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Q&A: Jack Bartholet Talks “Lady with a Song”

When we first came across Jack Bartholet’s show poster for “ Lady with a Song,” on Instagram, we realized two things—red lipstick and peep-toe heels looks amazing with a business suit and Bartholet is someone we should know.

More than that certain je ne sais quoi, he has an impressive resume as both a tenor singer and artistic director. He has joined voices with Our Lady J, The New York City Gay Men’s Chorus, and appeared in Rocky Mountain Repertory’s production of Almost Heaven: Songs of John Denver. He has also worked as Rufus Wainwright’s assistant.

The next big thing is performing at Pangea’s inaugural Pride festival (June 17-30) on June 27th. If you live in New York or are headed there, get tickets for his show or check out the whole festival.

Several write-ups about you mention that you push boundaries. What should we expect in your latest “Lady with a Song?”

One boundary I push is that I don’t apologize for asking my audience to call me a Lady; A Lady with a Song. In one script draft, I began with an overly wordy preface explaining that by calling myself a Lady I was not attempting to speak for female voices or trans voices. I am a cis-gender gay man and in the speech, I attempted to “get ahead” of potential criticism by explaining that. Fortunately my director convinced me that once people saw me and heard what I have to sing and say, that they’d know “Lady” is simply an affectionate nickname. One that matches some of the silly, femme energy that I bring to the show (and my life) and a title I celebrate. I think the boundary pushing starts there. While I don’t think it’s too, too daring to twirl in a pink petticoat while singing an Ethel Merman song, I also recognize that it’s not necessarily what you might think I’d be doing. I’m not in a suit and tie crooning standards. Without steering my audience into a total sadness, I also bring up some truth that doesn’t exactly provoke a knee slap. 

In one word, what makes a good show?

“Wow!” [the moment you think/feel/say] 

If you had one person, living or dead to share a stage with, who would you choose?

Can I do living and dead?

Let’s say, since it’s nearly World Pride, all hail Judy Garland. Judy would likely be the answer to this question from most gay cabaret singers. Her connection to the LGBTQA community and her icon status are too exciting to name anyone else for me…though her daughter Liza would be equally thrilling. If she agreed to share the stage with me, I’d undoubtedly be upstaged by her monstrous talent and charm, but I’d have shared the stage with one of the world’s greatest entertainers.

Living… I would say my former boss, now friend Rufus Wainwright. I was his assistant for a while a few years ago. I was quickly thrust into the role knowing and respecting who he was and I wanted to do a good job. While I focused on the tasks at hand, I sometimes forgot to stand back and see what an incredible artist Rufus is. The first concert I attended no longer as his assistant was here in New York. I sat in the audience and soaked it all in: what an insanely beautiful, passionate, and unique performer.

He’s done some amazing collaborations and has shared the stage with gads of stars I admire. His voice is so, so powerful. We’re both tenors and share similar sensibilities so I think we’d have fun. 

You seem to promote your events very well… what is your best piece of advice to performers on how to promote their events?

I did a run in January and an encore show in March for a total of four shows. I have only posted four or five times on Instagram and have done a handful of stories. I don’t think you should over do it when it comes to posting promotional stuff. People want to you to be real on social media. I don’t want what I post to be exclusively “Lady with a Song.” I also want to post things that make me laugh, smile and think.

I do my best promotion in person. If I’m invited to an event, I go and I promote my show once I’ve connected to someone. I think it’s good not to be so ultra-branded. You have to believe in your show. Once they do, hopefully you’ll get repeat audiences and word of mouth will spread. (If you’re reading this, why don’t you buy a ticket now?)

You’re performing Lady with a Song at Pangea. What part of performing there excites you the most?

I’m part of their first annual Pride Festival because after my first run of the show back in January, the owners approached me about participating. That’s to say, the two gentlemen who run Pangea [Stephen and Arnaldo] and the whole staff for that matter, are excited about what you’re doing. That makes you feel very supported. They incubate projects and make artistic connections. When I was dreaming up my venue for Lady with a Song, one of the most important things to me was atmosphere. The first show I saw there, [Penny Arcade] I remember thinking how great it was walk to the back of a restaurant to a small stage, to see art on the walls, real candles burning as opposed to fake ones and a thoughtful food and drink menu. Pangea has a cool factor and I like knowing I’m performing in the same room as other artists I respect (Lady Rizo, John Cameron Mitchell, Tammy Faye Starlite).

You participated in a residency at the Orchard Project. What should every artist know before their first residency? 

That’s a great question! I certainly had no idea what to expect myself. After inviting one of my friends, now director Julian Fleisher, to a show I did at The Duplex several years ago I received an invitation to come to The Orchard Project to “cook up a new show.” I had highs and lows in that short, ten-day period. For me, cooking up a new show meant a lot of daydreaming. Listening to and researching new music, getting recommendations, imagining how songs would play out in my mind, talking through these ideas. I beat myself up a little because of all this time spent daydreaming when I looked around and saw other artists cranking out tons of work with their collaborators. Ultimately, I got a lot of ideas out and that was really good.

I’d encourage other people to take whatever space they need to dream up their artistic project and not compare yourself to the other artists around you. There is basically nothing more unhelpful, though it’s very easy to do. I also think you need to ease up on deadlines. While they’re very important, you can’t rush the process. I sat on ideas from my first residency for a year and was lucky enough to return to continue working in a deeper way. Whatever the amount of time that passes in between your ideas and the mounting of your project isn’t worth beating yourself up over. It’s easy to doubt your process and get scared. But it’s up to you to turn that fear around and make big, bold, brave choices. It’s then you’ll discover the joyous moments in your process and you can start to edit. 

You’ve also worked in artist management and festival direction. Do you see yourself returning to those roles?

