was an acoustic type night. It did well but I was always asked by the patrons if I did Broadway music. And I do, but that wasn't the style of the show. So I called an accompanist, I think it was Mark Mullino, who was the first person who played for me. And I sang from 7pm to 11pm just singing Broadway music all by myself and I had no voice for like 5 days. I had never done a set of 3 to 4 hours of Broadway music before. When we do shows we have several numbers here and there but this was just me, by myself, belting my face off for 4 hours. I literally had no voice for almost the next week. But the night itself went well! The owner of Alexandre's told me that I should do that again and possibly alternate and do every other week. I couldn't do that [to my voice]! I called a couple of other people including Rebecca Paige Evers, Janelle Sando, Jeremy Davis and Quintin Jones to sing a couple of songs a piece to help me out. They all happily agreed and I called Mark again to play and it was a hit! They loved it! And we ended up moving into the direction of making it a weekly Tuesday night thing.

Lorens: What has it been like to watch BOAT blossom and gain such a huge, local fan base?

Kimberly: It's been crazy because ... I'm a worker bee. I work myself every day and I try to do a million projects at one time and I want to get the most experience I can out of everything. When I started BOAT it was a cool, little thing but I never thought it would be as popular as it had become. It was just something that I thought was fun and something people would enjoy doing. I had no idea of the impact that it had. No idea. And it wasn't really until I had left Dallas in August of 2019 when my son graduated that I even realized. I would get messages all the time because it would come up in somebody's memories and they would forward it to me and ask me when BOAT was coming back... And I had to tell them that I didn't even live in Dallas any more. That's when I really realized that we have something here.

Lorens: Have you missed hosting and performing at BOAT?

Kimberly: I miss it all the time. I miss Tuesday nights. I miss standing in my closet, on the phone with Jeremy and Quintin with them asking "what're you wearing tonight" and "what're you singing?". I miss it. And I miss seeing people that I never get to see but they come out on Tuesdays. It's such a feel good event that we get to have.

Lorens: How does it feel to be heading back to Alexandre's after spending time in quarantine during the pandemic?

Kimberly: Nervous. I'm not a nervous person, but nervous. I know the expectations of what people want from BOAT. I'm coming back and I'm scared that I won't be able to deliver to their expectations. But, I'm extremely excited too! I can't wait. I haven't been there in a long time and there's a lot of new talent now.

Lorens: What's going to be different about BOAT going into 2023?

Kimberly: The biggest difference will be my absence. I won't be there. In the past there have been 6 people who have performed in my absence and now we've expanded to 13. So that's huge! We're also able to reach more people now thanks to our social media platforms. We want to bring people in, engage them and have them know what's going on with BOAT.

Lorens: What are your goals for BOAT?

Kimberly: I want it to remain a staple in the Dallas Fort Worth theatre community and I want it to grow from there.

Lorens: How do you see BOAT growing over the next couple of years?

Kimberly: I want to do BOAT Jr. where we showcase high school program and their kids. I want to do a theatre, vocal competition for high school kids under the umbrella of Broadway on a Tuesday. There's all of these expanding type things that BOAT can do. My mind is full of endless, endless ideas that I want to do but I'm just one person.

Lorens: Out of all the BOAT Tuesday's you've gotten the opportunity to host are there any that you're particularly proud of?

Kimberly: One year I started BOAT Goes Black where we did one week in February and we booked all black performers and black accompanists. I was so proud of it and we had like 11 singers that night and for the following year I was able to do it for the whole month. We did an entire month of only black performers which was great because it exposed the community to more actors of color.

Another other one I loved was our Industry Night. I had two photographers taking headshots and action shots of singers during performances and two girls who could assist the performers with web development and social media. I called a couple talent agencies and artistic directors at five or six local theatres and they sat in Alexandre's discreetly during an open mic night and watched several performers. If they saw anyone they liked they would text me and I would send them the performer's headshot and resume. Someone would get onstage and sing and when they're done singing I start getting text messages. All that was going on during an open mic. I was super proud of that.

Lorens: Where do you get your creative inspiration from?

Kimberly: I just come up with this stuff. I just wake up and think "what about this?" And I'm very blessed to have friends that always support what I do and always are onboard with my shenanigans.

Lorens: What're some of your favorite BOAT moments?

Kimberly: Kevin Gunter's boyfriend (at the time) proposed to him at BOAT. He contacted me a month before and told me that they met at BOAT, go to every Tuesday that they can and he wanted to propose to his boyfriend while I sang. I sang "What About Love" from The Color Purple. It was really great. [Broadway World is happy to announce that Kevin and his husband are now happily married!]

Kimberly: The anniversary parties are always great and I feel so proud of them every year. And we try to make them bigger every year. And that's why this next one is going to be massive. I love doing them.

Lorens: What should Alexandre's audiences expect from this upcoming anniversary party?

Kimberly: They should be very excited about the performers which will be announced soon. And they should also be extremely excited about the Alexandre's expansion which will now include food and a larger space. It will give you the option of having dinner before performances while you're there and give you an all new experience than you've had in the past. This is going to bring a lot of people back to Alexandre's who haven't been in a couple of years.

Lorens: Do you have anything lined up after you rebooting BOAT?

Kimberly: I serve as a Band Leader for an band/entertainment company where I sing for high end events. I get to travel and sing at really high end weddings/events. Other than that, my main focus is that BOAT sails smoothly through the year. That's my main focus.

Lorens: Many of our readers are aspiring BOAT performers, what is some advice you would give them to perform onstage at Alexandre's?

Kimberly: Come and watch. Come and experience the event, the energy and the vibe of the room. And then send me an email at of you performing. This is not some Equity production night. If you can sing a tune there is a great chance that I'll give you the opportunity to perform. It's an opportunity for us to grow as performers and expand our wings a little bit as creatives and as artists. It's a very different setting than stepping on a stage and doing a theatre production or auditioning for equity. It's very different. My advice would be to come and don't be nervous to put yourself out there.

Kimberly Oliver Presents Broadway on a Tuesday: Reloaded at Alexandre's Bar. Admission to Broadway On A Tuesday is FREE with no drink minimum or reservations required. Alexandre's Bar is a LGBT friendly bar located on "The Strip" at 4026 Cedar Springs Rd.

To contact Kimberly Oliver to sing at Broadway On A Tuesday please email her at broadwayonatuesday@gmail.com

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