Interview: At Home With Deborah Stone

Deborah Stone stands for something. Wherever she goes she walks in the door with an integrity and an energy that tells you you're in good hands, that everything is going to be fine. She also knows how to make everything fun, whether she is on the stage sharing story and song with you, waiting at the bar with a cocktail, enjoying a dance in the corner of a club, or engaged in the art of conversation. She can be trusted to bring the quality and she can be counted on to do the right thing - that's a big part of why her presence in the cabaret and club community has become so powerful in only four short years. With a humor that is simultaneously sophisticated and bawdy, a style that is both elegant and down to earth, and a demeanor that is as uplifting as it is grounding, Deborah has seen the artists take to her as a sister, and the fans flock to her as though she were the Pied Piper of Prime Entertainment.

As fascinating as she is talented, I emailed Deborah to ask about life in lockdown, her love of travel, and the future of her work as an artist.

This interview was conducted digitally and has been reproduced here in its entirety.

Name: Deborah Stone

First Cabaret Show (Title, Year, Club): The Good, the Bad, and the Lovely - January 10, 2016, Don't Tell Mama

Most Recent Cabaret Show: Solo show - Here I Am - Pangea/Beach Cafe; and collaborative show - Our Time, with Josephine Sanges - Beach Cafe

Website or Social Media Handles: www.deborah-stone.com,

FB - @deborahstonesings

Instagram deborah.stone.sings (although I rarely look at it!)

Deborah Stone, thanks for visiting with Broadway World today - Have you got your Halloween costume ready for the thirty-first?

Afraid not. No idea what, if anything, I'll be by then!

How's life for you as we get ready to enter the holiday sprint of 2020? All of the family safe and healthy? And sane?

Sane? Occasionally! We are, thankfully, more fortunate than many, in that we haven't lost our apartment, and can afford food and the necessities. It's essential to remind ourselves of this daily.

During the first weeks of the New York City lockdown you were prolific on your social media, posting messages of optimism and hope, and occasionally sharing videos of yourself making music at home. People who don't know you in person don't know this, but optimism is one of your leading characteristics. What kind of philosophies and mantras help you to keep that outlook, especially during times like these?

I find that odd, as I don't really consider myself optimistic! I thank you for that, though. Early on in the pandemic, it was through a desperate need to connect to others that I decided to share so often. I also felt it was a wonderful opportunity to let others in; in to me, in to whatever talents I may have been able to offer. Those who knew me as a cabaret artist may not have known my story, as a former dancer, showgirl, fitness teacher, or that I played guitar, etc. I also knew that people generally get a lot of comfort in hearing familiar folk songs, as songs of their pasts; songs of other times; perhaps more promising times.

And did you learn about the tech that people are using to perform virtually? Will that become part of your performing trajectory?

Absolutely - I'm looking forward to making serious lemonade with the tech-lemons we've been handed! The option to live-stream expands our circles of audiences; having 10-15 bodies in a safely spaced room, along with putting the show out there into the virtual world offers the potential to bring in more revenue, to the venue as well as the artists involved.

You also got to use your social media to share many photos from throughout your life with your friends and followers. How did it feel, being in quarantine and taking that trip down memory lane?

I always had a tendency to "live in the past", and rue and regret certain acts or choices; to grieve over things and people lost. In more recent years, though, I was presented with a pertinent sort of mantra "What are you getting out of it, and at what cost". It has helped me into the present, or even the future, on many occasions.

With such a varied and interesting history in performing, at this time where there is a need for change in the industry, if only to keep the arts alive, what kind of thoughts do you have about your next choices in your art form?

As stated previously - I'm embracing whatever technical methods needed to get myself out there again. I recently went into a recording studio for the first time in my life, just to lay down tracks, and to experience that. I've taken part in several master classes/workshops over the last few months, and look forward to doing more, with others, in the months to come. I've decided to stretch myself; to challenge myself, and to NOT sit in a comfort zone.

You are an avid traveler, and chose to leave the city for a while - I'd love to hear about your journey out of town since the lockdown in March.

Most recently, we went to my favorite place in the world, an island in Maine called Vinalhaven. While it was beautiful, it was also sad, due to the pandemic and the fact that it was Autumn and colder than it is during our usual summer visits. While we went on wonderful walks in our favorite beauty spots, we were unable to visit friends, or even have a lobster dinner, as the restaurant was closed. During previous months, we were able to get away to Litchfield and also to the Catskills, for a couple of nights. For all of these trips, all went smoothly and safely. But we were always happy to come home, as "There's no place like it". Dorothy was right.

You also had a birthday during the shelter in place order, which I shamefully missed - how did you celebrate the occasion?

We were in Maine, and a couple came over for safely distanced drinks, munchies, and chats. Birthdays are good things, when one considers the alternative. And no shame allowed, please!

Aside from your work in the cabaret and club industry, you are involved with some prestigious theater companies. How are they holding up during all of this, is there anything that we can do to support them and help keep them alive during the shutdown?

You are a doll to ask, but the good, or bad thing, depending on how you look at it, is that the only theatrical clubs I'm involved with are private, (See the FB page for The Snarks, Ltd. https://www.facebook.com/The-Snarks-Ltd-185889118015) There are dues-paying active members, and also subscribers, who pay a yearly (low) fee, so revenue hasn't been lost. Rehearsals and performances are being done virtually, and we've been learning the whole time. Snarks performances have always been by invitation only, so cannot be broadly promoted on Facebook for example. I am also a proud member and actually an officer of The Lambs, Inc., the oldest professional theatrical club in the country dating from 1874. https://the-lambs.org/

Deborah, you started your career as a dancer - what was your favorite kind of music to dance to, and do you still dance? If even just around the house?

There was always music in our apartment. Mom played classical piano actively well into her late 80's-90's, and could sight-read anything put in front of her, which was, I believe, instrumental in my not being a good sight-reader, because I would just plunk a piece down in front of her at the piano saying "How does this go?' (she lived to reach 100 years of age). We frequently had other musicians over; I clearly remember a clarinetist named Dick Joseph coming over to "jam" with Mom when I was little. I always asked Mom to "Play Moonlight", being extremely fond of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata. Daddy played, but didn't read music. And classical music was always on the radio. But folk and jazz music also abounded - radio and records. I still have a ton of records and listen to them on my turntable from time to time. What I dance to these days at home is mostly Chaka Khan, earth wind and fire, disco. I also will put on the occasional moody blues or Joni Mitchell album, but mainly to just listen to. So much music out there!

I'm so happy you stopped by for this digital visit, Deborah, thank you so much. Please come back any time.

You, my dear, have made my day, if not my week, if not my month!