Ruth Carlin brings her show Kaleidoscope Eyes to Pangea, Saturday, April 27th at 7pm with the skilled hand of a true artist. Through her own poetry, original material and songs composed by Joni Mitchell, Craig Carnelia, Sting, Prince, Lionel Bart, Rupert Holmes and more, Carlin takes us on an entertaining and heartfelt journey filled with integrity, musicality, spirit, truth, courage, and hope. Carlin’s show is like a kaleidoscope—the eclectic song choices act as bits of colored glass, shifted and shaped by Musical Director, Paul Greenwood and Director, Lina Koutrakos, offering a magical view into Carlin’s world. Kaleidoscope Eyes promises to show us something unique and exclusive to this honest singer and fresh storyteller.
NiteLife Exchange (NLE) celebrates Ruth Carlin (RC) with Six Questions:
1. NiteLife Exchange: When did you realize you had the gift of singing and what were your early influences?Ruth Carlin: Growing up in Brooklyn and then Long Island, I was an extremely shy child and although I studied piano and violin, I didn’t venture into singing (not even secretly, not even dreaming of it) until I was a teenager. At that point, I was very into Phil Ochs and wanted to sing his songs and other folk songs playing the guitar, just for my own pleasure, not for performing. Although still terribly reticent, I was also acting in High School. But by 20, I let all of that go, re-focusing my need to communicate on poetry and visual art. Back then, I had been a devoted smoker—two packs a day (shocking, I know!). When I was 24, I was challenged by someone to stop for several days (fully planning on returning to my cigarettes). In that short span, I made the connection to my lungs and singing versus my lungs and smoke. I never went back to smoking, but started my exploration of my voice. I exchanged the satisfaction of inhaling smoke for the satisfaction of exhaling sound. It was an exciting immersive time of vocal lessons and classes, but my public confidence lagged behind my private flourishing of my singing ability. So, I did not start a singing career back then. I did, however, have the great gift of finding and working with the person, who when I re-entered the singing realm, became my musical director, Paul Greenwood!
2. NLE: You left NYC and devoted your life to being a full time mother to two wonderful children; how long were you out of the music scene? How do you juggle motherhood and a career now?
RC: My husband and I were in alignment that we wanted a full-time parent (me, as mother) for our children. So in a funny way, I was fortunate not to have gotten my singing career underway before I had kids; I didn’t have to deal with that tenuous balancing act (yet). When my first baby, Harry, was born, I quickly knew that I didn’t have it in me to let him cry himself to sleep (as some infant authorities champion). It occurred to me that all the songs I had learned in my twenties could be turned into lullabies. So, every night for close to two years, I sang a hushed concert ranging from Judy Collins’ “Secret Gardens” to “Where is Love?” from the musical Oliver. Harry loved it all and then several years later, so did my daughter, Emmeline. It was a revelation for me that my singing showed itself to have an irrefutable purpose—it soothed my babies to sleep.
Once they were too old for my singing them to sleep, I realized that I was compelled to keep singing and wanted to see what it would be like to sing for adults.
3. NLE: How did you eventually get involved in Cabaret?
RC: When I realized that I was compelled to sing for other people, I reconnected with Paul Greenwood and asked him if I was too old to do cabaret, and he said something like: Are you kidding? The more life experience the better when it comes to cabaret.
4. NLE: What was your return show? How did it feel?
RC: My first solo show, Ruth Carlin Sings! was in 2004 at Danny’s Skylight Room. I felt entirely different than I did in my twenties; the timidity evaporated and I felt like I had something of value to offer through a cabaret show. I knew it felt like much more than a hobby, so I mustered the courage to ask a family friend, Joe Brancato (director of the Penguin Theater Company) to direct it. After that, it was a very gradual entry into the cabaret world with performance gaps as my children were still young. The following shows were directed by Scott Barnes and always with Paul Greenwood as musical director.
5. NLE: What inspired your show Kaleidoscope Eyes?
RC: After a couple of years not on stage, while getting my daughter launched for college and my son for after college, I decided I wanted to work with a woman director. Enter the amazing, Lina Koutrakos! Paul and I had gathered a lot of songs that felt essential to me; Lina was able to have a remarkable sense of overview and shape this show that represents my true nature.
6. NLE: What do you like to do on your spare time?
RC: When I’m not singing, in my spare time, I enjoy doing yoga, reading, writing, watching cooking shows, taking pictures of flowers, trees and sunsets, hanging out with my husband, seeing friends, and just recently—gardening (which is almost as compelling to me as singing!).
Click here for more information and tickets for Ruth Carlin’s Kaleidoscope Eyes at Pangea, Saturday April 27th at 7pm
Pangea is located at 178 Second Ave, NYC (Between 11th & 12th Sts) Phone: 212-995-0900
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