Musical Dreams, indeed Patricia O'Callaghan.

From the first year I participated in the Global Cabaret Festival, seven years ago, I knew I was lucky enough to be part of something very special. I have written over and over again every year how thrilled I am to be involved...what a joyous time I have and how I always do things there that I never get a chance to do anywhere else...and work with people who I have never worked with before. It also, as a sidebar, really built up a quest to collaborate more often.

SO, I know...I AM NOT gonna wax all poetical and fancy... you already have all THAT information.

BUT I was reminded today, reading an article in The Star about the festival and specifically the wonderful Patricia O'Callaghan, (who I met and had the honour of working with because of the Festival) that we all feel the same way.

"For the artists taking part in Soulpepper’s annual Global Cabaret Festival, it’s about fulfilling “musical dreams” as much as performing.

 The cabaret veteran (O'Callaghan) has been taking part in the festival since it started seven years ago and still finds it “absolutely amazing. Albert (Schultz, Soulpepper’s artistic director) keeps giving all of us artists the power to create shows that fulfill our musical dreams." - R.O. in this article in today's Star
Here is the Full Article:

http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/music/2014/10/21/patricia_ocallaghan_indulges_love_of_leonard_cohen_at_global_cabaret_festival.html

This festival, really is a place where Albert gives you the space, TRUST, and time to try out new ideas. And for THAT I am eternally grateful. And after years of happily trying out new musical pieces mixed in with tried and true songs I am going to do a whole new show there.

A NEW SHOW!!

And my show, as you may have figured out by now, if any of  you people are on social media is not just a cabaret...but a show that I have dreamed of doing since I was 14. It is very personal...and the music featured is music that (when I was in college at the grand old age of 17 being told that I was a musical theatre singer and to stay away from popular music) I wanted to sing and yell out from the rooftops from the very bottom of my little young heart and my cheap but fashionable boots. And, now, many years later... with the help of Steve and Brendan, I am doing just that. So, to list it all again...this show is new, it is raw for me, this will be the first time I will perform it without crutches in front of people...and that is THRILLING and SCARY AS SHIT. AND I would love...love love love...to fly this ship with you...and a gal cannot be too coy...but...do you have something to do on Friday at 8:45pm or Saturday at 3:45pm? I know that as of right now, there are some tickets left...let's go for a ride
And while you are at it, get tickets for some other shows too...these are some special performances...        www.globalcabaret.ca

Here are some Prince videos to get you in the mood...but, again, you don't have to love Prince to be a part of this show. I promise.

DISCLAIMER: Not like, I promise and if you don't like it you will get your money back!! So, there is THAT!! You gotta take a chance people.

 PRINCE with Beyoncé because, why not?

Prince KILLS the guitar solo in "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" and then throws his guitar in the air....never to be seen again...starts at about 3:30

PRINCE Sings Joni Mitchell...and kills that too.

http://grooveshark.com/#!/s/Prince+A+Case+Of+You/42v95p?src=5And  

I wanna know...where were you? What Were You Thinking?

I wanna know people...Where were YOU!? What did YOU THINK? 

Last night, I went to the Soulpepper in the pelting rain, to meet with the young Steve Thomas and younger Brendan Wall in the Tank House, which is the theatre where we will premiere my newest show next week at the Global Cabaret Festival. (THAT is longest run on sentence in the world...) We rehearsed for 5 hours.
I gotta tell you, without being too lordy, that this show is a dream of mine.
So, yes, it is called Prince and Me.
And I know Prince is a pretty polarizing figure...and people really like him or do not like him at all...which is awesome, really.
Who wants to be in the middle? Who?
But seeing and listening to someone like Prince, a person who was exactly who he wanted to be, was pretty life altering for girl growing up in Hamilton at a time when your friends all called each other to find out what the other was wearing to school the next day, because god help you if you stood out...or sang too loud, as Christine (Insert Last Name Here) told me I did one day in choir in G.L. Armstrong Middle School.
Eff that.
The first time I saw him? He was singing this...and I have known EVERY word to every song he has sung since then..
Love him or hate him...where were you when you saw Prince sing Purple Rain? And what did you think?
OH, and this version is in a medley...with Beyoncé because, well...why not?




   

GET YOUR TICKETS to my show Next Friday and Saturday www.globalcabaret.ca

ON Cabaret, What I have learned...THAT sounds too fancy....

