SOIR NOIR: A Nightclub Confidential is a celebration of The Golden Era of Nightclubs. It’s a modern reimagining of the popular music from the 40’s and 50’s and early 60’s that was performed in upscale nightclubs in New York, Paris and London; generally referred to as THE AMERICAN SONGBOOK.
The show was commissioned in June 2024 for Provincetown Cabaretfest. If your readers aren’t familiar with Provincetown they certainly should be! As I say in the show ‘Provincetown is a quaint little New England fishing town, where everyone is welcome, and people can be whoever they want to be without judgement or shame.”
According to the Provincetown Chamber of Commerce, ‘Provincetown is America’s oldest continuous art colony and an LGBTQ+ capital, as well as an entertainment hub like no other in the world.’ Having spent more than a dozen summers there, I can concur!
I’ve had the privilege of being invited to teach master classes and present a new show in P-town for the past five years during the first week of June for Provincetown’s Cabaretfest. Cabaretfest is basically a cabaret camp for grownups, where people come from all over to spend a week working with professional cabaret artist. At the end of the week the students get to perform in their own show. Throughout the week the professionals also debut new shows.
Each summer there is a theme, Hooray for Hollywood, Broadway at the Beach, Sondheim by the Sea, and last summer the theme was The Golden Era Of Nightclubs.
SOIR NOIR features the music of Cole Porter, Louis Armstrong, Nat King Cole and other songs that were popularised by the great artist of the day, Tony Bennet, Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Junior, Bing Crosby and the like. When the producer approached me, I was definitely a little hesitant. My work tends to be more edgy and often has an LGBTQ+ theme. I’m not Michael Buble and I thought there were other artists more suited to the genre. So, I told her, I’ll come and lead a workshop and teach but I’m not sure I’ll debut a new show. And she said, ‘YOU’RE COMING AND YOU’RE GONNA DO A SHOW’!
Patricia Fitzpatrick, who produces the festival, is an 80 year old chain smoking diva who use be a headlining chanteuse at the Playboy Clubs in New York, and when Patricia says you are putting on a show you do it! So I started researching songs from the period, some of which I knew and many of which I’d never heard before with the intention of creating a show that would have the same feeling and energy, as if you were to go see a show at the Copacabana or the El Morocco Club in the 50’s but not be a museum piece. I wanted it to feel like the show was relevant and happening now in real time. And since I would be debuting the show in my favorite gay resort town, I centred SOIR NOIR around Provincetown and turned it into a a celebration of inclusivity. Setting the show in this magical town where everyone is welcome was my departure point and that gave the show a point of view and relevance to a contemporary gay audience. The show took off from there.
I invited my partner Jake Oswell who is a brilliant singer and performer to be my guest artist and take on the role of a gender fluid torch singing femme fatale. If you come to the show, you will see they fill those heels beautifully.
I wanted the show to be a celebration of LGBTQ+ diversity and Provincetown’s colourful history, as well as a concert of beautiful nostalgic music that you can’t help but fall in love to and with. The show was met with sold out houses and rave reviews both in Provincetown and New York and hopefully we can sell out in London as well. I think the key for me was not trying to step into the shoes of the incredible artists who originated these songs back in the day, but to slide in gracefully and see how they would fit on me today.
Tickets from £20.
Step back in time for an evening of music at SOIR NOIR: A Nightclub Confidential on Wednesday 16 April, 9:25pm at The Crazy Coqs, 20 Sherwood Street, London W1F 7ED, United Kingdom.
