Interview: At Home With Jack Bartholet

Jack Bartholet does a show titled A LADY WITH A SONG that has been getting some serious attention the last year or so. Like the little engine that could, this extraordinary club act solidified Bartholet as an artist on the edge, a reputation he had been gaining that burned slowly, gained momentum, and arrived, full-force, at a pace that suited Bartholet. When he did arrive, people were talking... and talking... and talking. A Lady With a Song played different rooms around Manhattan as audiences flocked to see Bartholet's bold creation, filling every seat in each club he played, an experience that culminated in Jack being bestowed with the prestigious BISTRO AWARD for daring to stand on a stage and tell his story, and be himself, and change that which people might consider to be the way that cabaret should be made.

One week after The Bistro Awards, New York City went into quarantine.

So what do a Lady With a Song and a Man With Vision do in lockdown?

Let's find out...

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

Name: Jack Bartholet
First Cabaret Show (Title, Year, Club): Two Drink Minimum, 2015, The Duplex
Most Recent Cabaret Show: Lady with a Song, Pangea, Club Cumming, and The Phoenix Arts Club London 2019, 2020
Website or Social Media Handles:@Jack.bartholet on Instagram / www.jackbartholet.com

Jack Allen Bartholet, hello, and welcome! I'm so happy you were able to visit with Broadway World today.

Thanks for asking me to participate!!

So, let's start with the easiest question - sometimes you are Jack and sometimes you are Jack Allen Bartholet and sometimes you are Jack Bartholet. Obviously, one is your professional handle - but in everyday conversation, what do you prefer people to call you?

I prefer to be called Jack. Some call me Jackie. In college, I added my middle name to my Facebook profile when I was constantly tinkering around with potential stage name ideas. I was eighteen years old and didn't like the ring of my own name. My last name, as you know, is pronounced BAR-THO-LAY. I may or may not be the only person in my family who goes with this pronunciation, but I decided over a decade ago that I didn't need a stage name if I simply pronounced what I had to work with some je ne sais quoi.

So how are things in your corner of the Coronavirus world? What kept you sane and steady these last seven months?

Was I sane and steady?! Adopting a dog provided some consistency in my days, not mention the love and cuteness. Things are okay. There's the constant task of having to remind yourself that you are lucky to be alive and healthy while simultaneously allowing yourself to experience the range of emotions that comes with losing gigs and not being able to do what you love. My husband and I formed a pod with our downstairs neighbors early on, which meant lots of shared meals, laughter, and the opportunity to see and speak to people besides one another. Like a lot of others, I tried new recipes, enjoyed my bike, and let's just say: god bless therapy.

Just days before the Manhattan lockdown, I got to see you perform at the Bistro Awards, where you were honored for your show LADY WITH A SONG. Tell me about the experience of going from that career-high to a quarantine low within days.

Well, that's exactly what it was: such a high to low. The Bistro Awards were incredible! I was on cloud nine that evening and felt super humbled to share the stage with such talent. As the wonderful Sherry Eaker said, little did we know it was going to be one of the last hurrahs for the cabaret community. I was preparing to do a final, sold out performance of Lady with a Song in April at Pangea, and was delighted to meet other artists at the Bistros that wanted to attend. Maltby & Shire, Charles Busch, Gabrielle Stravelli, Aisha de Haas, Charlotte Maltby, Liz Callaway...it was really something. The next day I flew to London. Looking back, I probably should've canceled the trip, but The WHO had yet to declare it a global pandemic and I had tickets to see Alan Cumming and Daniel Radcliffe in ENDGAME at The Old Vic so I was going. While the airplane taxied, I chatted with KT Sullivan and accepted her invitation to perform on opening night of the Cabaret Convention at The Rose Theater @ Lincoln Center. Then I drank champagne. When I got to London, I performed at Harold Sanditen's Open Mic Party at Crazy Coqs. I sang Liza Minnelli's "Sing Happy" because it was her 74th birthday. It was fabulous. We sanitized the mics in between performances and the next day I got a NYTimes notification that Broadway was shutting down. I boarded one of the last (completely full) flights from the UK to the US, canceled my upcoming gigs, and bought canned tuna.

Lady With A Song is a barrier-breaking show. What was the impetus for the creation of such a bold artistic statement through your work?

Thank you for saying that. I was living in London in 2016 when Hillary lost the election. I had a gig on the books a few weeks later and I had to totally change my material. I performed Jason Robert Brown's "Hope" to conclude my set. I needed something cathartic. I had rage. When I got back to the States I participated in my first artist residency. It was there that I focused on what I wanted my next show to be about: guns. My family has suffered the loss of three lives because of gun suicide and while the two things are very different, that very much impacts the way I view the tragic mass shootings we see far too frequently in this country. It took me another artist residency and then a burst of inspiration after putting the new show on the books in order to sort out how I'd connect the dots and tell this story. It involved Ethel Merman, dismissing toxic masculinity, dropping breadcrumbs for the audience, taking a hard left turn to speak my truth and then ending the show with a healing salve. But the impetus was rage. Or as I call it, caba-rage.

In your early years in the business were you as defiantly original, so insistent on authenticity as you are now?

Or did you feel a need to conform to an image that people would find more in keeping with a societal norm?

I didn't feel the need to conform, but I was definitely a little manic at the start. I was so excited to perform my first show TWO DRINK MINIMUM, but I also felt such a need to prove myself. My friends and family knew that I had done Broadway callbacks without booking the job so they knew I could perform, but many people hadn't really seen me do my thing unless we had done a show together. The Duplex was the perfect place for me to do my first solo show because it's so intimate and has a calming energy once you get going. I think I was authentic, but I wasn't as goofy. I wasn't as eclectic with my song choices. I wasn't as weird. Over time, I learned to take myself less seriously and try not to care what others thought of me.