Lord, I hate it when summer leaves...leaves...get it...see what I did there.
Yes, I know it... I am a mess.
What?
Oh yes...I hate it when summer is over.
Ontario is so moody in the fall.
The sun disappears for long periods of time.
The wind whips...the rain hurts your face.
I have to go into the bowels of my basement and pull out my horrible rubber boots because god FORBID that the makers of fine rubber boots would make a pair that fits over the calf of a woman whose ancestors carried milk...yes...this woman inherited big calves, is what I am trying to say.
I remember a dude I was working with in Showboat told me that I had milk maid calves...I am not sure what part of that description he thought would make me happy...or that he imagined I would find quaint.
It has stuck with me.
I guess I should be proud that I can shoulder a load...as it were.
What!?
I put on my crap rubber boots and I walked my friend’s dogs today...they are staying with us for a week...they are good dogs for the most part...though, the have crapped in the house EVERYDAY.
I am not having much of that...but what are you gonna do.
GOD!
See how MOODY fall makes me?
ANYHOW, it has been so long since I wrote and this seemed like the perfect time...wait...I have to go grab an effing sweater...jesus, it is cold in this house...it seemed like the perfect time to write some bits and pieces...mostly to collect my thoughts for myself.
Recently, a young person who is new to the entertainment business wrote me an email asking if I had anything coming up that they could come and see...and I wrote them back...anyhow, we emailed back and forth and they ended up asking me what I think I learned from my journey in cabaret thus far..and what I have learned since I started my residency at Buddies.
Well, I walked away from my computer to get a tea...and thought, “Well, the cheek...” and then I started and erased a couple email responses.
I could not collect my thoughts sufficiently to answer...I spend so much time soldiering on, I don’t really look back as much as used to.
Which is good in some ways...not so much in others, I guess...GOD, SO MOODY!
Anyhow, with the seasons changing...lord...this sentence already makes me puke...so, let us just say...I sat down and had a think.
I feel like a change has happened in my creative life (not THE change...not yet...lord...I have THAT to look forward to) and my career.
And I think it is pretty awesome...and sometimes scary...but awesome. And thrilling...and scary.
From 2005 to 2012...for seven amazing years I worked and wrote and sang and promoted and wrote more and sang and told stories and traveled...focusing solely on cabaret ..and it WAS very busy and very wonderful...and I learned more than I could ever have imagined...about so many aspects of cabaret....and, people, I feel like I STILL have not even scratched the surface...
Learning about budgets for touring, about promoting (remember, FACEBOOK, and social media what just really kicking off in 2005...and I promoted everything back then mostly by email, by whatever print media I could get, by postering, by word of mouth...), I learned about show formats and studied my ass off to figure out what worked the best for me, I learned to look at pictures of myself and say, “Yes, I don’t look the way I wish...but god this picture is perfect to sell the show!”, AND I also learned to watch hours of footage of my shows from a place where I (hopefully) could be analytical and honest about my own work and correct the things that needed it, I learned about shaping a piece through glorious repetition, I learned about studying and using the audiences to help shape the piece... I struggled LIKE A DOG for three years to find my very best 15 minutes, the 15 minutes that will sell the show (and let me tell you ...I know  what some of my NOT SO BEST 15 minutes are...and so do a bunch of people in Scotland), I watch other entertainers from all over the world do their work, and I went to my own work that night and felt the influence of what I saw... and the most important thing I learned...are you ready?...I learned a lot about what the word Cabaret meant to me.
NOT all, people...but a lot.
Sounds so lordy, I know, but it is true.
NOW...there is going to more lordiness to follow...you have been forewarned.
And next most important thing that I learned was that I wanted to evolve and grow.
Yes, like a friggen flower.
I don’t want to be stuck doing the same thing over and over again...I want to move forward.
I love Phyllis Diller...I think she was hysterical and most certainly groundbreaking...and probably she liked her life just fine...but she wore the same outfit and wig for 50 years.
I wonder...I wonder if she wanted to evolve...or if she even thought about it...this thought  has given me more than a bit of pause.
Maybe not...again, she might have been totally happy with her work...but what if she wasn’t?
Have I said this before to you?
Maybe I have...but, I gotta say...it is too cloudy outside for me to look back over my blogs...so, again, stay with me...
So, I have not done many big, shiny solo gigs in TO over the last two years and have dedicated myself to touring my tried and true work (which I am SO thankful to have...over 50 pieces in my book...almost 5 full shows that I have tested and shaped in front of 100’s of people...thank you, universe) which was always the goal... AS WELL as write and developing new shows from the ground up....using and discovering different ways or working, collaborating, storytelling and creating.
When I simply needed to sing or I would just burst I would do a gig at Maggie and Heather’s wonderful Pubaret...and, again, I toured a lot, which was also wonderful.
So, in that way I kept current and in touch with a crowd...which I think is super important. ALSO, there was the yearly blessing of the amazing Global Cabaret at Soulpepper... I am always so thankful when they ask me to come...and I get to immerse myself in artists and singing for a concentrated couple of weeks every October. THERE was also the wonderful and new collaboration with Gavin Crawford that started this year! I really wanted another new focus to be working and collaborating with other like minded artists...and working with Gavin has been a treat...a true gift. That dude is a genius...and I learned a lot from him as well.

Gavin: If I am singing you are doing an impersonation of a star.
Me: No.
Gavin: Yes.
Me: No.

