Cross-over vocalist Martha Bartz, premieres her new show, Off The Charts With Martha Bartz, at The Green Room 42 on Friday, September 30 at 7:00 PM, with a return engagement on October 21. Bartz is a mezzo soprano classical concert and oratorio soloist, solo recitalist, cabaret performer and opera principal who has appeared on key opera, oratorio, cabaret and recital stages. She was a winner of the 2010 Classical Singer convention in New York City (musical theater) and the 2008 NYC NATS competition and finalist in the 2009 International Lotte Lehmann Cybersing competition. She has performed as a guest artist in many major venues, including Carnegie Hall, The Cathedral of St. John the Divine, The Great Auditorium in Ocean
Grove (New Jersey), historic Gusman Hall in Miami, and many others throughout the eastern United States. Bartz has also headlined with many orchestras, such as The New York City Chamber Orchestra, The Pilsen Radio Symphony Orchestra of Czechoslovakia, The Charlotte Symphony, The Ethos Consortium Chamber Orchestra, The Miami Bach Society Chamber Orchestra, The Gay Mens Chorus of South Florida, and more. She currently studies coaches with Dr. Mory S. Ortma and Dr. Emily Urbanek and the Composers of the music she performs.
Off The Charts With Martha Bartz features a varied song list ranging from Gershwin to Gwon, with contributions from Bucchino, Iconis and Rodgers & Hammerstein, and more, as well as new arrangements by Christopher Denny, Alex Rybeck and Sean Gough, among others. For tickets to Bartz’s show, click here.
NiteLife Exchange (NLE) asks Martha Bartz (MB) Six Questions
NLE: This new show is quite a change for you, beyond being your debut at The Greenroom 42, isn’t it?
MB: Yes it is. In the past I have been the oratorio soloist at Carnegie Hall five times, Lincoln Center, St. John the Divine as a classical vocalist and I have performed in cabarets at the Metropolitan Room, Don’t Tell Mama, a little number or two at 54 Below as part of a group show. Well, when I did these cabaret shows, it was primarily just me putting on shows and not really using the press aspect to it because I didn’t have these connections.
NLE: Is this your first time working with Jeff Harnar?
MB: First time with Jeff Harnar! We went to high school together in the same class. (Liz Callaway was also in that class.) So they performed in Kismet together and I was in the chorus. I was way, way in the background. In the summer of 2018, I got a wild thought and said I’ve done this a few times but I want to do it right! I literally had to send him a YouTube video and audition recording because (laughing) he didn’t remember me. I wasn’t surprised considering there were 976 people in our graduating class. He and I did cross paths quite a bit in our singing efforts, but I was also the pompom girl so I didn’t stay in the arts world very much. We knew each other to say hello to, but I don’t think we ever had any lengthy conversations. I was quite a fan.
NLE: And how do you find working with Jeff now?
MB: Really, really great experience. He doesn’t just rely on his past experience, and his training, but he contributes great ideas specific to my show. And he’s so easy to work with. We’ve had a great time, but I’ve also learned so much from him. He’s a great teacher.
NLE: Do you find yourself adjusting your performance style between your classical and cabaret work.
MB: Absolutely. You use all the same techniques and all your tools are still in place—but you just use them differently. You implement a lot more straight tone than vibrato but you use the same air. I use all the tools in the classical toolbox, bu
t use them all in a non-classical style. Where in classical music you are skimming over the audience’s forehead and trying to stay focused in everything you are doing but not connecting, but where in a cabaret you actually connect to their eyes. You want to bring them in with you. What Jeff has helped me do is to bring my gaze down and to move around the room and how to shift focus and when to shift focus. Things that I am still learning. You know, there’s not much room in the rehearsal spaces so it’s more about taking my focus outward since most cabaret spaces don’t offer a lot of space.
NLE: How did you assemble the song list for this particular show?
MB: I absolutely had ideas of where I wanted to go with some of it. But Jeff absolutely had ideas too. And it’s a result of our negotiations—of what we thought would work the best. It is a brainchild of both of us for sure. The through story—well, there is no through story, it’s just supposed to be an evening of fun where you should walk out with a feeling of joy. There are a lot of stories told within the show but this is not a through-story show. It is all centered around being entertaining and fun and sometimes funny. There are no downbeat moments. Only my accompanists, Mory Ortman, sings a song that is a little less than upbeat. But if there any less than upbeat they still end on a good note. Even the ones that are ballads.
I want the audience to walk away thinking that they don’t really ever need to grow up.
NLE: Is there anything you’d like to add?
MB: We’re doing this show in New York City as well as North Carolina and Chicago, and we may get down to South Florida. We’ll see how it builds. I just hope everyone will come and just have a great time. That is our goal. Laugh a bit. And to feel good when they leave.
