Feature: HER MAJESTY'S CABARET MAKES A COME BACK this Holiday Season
By: Elaine Bard Dec. 12, 2019
Bangor based sketch comedy group, Her Majesty's Cabaret is making a much-awaited come back!
Tell us a little about who HMC is, and how you got your start?
HMC is a sketch comedy group that hosts shows throughout Maine. HMC started in 2011, originally doing really small shows in Bangor bars like Nocturnem and the former Thai 1 Lounge. By 2012, however, we'd graduated to larger venues like the Next Generation Theatre and the former Tantrum nightclub, and we'd done showcases at festivals including PortFringe in Portland and the Free Range Festival in Belfast. We'd also started filming short comedy videos, and we now have around 20 shorts in total filmed. Though membership has fluctuated, since 2013 our primary group members have been myself, Zach Robbins, Brad LaBree and Kat Johnson.
You've been on hiatus for 3 years, what made you decide to start up again, and what are you most looking forward to now you are back?
The four core members of the group had a lot of personal changes in those three years -- getting married, buying houses, doing other projects, traveling and so on. Over the spring of 2019, the Maine Science Festival approached Zach and Brad about filming a funny video for this year's festival, and that really kickstarted us back into gear. I think we have most missed making each other laugh -- the best part of the entire process is finding out what is funny in the context of a given idea for a sketch, and then perfecting it.
What do you want audiences to know about HMC, and in particular, The Holiday Spectacular?
Even though we are really irreverent and silly and absurd in a lot of the stuff we write, we take what we do really seriously. We write everything on our own, we produce the shows on our own, and we pride ourselves on being totally different from anything else in eastern Maine. We like to push buttons, but only in the service of putting on a really great show. And since we are gluttons for punishment, we thought our first show back after three years would be the biggest one we've ever done. We have four guest acts comprised of more than 20 performers in total, and the show has five new sketches and four new videos in total. It's a lot!
What's the biggest challenge of doing a HMC show?
Having to do virtually everything all by ourselves while we all hold down full-time jobs! I will say this year has been a little easier because we have an amazing new video collaborator, Ethan Levesque, who has been shooting and editing all our videos.
Tell us a little bit about each HMC actor, what is their biggest strength? (you can make this as funny as you want, offbeat, quirky, comedic)Brad is a consummate professional, and a master at line delivery. He can take a line that isn't written as funny and make it screamingly funny.
Zach is a multi-talented bundle of energy and utterly fearless in how far he will go onstage. He can take people out of their comfort zones without them even realizing it.
Kat is a gifted artist and amazing actress, who gives everything we do a polish and flair that cannot be found anywhere else.
And I'm a perfectionist and I'd like to say I'm a really, really skilled writer and director and big-picture thinker. The brains, if you will.
What do you hope 2020 brings HMC?
MORE SHOWS! We are hoping to do another show -- a strictly sketch and video show, not a variety show -- in the spring, and hopefully a smaller residency-style show in the late summer or fall. We'll see what happens!
Word on the street has it that the Holiday Spectacular is SOLD OUT - bt on the off chance tickets become available, here's all the info you need -Her Majesty's Cabaret: Holiday Spectacular!!!Featuring special guest appearances by: When Particles Collide, The Focus Group, Divisi and Robinson Ballet Presented by Launchpad Friday, December 13
Bangor Arts Exchange - Ballroom
Doors: 7:30 pm / Show: 8:00 pm
*For mature audiences Tickets:
$15 Advance GA Seated / $18 Day of Show GA Seated You can find out more about Her Majesty's Cabaret and what they are up to by following their Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/hermajestyscabaret/
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