And on and on till I worked on Idina Menzel with him. 
I had a blast working with Gavin...and I loved being onstage with him. That effer works hard. AND I LOVE THAT!
And he wishes that when he adds something new to a piece we are working on that I don't make us go all the way back to the beginning...every time. But life is strange...

And last year, jeepers...was it only last year?... I began work on the show I call, Full Dark...which has been a journey and a half for me...three workshops and one workshop run in 8 months.
This has been some of the most challenging work I have done.
At one point I walked offstage after a performance of the show during the workshop run and this was the conversation that occured between me and George:

Me: This show is so fucking hard. When will it sit in the pocket...when will it get easier???
George: You know...I think if you continue to do the show the way you are doing it now, it will never be easy. You can do it this way and it would be perfect...but it will never be easy.

AND THEN I went and cried in the bathroom for a half hour.
I told George and Brendan Healy that I didn’t want to do it again...and then...after a long while...I pulled the binder off the shelf and looked at it another way.
The whole time I worked on that piece I was still learning...learning how to tell the story that I wrote...learning what world it will live in...learning how to put across the songs that I picked...learning what creation was like when you got to work with ALL of the musicians from the very beginning...from the very first day.
THAT was a gift and a blessing.
I am so thankful for my continuing residency at Buddies in Bad Times and also for the workshop run that Sheridan College sponsored. Brendan Healy has been a real champion for me... and he has opened my eyes to a lot of new ideas. I feel very fortunate to have a home there.
AND this month, I will continue work on Full Dark with my first director and dramaturg...WHO  KNEW I could be so effing fancy...and...well, I don’t wanna be coy, but there are some exciting things in the works for that piece.
It has been wild to work on something and walk away and come back and work and walk away again. The distance makes things SO clear.
Who knew!?
Usually, we get to do a show once or twice and we are just so happy when we don’t eff it up...to have this chance to keep working on a story? IT IS MAGIC, people.
And here we are!
So, one day, I had this idea.
And I wrote a bit of it, I worked on it with the awesome Brendan Wall (he plays one million instruments), we put it up at Soulpepper’s Saturday Night Cabaret Series...and I loved it, I truly had a blast...and the audience seemed to dig it.
So.
I love Prince.
I have loved him since 1984.
AND so, I wrote a cabaret called, Prince and Me.
Simple, yes?

(

Now, don’t freak...I know Prince is not everyone’s bag...You may not love Prince...but I believe that you don’t have to love him to come out and see this new creation. There ARE two songs in it I have performed before...OH YA...one of the things that I forgot to mention in this musing is SOMETIMES I work on the same song in different shows over a period of time because it has not found it’s home yet...I will sing it over and over again attached to a different story, in a totally different arrangement, until it finds it’s place...and it almost always does...well, two songs have found their home, I think.
I had a very straightforward goal when I started this project... I wanted to start with a simple story, and a specific musical theme...and see where it would take me.
Well... it took me to Jimi Hendrix, also back to a bar that is NOW called Filthy McNasty’s in Oakville (when I went there back in the 80’s the name wasn’t so straight forward), it took me to the walk-in closet in my college apartment where I ate an entire Sara Lee caked and cried my heart out, to the Odeon Theatre in Hamilton with my best friend where I saw Purple Rain for the first time, to Paisley Park in Minnesota where Prince was playing a concert for 100 close friends (true story), to Joni Mitchell, to the Woolworth at the corner of Upper Sherman and Fennell in Hamilton...to the Rocky Horror Picture show.
Oh, as Suess said, the places you’ll go, people.
And I went to all of these places with a boundless joy that suprised even me.
Who knew?
Yesterday, with the awesome pianist/composer/musical director Steve Thomas added into the mix, we started to tackle the new stuff I added to the show.
And in 16 days we will preview it at the Global Cabaret.
I.
Am.
Very.
Excited.
I.
Am.
All.
Nervous.
So, all is as it should be.
I would like to thank that young person for asking those questions.
I hadn’t stopped and looked around in a while.
And if you read this far, GOD BLESS YOU!!
BUY a ticket! Oh, we will have such a fun time....

Here is a little VIDEO about the show...and the deets are:

Sharron Matthews: Prince and Me
at the Global Cabaret Festival
October 24th at 8:30pm
October 25th at 3:45pm
Get tickets at www.globalcabaret.ca






P.S. In 2015, I have tours taking me out east and out west (touring with Mary Walsh!), and I am taking my show to Mexico...YES, MEXICO in the winter....among other projects I am working on.
So, cabaret is keeping this gal happily busy as shit.
Thanks to the universe, again.
Check out my website for the touring dates with Mary in March and April!
www.sharronmatthews.com

"...But it won't ever be like this again."

About 10 years ago...egad...ten years ago... I was standing on the banks of the mighty pond that sits in the middle of Stratford (that pond is basically a goose poop soup, FYI) and I was saying goodbye to a dear friend.

