Catharine McGrath, who has a new identity as NiteLifeExchange’s “Cabaret Katie,” calls herself “the luckiest woman I know.” In 2016 McGrath began to live her dreams. She’d worked in advertising for 40 years in St. Louis, Chicago and Dallas; at last she was retiring to make a reality the path she’d aways wanted to take: New York City and show business. And so it was that McGrath relocated to The Big Apple and began to study music and singing. “There is such an incredible wealth of people who teach workshops and one-on-one with people like me for singing and performing,” she says. “It’s thrilling.”
As to her gig as Cabaret Katie, the idea sprang from the fertile mind of Nitelife Exchange Publisher and Chief Editor, Scott Barbarino. During a coffee meeting last September, McGrath shared with him her video blog promoting cabaret shows she enjoyed in her former home of St. Louis, as well as the last couple of years in New York. “I’m not a critic,” she reports, “I have the point of view of a fan, and I write about the qualities I love in a singer or a band.” Seizing on the possibilities, Barbarino had the idea of doing this blog format in advance rather than after the fact. “Cabaret Katie” was launched with a 2-3 minute video in which McGrath assesses the shows she’d like to see in the coming month, discussing why she’d like to see them and why they interest her. “Fortunately for me, my partner Chet (Whye) is adept at video production,” she says. “I lean on him for integrating the cabaret show recommendations with footage I find of the artists.”
As for her process, she strives to sync up with the time people are making their plans. McGrath researches the calendars of the cabaret venues, including Don’t Tell Mama, Feinstein’s/54Below, The Beach Cafe, The Laurie Beechman Theatre, Pangea, The Duplex, The Green Room and Club Iridium to see what’s coming up. She looks for a mix of artists she knows, as well as singers from Broadway, including brand new artists and more experienced ones. She also researches videos on YouTube or on personal websites of those artists performing. Finally, McGrath constructs a brief narrative on why she wants to see those performers and their shows. “Chet films me talking about them,” she reports. “So far we’ve shot it at our apartment while I sit at the piano. Then Chet marries up my comments with the singers’ songs on YouTube.” Eventually, she says she’d like to vary the location of the filming, perhaps shooting at the cabaret venues. Also to come are interviews with the singers, music directors and booking managers on what inspires them.
McGrath also wants to expand her first-hand observations of artists she hasn’t heard before, or artists she’s seen in a different environment. For example, she says, there are the Broadway singers who often take advantage of the Monday nights at Feinstein’s and Birdland to step onto the stage as themselves, not as a character in a play. She also enjoys following first-time cabaret artists, who run the gamut from young—recent grads like Kelsey Bearman, who just debuted her show, Lost and Found—to Fred Aiese, a psychologist and NYU professor who premiered Blues, Ballads and a Boy from Brooklyn in early November.
When asked if she’s having fun, McGath responds enthusiastically with: “Are you kidding? It’s SO much fun.” She explains she gets to talk about one of her favorite parts of living in New York. “Cabaret is unique in the way the audience experiences the artist more personally than in a concert setting or in a play,” she says. “I’m a cabaret singer myself, so for me, it’s about enjoying the show as well as observing ways I can improve what I do.”
NiteLife Exchange is thrilled to report the response to “Cabaret Katie” has been nothing less than positive and enthusiastic, “People seem to enjoy learning about what’s coming up in a non-traditional, calendar posting way,” she says. “It’s my opinion, after all, not an ad.” The performers like it too, she adds, because the blog can be shared with their own social media followers. As to cabaret performer Katie McGrath, she has her own show coming up in February. Watch for an encore performance of Aunt of the Year, on Saturday, Feb 16 at 7pm at Don’t Tell Mama.
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ah2HUvHieF0[/embedyt]
Attention singers, directors and music directors: lease keep Katie posted on upcoming shows. You can reach her via scobarent@gmail.com
This is fantastic!!!! That Katie McGrath…..she knows what’s up, and this is a perfect fit. Woo hoo!