What are the main events and thought processes that lit the way for your life of individuality?

I'd say one of the main events was simply coming to terms with my range. In college and in the professional arena, I had a unique voice. Yes, I was a tenor. But I was a tenor who wasn't super comfortable singing certain lower notes in traditional repertoire. However, I felt more than comfortable singing the lady's part or the melody up an octave. I developed a really strong falsetto as a kid from doing two years in a children's opera chorus where I sang soprano. I'm the youngest of three and my brother and sister both had/have best friends in same-aged cousins. I did not...so I spent a lot of time either by myself or hanging around ladies in life: mom, aunts, Grandma. I played a lot of dress up and found the theatre at twelve years old. It was then that I stepped into my individuality. I chose to opt out of a family vacation and stayed with my aunt in order to make tech rehearsal for THE KING AND I. I had found my people.

How's married life treating you? How many years is it now? Did you gentlemen get through quarantine with ease?

Married life definitely suits us; we have a really great time together. We've been together six years and married two. That's not to say we didn't occasionally want to be far away from one another, but most days I'd say we felt grateful to have each other. As I lost my job and gigs, Joe became increasingly more busy in his line of work. He was the busiest I had ever seen him so it wasn't always easy. Our dog, Poby, certainly brought us together; we went on a daily "family walk" and that was sort of sacrosanct. We also (incredibly fortunately and last minute) decided to rent some weeks in an apartment in Cherry Grove, Fire Island so that kept married life happy with some space beyond our one-bedroom apartment. All in all, he's a wonderful person and I'm happy to have him by my side.

What kind of artistic outlets have you been able to create for yourself since the show biz shutdown?

To be perfectly honest, I wasn't particularly creative. As soon as I was back from London, I felt like going inward, being quiet. I was supposed to be Angela Di Carlo's special guest in her ADD Cabaret at Club Cumming the first week of April and when that date came and went, I realized I was still in this introvert place. I made some hypothetical setlists for new shows just to keep ideas spinning. I never arrived at a place where I felt like I had anything to add to all that was going on. I wanted to listen to others. For my friends who did maintain their (socially distanced and safe) gigs like my best Judy Tammy Spanx, I did feel like I wanted to help in some way. I couldn't keep myself away. I organized to get a percentage of ticket sales to charitable organizations and got that money through the right channels to get funds matched. It's not the most creative work, but it still felt like I was, in some way, part of the show. I began studying basic Spanish, selling wine at The Pines Liquor Shop, and doing outdoor yoga.

Jack, like any good gay male, you have a love of the divas. While growing up as a man and as an artist, whose work and style did you look to for inspiration?

From about thirteen on, Ragtime has been my favorite musical. So when Audra McDonald and Marin Mazzie entered my universe it was like no other female singers existed. My Grandma and a couple of aunts were big into classic musicals so I knew just how special Judy Garland was. It wasn't until I was eighteen that I understood the force of her daughter Liza, who quickly became a diva I worshipped. For a period of time, I watched Barbra Streisand's Hello, Dolly! every night before bed haha. Right before I moved to Chicago for school, I got my first laptop and my friend Chris Marchant (of Well-Strung), and I would watch bootleg videos of all the different Elphaba divas sing Defying Gravity on YouTube. Now, I look to Dolly Parton for inspiration. She's doing everything right. I'm super excited to listen to her Christmas album. To this day, her concert was among the best I've ever seen...Robyn's was a close second. Not quite Ben Rimalower level obsessed, but I adore Patti LuPone. Kelli O'Hara is a queen. I'm super super super into Aimee Mann; I listen constantly. Big fan of today's cabaret divas: Justin Vivian Bond, Rizo, Bridget Everett, Molly Pope, Our Lady J, Catherine Cohen, Marilyn Maye, and tons of female comedians...do I sound gay?!?

When it came time to discover your own voice and style, what was the journey like, breaking away from the divas who raised you in order to put the Bartholet Divo into the light?

I don't know that I needed to break away from divas so much as keep them with me. I think the journey involves continued curiosity and appreciation. I think you should get into YouTube rabbit holes. I think you should keep an open mind about your taste/style, be surprised that you enjoy an artist you didn't think you cared for all that much. There's a lot you can learn from a natural born show pony; you just have to pay attention.

In your show, you display an almost freakish range and jaw-dropping high notes. How did you discover and nurture that quality to your voice?

You're too kind! Like I mentioned earlier, I sang soprano in a children's choir so I nurtured that part of my voice from a very young age. When I was fourteen I played Colin in The Secret Garden at Kent State University. My voice was changing during the run of the show so I was exploring how to be both a soprano and also develop my tenor as I sang in state level competitions in middle school. In my Jeep, I am often signing and being goofy as hell. Challenging myself to sing as high and belty as I can. I spent a fair amount of time in Barbara Maier Gustern's studio. She's a total badass. I sang in her 85th birthday party cabaret celebration at Joe's Pub last February alongside some of her other students: Debbie Harry, Carol Lipnik, and Mary Testa. We all gushed about how much she had done for our vocal growth/care.

Does Joe have a favorite song that he likes to hear you sing?

When we got married I had a guitarist friend of mine secretly rehearse the Harold Arlen song "Happiness Is a Thing Called Joe" with me, which I surprised him with during post-ceremony cocktail hour. He loves it when I sing that one!

Thanks for chatting with me today, Jack - I really can't wait to see where you go next and what you give the world with your art.

I am happier than you can imagine! Are you kidding?! Thank YOU! I'm the happy one. It feels nice to not be forgotten haha!

Photos provided by Jack Bartholet.