Lindsay Burns and I had hung around for most of 2004, while our husbands worked together at the Stratford Festival. We walked almost every day and talked about our creative ideas. I had just begun work on the idea that would end up being Sharron's Party and she was talking about a show she was writing called, "Dough"...please forgive me if I am wrong on the title, Lindsay...we encouraged the shit out of each other...AND both of these ideas came to fruition within the next year...pretty awesome.

I was so lucky to have her there as a confidant, friend and a inspiring creative spirit...that year changed my life forever. It was after 2004 that I took a leap and dedicated myself to my cabaret work.

But as the 2004 season was coming to a close, she and her family were going back to their home in Calgary. 

One cold and rainy day in October, she and I met for a last walk around Goose Poop Soup Pond.

I remember it like it was yesterday...because Lindsay was about to say something that would change my life.

We had finished our walk and so I would not cry like a baby...as I am want to do at just such an occasion... I said, "We will see each other...we will skype...we will walk together again, my friend!!".

She smiled at me and said, "Yes, we will...but it won't ever be like this again."

I was a bit gutted. 

I hugged her goodbye and walked away...and that line ran through my head over and over.

It was truth.

A very strong and living truth.

My people, she could not have been more right.

We would totally see each other again, to be sure, but it would never be like it was. We would still be grand friends...but not in that situation.

Not for ill or good...just because it was so.

That time was a time to be cherished, enjoyed and not taken for granted.

AND, as the years have passed, I have held that statement to my chest during every interesting, heartbreaking, thrilling, joyous, and challenging experience.

Whenever I started to take something for granted, I would think of this statement...and I would be in it. 

I would be in the moment.

A moment on stage in Africa with my hands thrown up in the air, yelling and selling in a line up in Scotland, crying as I got a throat infection for the second time in two weeks at the 2011 Edinburgh Fringe, all the time I spent on tour with my dear pal Christian, a day at the beach with my husband, a day in the hospital with my husband, laughing with my sister on her back porch, laughing with Joe, Louise and George in Greece.

It will never be like this again...this moment...this situation will never happen again.

After a while I realized that, as lordy as it sounds, every day is like this. Or could be.

And when I truly realized this I clutched that sentence even tighter.

I have seen Lindsay Burns only a handful of times since 2004, but every time I laugh my ass of...and I think I have not yet mentioned to her the weight of her statement.

So here it is...thanks to you, Lindsay, what a gift you gave me in your honesty.

THIS is Lindsay, her wonderful husband Grant and son, Jasper.

George and I stopped by Calgary on our way out to Kamloops...lord, we laughed!!!

So, as I lay in a bed in Kenora, I am running over the last 5 weeks.

What a magical time I have had.

Our drive out to Kamloops, visiting with so many wonderful friends, seeing so many wonderful views...and George and I...and our friends...laughing and laughing. 

I dig laughing, as you might have already discovered.

Spending the rehearsal weeks in Kamloops. Staying in a silly hotel with the grandest view. Shoving four weeks worth of work into two weeks and shoving THAT into my brain. Singing with my husband, singing with the cast, working with Steve, Daryl, Leon, Patricia, Mike and Valerie...and Skylar and Christine.

Performing that awesome show.

Going over my stupid/wonderful patter song every day, one million times.

And, oh sweet Jesus, I scatted onstage...not pooped but JAZZ scatted...like as in singing, people...in front of people. HOLY crapbags.

The show was wonderful.

And over all too soon.

I am so glad that we got to do it out there...and celebrate our 20th Wedding Annivesary, my 46th Birthday, see 4 bears on our Great Bear Hunt of 2014.

OH! Also, yesterday, we drove by a hill just outside of Canmore where two young, tanned people were bucked naked and doing IT...in the sun...beside the highway.

ALRIGHT!

LORD!! 

I laughed...I laughed so hard I think I gave George a heart attack...almost.

But, I gots to tell ya,  some of my most cherished time is the time that we got to spend with our dear pal, Patricia

George and I have not seen her for reals, in about four years...or more...well, George saw her while he worked in Edmonton...but me? Not at all.

And while were lived and worked in Kamloops for the last four weeks Patricia cooked us dinner, we drove her places, we napped at her place, she swam at ours, we saw a wonderful movie about Indian food and then HAD Indian Food. She made sure that we had a cake and gifts for our anniversary, she gave me a beautiful gift for my birthday. We sat and laughed our heads off in our dressing room, I instructed her about the joys of having a spanx suit to wear under dresses and she would show me her latest thrift store finds...and I finally met her son, Leo and husband Farren...and her dear parents as well.

We caught up and it was like I saw her yesterday.

It was a very special time.

And about two weeks into it we were talking about what a wonderful time we were having...and how lucky we were that we were doing the show again in 2015.

Then...I told her my Lindsay story.

We will do the show again. We will work together again.

BUT the next time would never be like the time we were experiencing right then.

For good or for ill.

