Reviews
Six From Boston Selected to Attend Yale Cabaret Conference
March-April, 2003
Six members of the Boston cabaret community have been selected to participate in the inaugural Cabaret Conference at Yale University this summer.
The Cabaret Conference, making its debut this year, is an internationally focused, nine-day teaching program that will offer an intensive look at the art of cabaret performance technique, and train professionals for the live entertainment industry. The Great American Songbook will be addressed and promoted in its entirety, from its origins in the late 19th century through the classic pop standards of the 1930s and 1940s to today’s contemporary cabaret, musical theater and pop music.
Thirty-six participants were selected from nationwide auditions held in February and March. Attending from the Boston area will be Bobbi Carrey, Cambridge; David Foley, Cambridge; Joanna Gaughan, Walpole; Sylvia Greenberg, Haverhill; Manny Lim, Dorchester; and Will McMillan, Cambridge. Also selected from the New England region was Eric Bronner of Bristol, R.I.
The Cabaret Conference will be held on the historic Yale University campus in New Haven, Conn., renowned as one of the world’s finest educational facilities, and for its spectacular architecture, world-class museums and libraries. The brainchild of Erv Raible, the director of the now-defunct Eugene O’Neill Cabaret Symposium, the Yale conference was developed in conjunction with the Yale School of Drama and Yale Repertory Theater, and several conference sessions will be held in the drama school’s facilities, including the University Theater and the recently opened New Theater.
The award-winning faculty includes such luminaries and experts as Tovah Feldshuh, Carol Hall, George Hall, Julie Halston, Lina Koutrakos, Marilynn Lovell Matz, Sally Mayes, Fred Voelpel, Thommie Walsh and Julie Wilson; piano faculty includes Tex Arnold, Christopher Denny, Rick Jensen, Jeff Klitz, and Shelly Markham. This team will guide thirty-six students in a collaborative process of critical refining and honing their craft as cabaret performers. Classes will focus on such topics as performance technique, acting for singers, lyric interpretation, focus and concentration, act structure and writing, material research, comedic development, musical director and director relations, arranging, orchestration, composer/lyricist relations, and image consultation.
In addition to attending public cabaret performances, the participants will perform at the conclusion of the conference, demonstrating what they have accomplished in their nine days at the Cabaret Conference.