Six Questions with Liora Michelle, Returning to Don’t Tell Mama on Friday, November 8

After three sold-out shows in the spring, singer, Liora Michelle, returns to Don’t Tell Mama on Friday, November 8th and Saturday, December 7th with her NYC cabaret debut show, The Greedy Soprano, directed by Lennie Watts, and with Musical Director Bill Zeffiro.

NiteLife Exchange (NLE) Celebrates Liora Michelle (LM) with Six Questions:

NiteLife Exchange: You were born in New York to a Russian-Italian mother and Australian father, when did you realize you had the gift of singing and what were your early influences?

Liora Michelle: I always loved to sing. The way other kids might have read under the covers at night with a flashlight, I had my radio (yes, radio!), listening to 50s, 60s, 70s, and would sing along, singing myself to sleep—from a rather early age. But as far as having any “gift” awareness, my Mom sent me to a local teacher when I was 13, who found that I had an operatic voice, so to speak, and taught me my first arias and songs. It was a mix of, for example, Bizet’s Carmen, “Songbird” (a la Streisand), and old Americana like “Get You a Copper Kettle”! But I guess there was something there—I sang the National Anthem for my home town’s Memorial Day Parade at 13 and did other solo work through high school, ditching the cello in the process.

NLE: Before your cabaret debut, you were better known as a Young American soprano performing classic lyric soprano roles to critical acclaim, including Mimì, Musetta, Micaela, Nedda, Leonora (Il Trovatore) and Desdemona (Otello) among others. How did you eventually get involved in Cabaret?

LM: Well, most immediately, as far as doing a full-fledged show, it was my amazing Musical Director/Pianist/Composer Bill Zeffiro, with whom I’d had the fun of singing a bunch of times at the local pub, Parnell’s, saying I should do a full show. It was the classic Hollywood-esque “Let’s put on a show!” And along that journey he introduced me to so many pieces I would not have otherwise known, opening new musical paths of expression, so liberating and so much fun. And while I miss music stores where you could browse for ages, YouTube can be a beautiful thing. Surfing it also led to some musical discoveries, pieces and artists. But fundamentally, I’ve never been an exclusively operatic chick; my tastes and musical appetite (greedy, after all!), have always been completely eclectic.

NLE: What can audiences expect in The Greedy Soprano?

LM: They can expect, I dearly hope, the joy of loving and being transported by so many different composers, styles, languages, decades, moods. Nothing too arcane, but a mix—all good, I hope! We’re proud of the list, the musical journey, anyway, and have so much fun doing it; I think that can be infectious, in a good way! I’m into languages so we have a couple of French, an Italian (Sicilian, actually), Greek and Spanish numbers. If we’d had more time, I would have included more—Russian, Estonian, Japanese, Chinese, Flemish! And I have to express my immense gratitude for the confidence Lennie Watts has given me and all his incredibly invaluable kindness and counsel!

NLE: With regard to future shows, do you have any in mind or any you’re already working on? 

LM: Well, we’re still having so much fun with this one. But, there are a couple of nascent show concepts we’re keen to start sinking our teeth into as well. One of these more closely follows the musical influences of my youth, which were pretty varied. It was something like Josephine Baker, Beatles, Alan Price, Cryer and Ford, Fleetwood Mac, Billy Joel, Simon & Garfunkel, the Ink Spots, the Platters, Peggy Lee, Eartha Kitt, Jacques Brel, Johnny Halliday, symphony, ballet, opera, and CBS 101.1!

But the other show I’ve long wanted to do is the Hollywood songbirds, such as Irene Dunne, Kathryn Grayson, Jeanette McDonald, Kitty Carlisle and so many more. There’s a related story to be told about the music itself: the composers, the singers and the history of early Hollywood. There was an international fever from France to Brazil to Hollywood that characterized early movie soundtracks; these were quite sophisticated and there were so many wonderful performers/voices to bring it all to life.

NLE: Are you planning on making your Cabaret debut with The Greedy Soprano in Australia? 