AND then we continued having a great time...with the knowledge that we were enjoying every second.

I am so thankful for this trip, this journey, this show, this drive, this TIME!! 

NAMASTE, UNIVERSE!!

I gotta go to sleep, my melatonin is kicking in...and we gots many miles to drive tomorrow...I love a drive.

And a laugh.

Me and Patricia

Myself, Patricia, Steve and George

 

 

 

Christine, Skylar, Patricia, Myself, Leon, George and Steve

Rob Ford, THE HORRIBLE CONGESTION in TO, PODCASTS, Beautiful ARTICLES and DATES DATES DATES!!

So, we have podcasts (more than one...I am EVERYWHERE, people...okay two places), shows, articles...and, I am sorry...but there is a *ROB FORD ALERT!!*
But before I get to the first things ...and I will get to them right away...stealing a thread from my FB page...and if you steal from yourself it is okay...
I got SOMETHING TO SAY!!
AND it may be boring to some...but I will try and be brief...and sort of funny...but if not, please...DON'T SUE ME.
It is exhausting... : )

Todays FB Post: (besides a post containing awesome article for an upcoming show...of course) 

I HATE to even give this idiot air time AT ALL...AND about 5 months ago...okay, maybe 3...I decided to give that bumhead NO MORE of my social media energy...BUT someone has got to make Rob Forb answerable to the fact that the Toronto construction and congestion is at an all time high and low...driving across Toronto now can literally take hours with construction or road closures on every main throroughfare and artery IN or OUT of the city. What is usually a 1:45 minute drive from Stratford to Toronto is now 2:30 OR more with the end hour and fifteen dedicated to getting downtown. Getting from the east end to the west end can take JUST AS LONG!! NONE of this could be good for tourism!!! And since he closed down bike lanes, and does not support bike riding in the city, riding a bike can be a hard alternative. HE brags about all the cranes in the air but pays no attention to what is happening on the ground...which I guess is a metaphor for the very public and unbelievable treatment of his own life. GET out! YOU, Ford, and whoever is in charge of maintaining a proper infrastructure need a one way ticket out of this city and need to acknowledge this HORRIBLE PROBLEM. Friday rant done. Drops mic.

THEN I turned over.

ME: What day is it?

Georgie: Saturday.

ME: %$#&*.

(this is a fake FB Thread because I am feeling graphically artistic...or something...and I dig this selfie...I don't do many...so give a gal a break.) 

 Sharron Matthews 

  

  AND THEN I realized it was Saturday. #actor

 

 

 

ONLY actors don't know it is the weekend...and are still in bed at noon...THOUGH WORKING!! 

What's a weekend?

Who said that, you guys! You know who it is!!!

Gosh, I am a bit manic today...it must be the hair dye...for my roots...I got them did yesterday...and then I almost wrecked my hair guru, Bill's, house...with a water spectacle...lordt...I was just trying to help...THAT is another story...SORRY, BILL! 

The yoga patience is really working for you!

Anyhow.

RIDE IT, MATTHEWS!! 

After that post a lot of people chimed in with their opinons...which is awesome! I love a good opinion...and hate  a crap one, to be quite honest.

AND yes, I know it is not totally Ford's fault...AND YES, I know the province is equally to blame.

But here's the brass tacks of it.

I tried to get from the east end to the west TWICE yesterday...and these were some of the main barriers...

1. THAT friggen mess at Leslie and Eastern...lord lift me.

2. The closing of Queen....QUEEN EFFING STREET...at Broadview!! BROADVIEW!!

3. THAT holy terror of a Tutan...Tut...(googling)...tutankhamun's tomb at Union station on Front!

4. ANY contruction outside of ANY of the 120...120...the most in the world...120 condos being built in this town...

5. The Gardiner was down to one lane EACH WAY!! 

6. The Lakeshore was closed for the Indy.

7. You name a place and there is unexpected cones and contruction.

8. AND is Adelaide still closed at Yonge?

Sidebar: I came into town for a meeting at Buddies a couple of weeks ago and it to 40 minutes...40 effing minutes to get from Front to College on Yonge. I mean, Jesus Wept.

WHO. IS. IN. CHARGE. OF. COORDINATING. THIS?

THEY. SHOULD. BE. FIRED. LIKE. CRAZY!!!

AND Ford it the Mayor (in name only) of this fair city. HE is the one people will look to or curse as the sit on Lakeshore to 10 hours.

AND THEN!?!?

I SEE that one of Ford's nephews...who worked for Doug Ford at their family company...is running for office.

Jesus Wept again.

Here is how Michael Ford's credentials as described  in a Toronto Star article...

According to his Facebook page, Michael Ford went to high school in Etobicoke before attending business school at Humber College. His LinkedIn profile says he is expected to graduate in 2016.

Ford, according to Facebook, is a camp counsellor at Camp Kandalore in Haliburton and has been an account executive at Deco Labels and Tags, the family business run by Doug Ford and before him by Doug Ford Sr., also a politician who served as an MPP at Queen’s Park.

