WHO
IS THE BEST ON STAGE CABARET PERFORMER? WHO WAS OR IS
THE BEST SALLY BOWLES?
By Maximllien de Lafayette
So many readers in the UK asked me who is the best cabaret entertainer in the United States? And I replied: "There is no such thing as the best cabaret entertainer!" For the world of cabaret is immense and so is its personification on stage. Some artists are singers, purely singers with occasional appearances on the screen or on the tube, but they are typically cabaret singers, such as Amanda McBroom, Andrea Marcovicci, Anna Bergman, Caroline Nin et al. Others are cabaret concert artists like Barbara Cook, Kate Westbrook, Barb Jungr, Lorna Dallas and Anne Kerry Ford. While some other superb cabaret entertainers are all of the above such as Susan Egan, Bernadette Peters, Lorraine Serabian and Liza Minelli. And of course, there is a very special league which outcasts all the others. Legends and 100% authentic CABARET super divas and goddesses like Gabriella Ferri, Ute Lemper, Marlene Dietrich, Juliette Greco, Barbara, Edith Piaf (to certain extent, because she was more than a cabaret chanteuse). Also, we have the tragi-comic theater-cabaret leads like Cindy Benson, or traditional cabaret concert artists who once upon a time shined brilliantly on the big screen like Anne Kerry Ford and Julie Andrews. Another national/international group of cabaret divas retained untouchable artists like Eartha Kitt, Rita Moreno, Chita Rivera, Cleo Laine, Josephine Baker, Sabah, Amalia Rodriguez, Sarita Montiel, Mistinguet, Marinella, Mina, etc... Do you need more styles and more different cabaret goddesses with distinct style and unique persona? Revere these: Karen Akers, the great Betty Buckley, the one and only Raquel Bitton, the larger than life, Nicole Martel and the magnificent Simone Marchand who worked for me for approximately 6 consecutive years at my boite-floorshow cabaret "Le Marquis de Rochambeau" in the United States. Each one of them has a very singular theatrical aura and a well-defined cache. But of course, many of them share a common denominator, once their performances have been crafted and scenario-graphed by commercial and extravaganza Broadway productions. In that category, I would not hesitate to call upon Susan Egan, Bernadette Peters, Liza Minelli et al. And how about the cabaret-show big time flashy-dashy Broadway productions with a lot of skin on stage? Some big names pop up before my eyes, vedettes like Deborah Gibson, Jane Leeves, Gina Gershon, etc...In other words, different strokes for different folks and vice-versa. There is no way you can establish an analogy between Nina Simone and Bette Middler or compare the super duper Marisa Berenson with Brookes Shield!
According to the American cabaret goers, critics and cabaret artists, Edith Piaf is the godmother of cabaret. The ultimate figure of a super CABARET DIVA. How wrong they are! For, Piaf was never considered by the French as a cabaret singer! Besides, she never performed on stage as a cabaret singer or as a cabaret- actress. Also, she never starred in any musical or a cabaret picture. Would you still call her a cabaret star, the same way you call Susan Egan, Julie Andrews and Liza Minelli?
How would you define the stardom status and category of a cabaret star in the United States? Does she have to star in a major cabaret motion picture, take the lead of a cabaret show on Broadway, perform at Pizza on the Park or at Le Moulin Rouge? Or it would be enough to sing intimate cabaret songs in a cozy and "intimate" small cabaret-night club room? Does the repertoire of songs chosen by a cabaret singer establish the definition and characteristic nature of an "Authentic Cabaret"? Who is more of a cabaret songwriter, Cole Porter, Weill, Aragon, Prevert, Jean Cocteau, or Jacques Brel, Gilbert Becaud, Jean Constantin? Would you consider the American Berlin, Joplin, Sondheim, Armstrong, Al Jolson, Louis Prima as authentic as those French cabaret songwriters and composers who wrote the songs of Piaf, Patachou, Mistinguet, Josephine Baker, Line Renauld, Jocelyne Jocya, Juliette Greco, Catherine Sauvage, Maurice Chevalier, Charles Trenet, Damia, and Lucienne Boyer when it comes to the true essence and spirit of a traditional Parisian Cabaret or a 1920 or 1930 Berlin original Kabaret? I doubt it.
The legendary Cabaret Superstar, Josephine Baker in Paris.
The truth is, American cabaret songwriters have absolutely nothing in common with the traditional German and French counterparts!! Particularly, the contemporary American cabaret writers, composers and songwriters. In France and Germany, the pioneers and creators of the early Cabaret music, wrote CABARET MUSIC for CABARET BOITES (Meaning small nightclubs, cafe-show-cabarets). The American counterparts write big time music for big time flashy dashy cabaret productions for huge stages and elaborate productions.