WHO ARE THOSE FEMME FATALES?
Photos
from L to R: Josephine Baker, circa 1927, Mistinguet, the queen of the
French cabaret, circa 1935.
So many readers in the United Kingdom asked me who is the best cabaret entertainer in the United States? And I replied: "There is no such thing as the best cabaret entertainer!" For the world of cabaret is immense and so is its personification on stage. Some artists are singers, purely singers with occasional appearances on the screen or on the tube. They are typically cabaret singers, such as Amanda McBroom, Andrea Marcovicci, Anna Bergman, Caroline Nin et al. Others are cabaret concert artists like Barbara Cook, Kate Westbrook, Barb Jungr, Lorna Dallas and Anne Kerry Ford. And few other superb cabaret entertainers are simultaneously all of the above, such as Susan Egan, Bernadette Peters, Lorraine Serabian and Liza Minelli. And of course, there is a very special league which outcasts all the others. They are the legends and 100% authentic CABARET super divas and goddesses like Gabriella Ferri, Ute Lemper, Marlene Dietrich, Juliette Greco, Barbara, Edith Piaf (to certain extent, because she was much more than a cabaret chanteuse). Also, we have the tragi-comic theater-cabaret leads like Cindy Benson, or traditional cabaret concert artists who once upon a time shined brilliantly on the big screen like Anne Kerry Ford and Julie Andrews.
Photo:
Gina Gershon.
EACH CHANTEUSE IS DIFFERENT.
Another national/international group of cabaret divas remained "untouchable artists" like Eartha Kitt, Rita Moreno, Chita Rivera, Cleo Laine, Paulette Attie, Josephine Baker, Sabah, Amalia Rodriguez, Sarita Montiel, Mistinguet, Marinella, Mina, etc... Do you need more styles and more different cabaret goddesses with distinct style and unique persona? Revere these: Karen Akers, the great Betty Buckley, the one and only Raquel Bitton, the larger than life, Nicole Martel and the magnificent Simone Marchand who worked for me for approximately 6 consecutive years at my boite-floorshow cabaret "Le Marquis de Rochambeau" in the United States. Each one of them has a very singular theatrical aura and a well-defined cache. But of course, many of them share a common denominator, once their performances have been crafted and scenario-graphed by commercial and extravaganza Broadway productions. In that category, I would not hesitate to call upon Susan Egan, Bernadette Peters, Liza Minelli et al. And how about the cabaret-show of the flashy-dashy Broadway productions with a lot of skin on stage? Some big names pop up before my eyes, vedettes like Deborah Gibson, Jane Leeves, Gina Gershon, etc...In other words, different strokes for different folks and vice-versa. There is no way you can establish an analogy between Nina Simone and Bette Middler or compare the super duper Marisa Berenson with Brookes Shield!
Continues on the next page