Here is the article.
http://www.thestar.com/news/crime/2014/07/18/mayor_rob_fords_nephew_michael_ford_to_run_in_doug_fords_etobicoke_ward.html


Well, that should about do it!
Please Ford Family. STOP the madness.
You are not the Kennedy clan. You are not even the...well,the lamest political family I can come up with is the Fords.
STOP!!

GEARSHIFT!
So, yes, I have been advertising the HELL out of my summer tour!! BUT building an audience, even when you are 45 and fabulous is a CHALLENGE and a full time job!! 
So, please, dear supporters and readers, take the time to read on and if you see something that you or someone you know might like, pass it on.
It is greatly appreciated by this independant touring artist! 
AND I want all of those wonderful presenters to keep taking chances on solo variety artists!
So, that being said, I am rehearsing me butt off for my up coming shows!!
I have gotten some lovely press for them.
Looks!!

THANKS to the Record!

The Elora Festival show is Saturday the 26th at 3:00pm...yes, an afternoon show...and with great care...and even more excitement as I pulled down my repatoire off the book shelves...I chose some wonderful songs that I barely EVER get to do anymore...Into the Woods, Sweeney Todd, Bells are Ringing, Les Miserables, Wild Party, Gypsy, West Side Story...and mixed them in with Broadway style arrangements of the Supremes, Shirley Bassey, Madonna, Queen and so much more!

And yesterday my pal/accompanist Steve Thomas and I rehearsed for hours!!

OH, the fun we are gonna have!! I hope you come on out!!

TICKETS HERE!! 

ELORA FESTIVAL - Sharron's Big Broadway Show

http://www.elorafestival.ca/events/sharrons-big-broadway-show/

Elora is and hour and twenty six minutes from TO...here is a MAP!

The town itself is stellar...you could make a very wonderful, fancy summer day of it!!

But BEFORE THAT I am super excited about my SUPERSTAR show in Stouffiville at 19 on the Park on Thursday, July 24th!!

I am singing outside, people (unless it rains...then I will be inside...obv.)...but look at how fancy?

 

SO FANCY!!!

AND I am putting a new Beatles AND a new Bruno Mars into the SUPERSTAR show as well as all the requested tunes: Creep, Sweet Child, Hotel California, the Disco Medley and so many more.

19 on the Park Salon Series SHARRON MATTHEWS

http://nineteenonthepark.com/sharronmatthewspatio/

What a night it will be!! AND IT IS SO CLOSE TO TO!!

I have had a bunch of people ( and how lovely they are) asking me when my next TO show is! Well, not till October, people!!

So this is it!!!

OH!!! BUT they did a lovely podcast of the highlights latest show (my newest idea for a full cabaret) that I got to try out w/ Brendan Wall.

It is called "Prince and Me" and I did it at the Soulpepper Salon Series. What a wonderful night!

Checks it out, there was a lovely question and answer...and all!!

SOUPPEPPER SALON SERIES: Prince and Me 

https://soundcloud.com/soulpeppertheatre/sharron-matthews-cabaret-series-16

OH, AND there is an extensive, (I found it a very interesting interview with a very interesting person) podcast that I did with a lady named, Coral Andrews in a bar on the main street in Kitchener, Ontario. I drank scotch, she drank wine...I was getting over a bad cold...so I sound like...um...Whitney after the crack, a bit. (Forgive me, Whitney lovers)

That is right here...it is Saturday and it is raining...at least it is in TO...so do your macrame and give it a listen!

Coral Andrews PODCAST:
http://www.coralandrews.ca/
(it may require some scrolling...but it is there!)

And, lastly, but not leastly...

HEY OTTAWA!! KINGSTON!! QUINTE!! PERTH!! Gananoque!! 1000 ISLANDS!!

AND ENVIRONS!!

GUESS where I am gonna be on August 6th and 7th!?!?

Doing my toured, acclaimed, international HIT SUPERSTAR show at Brockville's Arts Centre!

I CANNOT WAIT!!

Again there will be a new Beatles AND a new Bruno Mars into the SUPERSTAR show as well as all the requested tunes: Creep, Sweet Child, Hotel California, the Disco Medley and so many more.

I would love to see you there...or if you know anyone in the area who might dig the show...PASS IT ON!! It will be fun for all ages! 

All of these shows are CLEAN!! NO SWEAR!!!

TICKETS HERE!

Brockville Arts Centre SHARRON MATTHEW SUPERSTAR

http://brockvilleartscentre.com/august.html

Brockville is HERE!! ( I am giving the distance from our nation's capital as a guide!)

 

THAT is not too far!! 

Are you in Smith Falls? Where they just turned the Hershey Factory into a medicinal marijuana grow op? ( I love listening to the CBC.) COME ON OUT!!

Oh. My. Gawd.

I am exhausted!

To anyone who read this far!?!? 