LM: It’s a great idea! I just discovered that a classical pianist, long-time friend of mine there has coincidentally made his own foray into Cabaret. So, food for thought! And I miss Oz—so many friends and family—so I would love the opportunity.

NLE: Which is the most memorable experience you’ve had in your career?

LM: OK, with your indulgence, there are three totally different types that answer the question! And overall, there are just so many. But, singing Tosca in concert, two weeks before my Mom passed from cancer. The help of my sister, and Mom’s own sheer force of will, brought her into the city for the event, and she managed to stay for the whole opera. Nothing would have torn her away. And for me it’s a blur between earlier that day when I couldn’t stop sobbing and then singing the role itself and particularly the final, completely cathartic, encapsulating high note before Tosca jumps to her death. She sings to the hated, murderous villain “O Scarpia, Avanti a Dio! O Scarpia!” (I’ll meet you before God!”) It’s a shiver-inducing moment, a cry to the universe—again, catharsis. And it was indeed an unforgettable moment absolutely knowing it was the last time this would be shared with my Mom. She had been an actress herself and we were very close to begin with, but also very much from the performance standpoint. She was always there, supportive, a supremely trusted and loving critic.

Before this, and on a completely, worlds-apart different and more prosaic level, it had been singing Micaela in Australia before an open–air audience in a winery on the edge of the bay, a bit outside Melbourne. There were thousands picnicking with a view of the sunset over the water. We on the stage—apparently one of the largest open–air stages in the world they said, although that sounds somewhat boastful and quaint—we had a view of the winery’s mansion atop a hill with its beautifully up–lit cypress trees surrounding it, in the background. As it grew dark, that was all that was visible to us performers. Our cast was composed of Opera Australia, amazing colleagues/names, but the funny thing about Carmen is that the sweet little Micaela has some awfully wonderful music to sing and the applause was unforgettable. It was one of those gloat moments that one generally doesn’t allow oneself to savor quite so much.

Finally, I very often get asked to sing “God Bless America,” sometimes for honored veterans of – yes – World War II still, and Vietnam and Korea; and just the other day for some visiting West Point cadets. It means so much to me as the daughter of a war-survivor and immigrant. And it’s a song which resonates so much with so many, for everyone’s own personal reason. Incidentally, this tune of Irving Berlin’s celebrated its centenary last year.  But the shared moving experience, a certain emotional coming together and unity, whatever one’s political persuasion or opinions, is ever so gratifying. It’s the kind of wholesome group electricity that makes everything worthwhile.

NLE: What do you like to do on your spare time?

LM: My guilty pleasures are watching “Bull,” “Law & Order” classic and “Midsomer Murders.’ All a great wind-down. And I always love to hang out with my fella.

Ballroom dancing and swing are good too for a natural high. On that subject, I love my teacher Lou Brockman and his divine dancing partner Heather. In fact, he teaches a particular style he calls Silver Screen which is just how it sounds. It is reminiscent of the Hollywood sweeping loveliness—a fluid combination of styles as the music might design, without the strict “Strictly Ballroom” dictates of particular moves or sequence. It might mean, for example, gliding from quickstep into lindy into foxtrot and back—a few bars of one here, a bar or two there, with an elegant, joyful ease as the underlying grounding. It’s the most delicious feeling to dance that way and teaches me to be a better dancer, follower, because you must feel your body and the story of the music, and sense the lead–not rely on pre-programming or any anticipation.

But back to spare time; sleep is a beautiful thing, too. If it’s humanly possible, great to catch up a wee bit in that department. And, really, the best is arguably hanging out with friends and singing! And I get that in spades in this amazing new-to-me Cabaret Community!

Liora Michelle performs The Greedy Soprano on Friday, November 8 and Saturday, December 7. Both shows at 7 pm. For reservations: www.donttellmamanyc.com or 212.757.0788 (after 4pm).

Don’t Tell Mama is located at 343 West 46th Street, NYC.