Cabaret singer will bring selection of her favorites to stage show
Judy Simmons, cabaret chanteuse, in “A Date With Judy”
Where: Signature Theatre’s Sizzlin’ Summer Cabaret
When: 7:30 p.m. July 10
Info: $20; 703-573-7328; signature-theatre.org
(Other artists appearing in the Summer Cabaret Series through July 24 include Will Gartshore, Stephen Gregory Smith, Peter Lerman, Julia Nixon, Scottish Tony nominee Euan Morton, Colleen McHugh and Emily Skinner.)
Signature Theatre continues its 2009 Tony Award reputation for Outstanding Regional Theatre with its Sizzlin’ Summer Cabaret Series. Judy Simmons, executive director of the D.C. Cabaret Network, exhibits her versatility in “A Date With Judy,” an evening of songs wrapped in her melodic gift package.
“Cabaret started in France and then went to Germany, but our American version is not as political as theirs is,” she says. “A program might focus on a single composer like Sondheim, Gershwin, Porter, Sammy Kahn and Jule Styne, or it could include songs by a variety of composers. There are lots of wonderful contemporary composers like Amanda McBroom and Jason Robert Brown writing cabaret songs today.”
Simmons is the area expert on the zen of cabaret. When she landed in New York fresh from her native Kansas City, she focused on musical theater and studied acting with the brilliant Uta Hagen. But after wending her way to Washington, she discovered the joys of cabaret.
“I’ve been doing it over 25 years,” she says. “Originally I was so interested in acting that I never considered cabaret until a man came up to me and said he’d like to write a show for me. Now I write my own cabarets. The real thrill is putting together your own show to fit your interests and express your feelings.
“Many people aren’t quite sure what cabaret is or what to expect. A performance is like a small play about yourself. It consists of 13 or 14 songs and an encore, each telling a story about what the performer believes. The songs are connected by ‘patter.’ This allows the singer to pause and talk to the audience and give very personal insight into the story.”
One of Washington’s most versatile performers, Simmons just finished appearing in two shows, “Music Man” at Atlas Theatre and “Goodnight Moon” for Adventure Theatre, winner of 2009 Helen Hayes Award nomination. Next season, she will be in Michael Baron’s brand new production of “A Christmas Carol” at Ford’s Theatre. To balance her show-stopping roles in traditional musicals, she eagerly slips into her chanteuse persona and is quick to emphasize that Signature Theatre has supported the art of cabaret like no other local space.
When she is not performing, Simmons directs, coaches and teaches the art of cabaret to college music majors or prepares high school students for college auditions. Along with the courses she offers at the D.C. Cabaret Network, she has taught theatre at American University, Catholic University and Montgomery College.
“The students today are very motivated,” she says. “Cabaret allows them to choose many different songs because each person looks at the world differently. Once you’re on stage, it’s important to go with whatever happens in the audience. You’re the whole show and you can have as much fun as the audience is having. My goal is to share all I want to share by taking them on a unique journey of what I love and think is important. It’s an exploration and, at the end, I hope we meet at the same place.”