GOD BLESS YOU!!

And have a great day! 

I hope to see you, hug you and sing to you at one of my shows!!

S xoxox

 

RIP Elaine Stritch and Thank You.

When someone famous dies there is always an outpouring of how we knew them and/or what our experiences were with them...it is the way of us humans...and, I gotta tell you, I tried to resist all day. 

Because, you see, (and I know I am not the only one...but) I have many feelings about Elaine Strich.

My gratitude to her is so deep and yet my fear of her was so strong (it was if you were smart) that I did not want to share it...but now as I look over all the articles that came out today...I cannot stop myself...you all can take this however you want to take it...but Elaine Strich changed my life.

And I want to write it out...more for myself then anything.

I have always thought that when she went to her greater reward (whatever that may be and I hope it is good) that a whole era would go with her. An era we will now only know about from stories told by others...instead of hearing them told in BY her...in her brutally fierce voice...with her brutally fierce personality...and she did love to tell a story...as well as generally boss people around.

I still feel so strongly about her and about what I learned from her that when Gavin Crawford and I were putting together our pride show, VICIOUS BITCHES, we thought (because of his perfect set of gams and his spot on impersonations...not necessarily in that order) that because I had a wonderful story to tell about her...he should actually play her. And play her he did. The piece, simply called, "Elaine" closed our show. And I was so happy for it.

I am not a big character in her amazing life...barely even a day player in the grand scheme of things...but between working a year with her in Showboat and then a magical trip to stay with her and my pal, Marge in NY, it felt like a blessed lot...a lot I am entirely grateful for.

Elaine was kind to me...she was mean to me...she shared some of her life stories with me...she forgot who I was...she remembered...and she eventually forgot again...after I told her one day that I was doing a cabaret she played her album for me on a cassette player in her Showboat dressing room...the song was "IF"... 

( I can only find it on ITUNES...but it is grand)

https://itunes.apple.com/ca/artist/elaine-stritch/id1502732

and she smiled and looked me right in the eyes the whole time it played..."You should do that song.", she said...she got me drunk one day AT THE THEATRE...she took the whole cast of Showboat, 8 people at a time (there were 64 of us), for dinner at Joe Allen's on the Danforth in TO and regaled us with stories of Coward and Coleman... she was partially naked almost all the time I spent with her (not at Joe Allen's) AND one memorable and amazing night while I was staying with her and my friend Marge at the Carlyle Hotel (yes, I have talked about it before...because I still cannot believe that visit happened) after standing with her stage manager (who was in a tux) and watching her amazing cabaret in the Cafe Carlyle I watched her take off all of her clothes down to her skivvies in the back of the VERY TINY room with THE WHOLE audience still there...and then she walked through the lobby and up to her room in said skivvies...NO ROBE...and I marched behind her like an acolyte, holding all of her jewelry that she had taken off as she shed her clothes and thrown my way....then I sat beside her bed in her room, on an automan,  and Elaine asked me a number of questions about her show and, specifically, if I liked the way she did "50 Percent"...a song, she told me, that the Bergman's (who wrote it) had insisted she do in her show...a song that my friend, Marge (who was almost always brutally honest right back at her) had told her she didn't think fit the show.

!

I remember feeling a little sick to my stomach as she stared at me through her huge Coco Chanel glasses...waiting...and I said I thought it was wonderful...as Marge rolled her eyes...and Elaine smiled... harumphed... and yelled out...practically in my face, "SEE!!!".

The day I met her, back in 1995,  I was in awe.

On the first day of Showboat she started out at the cast meet and greet in a black hat, black coat, black glasses, white shirt underneath...and I am sure she was wearing pants...but who knows...and 20 minutes later she was changed into a cheetah leotard, with a white shirt tied around the waist and white keds.

Old School.

She left her dressing room door open all day, every day...and she was nearly naked almost all the time.

When my dear George and I walked into the theatre and past her door one day, on the dinner break, she leaned out and asked, "WHO is he?" 

Me: HE is my boyfriend.

She: Well...

And then she wandered out into the hallway in tights, a bustle, boots and a bra...and flirted mercilessly with him.

Old School.

God, she could cut people...god, she could cause a ruckus...god, she could really throw a mean, grade-A tantrum...and god, she was one of the most consistent actors I have ever had the good fortune to watch onstage night after night.

One night, during the first act of the show, I was feeling sick to my stomach...and she found out...and she sent her dresser to find me...I quickly found myself in her dressing room with the door closed and she reached into the very back of a cupboard and pulled out a bottle, while her dresser, Kim, cut up a lime...and then she put a glass of whatever was in the bottle in front of my mouth and told me to drink...I felt that I had no choice at this point...because, again, it was always good to have a healthy fear of her...I drank the putrid stuff and then Kim handed me a lime.

Elaine: You will feel better in no time.

I leave...10 minutes later I feel that I might be drunk.

I go back to the dressing room.