I always want to work creatively. I love watching artists gain support and making a vision come to life. I started performing when I was twelve and have continued to work in creative spaces my whole life. Working alongside artist managers taught me so much and I do find satisfaction helping to make an artist or a project feel supported enough to share their talents and dazzle the world. Ideally, I’ll be performing a lot more myself…and maybe I’ll need management ;-).

I do have a mind for making things tighter and a number of insanely talented friends, so I wouldn’t be surprised if I used the producer part of my brain more and more. I also have some ideas for a theatre company, Rocky Mountain Repertory Theatre that I’ve worked with over the last ten years and I’d love to see them come true.

How do you manage the stress that often accompanies life as a working artist? 

Well, sometimes I don’t. When I have gigs to perform on the calendar, I’m a pretty happy camper and when I don’t, I find myself in a common valley wondering if I should ever perform again. If that sounds dramatic, it’s because it is! But, I do meditate and journal. I am extraordinarily lucky to have a supportive husband who believes I should continue to create while freelancing. Friends and family who believe in me keep me positive. I try not to put myself down and sometimes I close my eyes and remember watching people connect with and appreciate my work and that fuels me to want to create more.

I also take comfort in the fact that a lot of people I look up to have the same stress and forge ahead. 

Photo credit: Ruthie Darling

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New York Burlesque Festival Brings the Glitterati to Gotham

New York Burlesque Festival The glitterati is about to descend on the Big Apple in a flurry of sparkle, shimmies and smiles. The New York Burlesque Festival celebrates its 13th anniversary, September 24 to 27 with a fabulous line up of legends, queens, kings, international talent and burlesque up-and-comers. Since 2003, the festival has boasted sold-out crowds and this year is shaping up to be another big one.

Founded by Jen Gapay of Thirsty Girl Productions and bonafide burlesque superstar Angie Pontani and featuring over 100 international burlesque and variety performers, it is one of the largest burlesque festivals in the world.

“The festival is an amazing and totally unique opportunity to see some of the best burlesque entertainers from around the world, right here in NYC.” says Angie Pontani. “Not only can audience members take in five amazing shows, they can shop, take classes and mingle with our amazing cast of stars. This festival gives a tantalizing taste of all the different styles and genres of performance within burlesque.”

All burlesque fans will love this luscious and star-studded line up: Dirty Martini, Midnite Martini who won Miss Exotic World 2014. Burlesque legend Judith Stein, boylesque legend Tigger!, founder of the legendary New York School of Burlesque, Jo “Boobs” Weldon, 2012’s Mr. Exotic World Russell Bruner, as well as Mr. Gorgeous, 2014 “Best Boylesque” winner at the Burlesque Hall of Fame. And this is just a tantalizing tidbit of what New York audiences will be treated to.

Brown Paper Tickets is proud to offer 4-day VIP passes for the festival. Get your tickets now.

PS. Event Industry Mixer + Burlesque Happy Hour

Brown Paper Tickets is hosting two free gatherings in New York at the same time as the festival and I’ll be at both. Come out Thursday, September 24 to meet our local NYC crew and soak up event ideas, suggestions, insights on how to best ticket and promote your events. It’s at Haylards in Brooklyn, just around the corner from the festival’s opening night venue. More details.

We would love to see our burlesque friends at Brown Paper Tickets burlesque happy hour (Sept. 27) at the Tippler during the New York Festival Burlesque Bazaar. Cocktails and conversation will be flowing. Mingle with burlesque performers, luminaries and event organizers. Enter our drawing for event tickets. RSVP now.

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Comedy Outliers: Would You Like Be On My Show?

CO24finalToday we feature another guest post from Comedy Outliers. They offer great advice to comedians, or performers in general, on how to survive and thrive in today’s competitive artistic climate.

The Comedy Outliers have their annual holiday show coming up this Saturday, January 18th at Lilly O’Brien‘s in New York City. Their shows are free but we highly recommend you pick up tickets so you don’t show up to a full house.

If you’re in New York or headed that way, be sure to check out their show. It’s rare to see comedy of this calibre without a cover charge or drink minimum. That said, if you want them to continue bringing these great shows to the Big Apple, we highly encourage you to support their efforts by hitting the “Donate” button on their website.

“Yes, I’m available! Let’s do it!”

Those are words that a producer loves to hear when they are trying to book acts for their shows. Reaching out to talent to perform on your show can be quite intimidating and it is often accompanied with rejection or delayed responses that may not come until a week AFTER your event happened. Nonetheless, when you get the act that you feel will be a great fit for your show it is extremely rewarding.

There have been times when we reached out to a comedian about performing on our show only to have them respond that they were unavailable. Did we leave it at that? Of course not! We politely follow-up every month or so with the next date and to inquire about their availability to perform on our show. Sometimes this back and forth goes on for months and in some cases it has taken almost a year to book specific comics (cough) Hannibal Burress (cough)!

Remember when you are trying to book talent that you need to be professional, polite and understanding of their schedules. Creative people, especially comics are impulsive and at times unpredictable which causes challenges when booking them. There have been times when despite our efforts a comic will bail last minute because of a random paying gig that came up…not going to knock that because everyone’s gotta eat! Other times they double-booked themselves (step your Google calendar game up!) However, we never take these cancellations personally but we do try to build line-ups where the comics compliment each other so it may be quite some time before we reach out to that particular comic again if we find that they aren’t the best fit for next month’s show.

Booking a show that will have numerous acts can be stressful and overwhelming at times but this is what we deal with to create the best show possible right? When you get the talent you’re looking for, don’t forget to make sure they enjoy themselves and have a memorable experience so that they can pass the word and hopefully make it easier for you to book other talent through positive word of mouth!

Comedy >