Me: Is there alcohol in that?

Elaine: It doesn't count...it is medicinal.

Huh. 

I remember watching her as she finagled a solo out of Harold Prince.

I remember the way her voice sounded when she yelled out, "HAL!" whenever she was unhappy.

I remember the way Harold Prince smiled at her and never let her moods bug him...like he knew she would bring it...and that this time of moodiness was worth it.

I remember watching the two of them working together  in rehearsal... and as I look back on it now, I would like to cry with the luck that I got to see that with my own two eyes.

Truly.

When I went down to New York City to do an audition (you may have heard this before...I have told it a number of times...you can skip ahead if you wish...but WHY!?) I called my pal, Marge, who became a friend and confident to Elaine on Showboat and helped Elaine run her life when she needed her...and asked if I could pull up some floor with her, as she was staying at the Carlyle with Elaine for a while and assisting her during her show. Marge said that there was more than enough room for me...for which I was greatly appreciative.

Well, after I saw Elaine's show, carried her jewelry upstairs, and then I was invited to stay and talk in her room...her room...lord...and I sat beside her bed, she asked me what I was doing in NY, I told her I was doing a call back for a show and she asked who was on the production team...I told her who they were.

Elaine: I don't know any of those fucking people...BUT tell them you are staying with me...

ME: Um...I don't know if I will have a chance to.

Elaine: WELL, make the chance...they will be impressed...tell them that you are staying with me...and that I like you...it will make a difference... WHERE ARE MY GRILLED VEGETABLES?!?

Her room was not too big...smaller than I would have imagined.. but it was a gorgeous corner suite.

Her TV had all of her awards on top of it...at least that is what I remember...I could be wrong there...

She was wearing a Hanes v-neck tshirt and little white tennis socks with the balls on them...and her famous legs were uncovered.

She sat propped  up on her grand bed, still reveling in her "50 Percent" victory, when she turned to me and said...

Elaine: Marge says you are doing cabaret.

Me: Oh...ya...I am...but it is hard in Toronto...there aren't any venues...and no one really does it...there are no audiences...and I am not sure if there is future in it for me...in Canada...and I love Canada...

Elaine: Just fucking do it. Find a venue. Find an audience and just fucking do it. If you want it...really want it...just fucking do it.

Huh.

And then she said...

Elaine: You know what...you should not have to sleep with Marge...I have my rehearsal suite just down the hallway...you can stay in it. DON'T touch ANYTHING. But you can stay in the bed and get some rest before your audition.

DON'T TOUCH ANYTHING!

Marge took me down to the suite...I think she could barely believe it.

She also told me it would be in my best interest to NOT touch anything.

I walked in and it was bigger than Elaine's room...and the windows were cracked open a bit so the filmy white curtains were blowing in the wind a bit...and there was a big white grand piano against one wall and pictures of Barbra Cook, Eartha Kitt and Bobby Short on the walls...holy fuck they had ALL rehearsed in here...and cards, letters and flowers from Elaine May, Mike Nichols, Diane Sawyer, Sondheim,...and so many more...and I ran my hands NOT ON but near the top of her professionally bound scores for the cabaret.

I felt like I had finally found the right church. 

At that moment, I stood stock still...this was my TRUE New York moment...this room...this feeling in it...never, never to be reproduced...it was so very special and dear to me...I still cannot believe it happened.

And I wandered into the bedroom...this was where she got ready...and all of her make up was there...covered with a silk scarf so that it would not get dusty...and there was a little stitched pillow at the very back of her make up table...it said, "COURAGE."

And then it all kind of fell into place...before her show that night she stood at the back of the room and touched as many people as possible...on the back and the shoulder...winding up...while she was introduced...I was pretty much right behind her...and I could see how nervous she was...but it was hard to believe...and then she turned out a fucking awesome show. A truly awesome show...in this tiny, intimate room, in which she forgot the words a couple of times...and found them again...and who fucking cared, anyhow.

Elaine was still nervous and needed to find her courage after all these years...and that made me want to cry...and it made me thrilled...because she always did it anyway.... always... and was amazing... and consistent... and singular... and human... and scared...and brilliant...

When I left the next day I put a little card on her grand piano...I saw her in the hallway but she was busily on her way to check and see if I stole anything...I knew it...so she could not stop for more than a second.

I think she wished me a good audition.

I am sure I thanked her heartily.

But that was the last time I saw her in person.

And she sent me on a path that would change my life...and fulfill my dreams...

I wonder if she knew?

When she left me in that rehearsal room there was no way I could do anything else but follow my dreams...anything else would have felt like blasphemy.

I can still close my eyes and tell you EXACTLY what that room looked, smelled and felt like.

So, Elaine...I thank you, from the bottom of my heart and soul for that night.

It was a gift.

I wish you the very best on your grand journey.

I am better and so lucky to have known you...and I am still a little scared of you...as anyone should be.

RIP Elaine Stritch.