Interview: At Home with AARP SUPERSTAR COMPETITION Finalist Josephine Sanges

Josephine Sanges is what they call a game girl - she's always up for an adventure, some fun, or trying something new. Whether in a solo show, a group show, a recording studio, or just every day life, Josephine Sanges always walks in with a heart filled with kindness and an eye gleaming with mischief. That loving, puckish playfulness is what has made her a favorite with the fans, and with her colleagues in the cabaret/concert community... that, and her mad skills at the mic. The classically trained breathy soprano can give out with the best Barbara Cook and then surprise with the naughtiest Nancy Wilson. She runs the gamut musically and emotionally, and that ability has given her a style and a sound that is all her own.

So what's the MAC Award recipient been up to these last six months? Well, among other things, she was recently named a finalist in an online singing competition! So Broadway World caught up with Josephine to find out about life in the 'burbs, her quarantine practices, and the AARP SUPERSTAR COMPETITION.

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

Josephine Sanges! Welcome to Broadway World Cabaret - thank you for chatting with us today! So, we are about to hit the six-month mark for the New York City quarantine. How are you doing these days? Did you make it through to Phase Four with your sanity intact?

I've had good days and bad days, mood swings, and profound moments of clarity. We're all doing the best we can. I lost my godfather to COVID and I have friends who have lost their parents. I had a friend who was hospitalized and other friends who took many, many weeks to recover. Sometimes I find it hard to wrap my mind around all that's going on in our world right now and I often find I can't get over the sense of just how "surreal" our present-day reality is. Let's all pray for better days.

Were you a quarantine project person? Or a cook, Netflix, and chill person?

In the beginning, I coped by cleaning house and tackling long overdo messy closets with a vengeance, as if I needed to "make good use" of this newfound time on my hands. Preparing meals kept me on a schedule. Playing board games and planning at home movie nights made for some family fun. Then I started looking for busywork, like doing puzzles and making flowers out of coffee filters (you'd be amazed at how many tutorials there are on the subject!) I was grateful that it was springtime so I could be out in the garden and I became acutely aware of all the beauty right in my own backyard. I took out my fancy digital camera and started capturing every budding flower and every beautiful bird that I saw. I've always found comfort in nature but now, it was truly my salvation. I remember feeling a little bit like I was stranded on a desert island, trying to make the best of it with what I had around me. Now I'm back in the studio making pottery. Forming "something" out of a lump of clay is so very therapeutic. I watch very little television, I'm most definitely not a Netflix junkie, but I do spend a lot of time viewing music and how-to YouTube videos. It has become clear to me how very little we really need to get by.

But now that things are moving around in the outside world, you are one of the artists who has been doing some live performing - how has that experience been?

Some background information: I happen to be the music director/singer at my home parish in New Hyde Park and so, I never really stopped singing. We live-streamed to a virtual congregation as soon as large gatherings were no longer safe. Serendipitously, back in February, we hired my cabaret music director, John Cook, to be our new organist...just before the pandemic hit. My pastor, Fr. Joseph Scolaro looked for ways to reach out to the community and was open to any and all ideas. John and I, along with my daughter, Joanna, (who is a wonderful singer in her own right), decided to put a series of concerts together entitled "Songs of Grace, Inspiration and Hope," which were live-streamed from the church throughout the month of May. Still searching for ways to reach out to the community and provide some entertainment where suddenly there was none, our pastor asked us if we'd like to do some live, outdoor, "jazz" concerts. So, more directly to your question, in July and August, we performed for an extremely grateful, masked audience of parishioners and neighborhood people on the front lawn of the parish school. For the first time, I had the opportunity to show that "other side of me" to people who had previously only heard me sing in church.

You are very active in the club community - has living outside of the city allowed you opportunities to see friends (under safety guidelines) or did you do the full lockdown?

We've really been in full lockdown, only once going to our friends' backyard for some socially distant Chinese food. I just bought an outdoor projector with the hopes of having small groups of people over for movie nights. I'm very fortunate to have this outdoor space.

And will there be performance opportunities for you in the wider spaces of the suburbs?

None other than at my home parish however, this has made me want to research other outdoor venues in the future.

Speaking of performing - you've had some exciting news recently, regarding some online singing you've been doing. Would you share with our readers the story of the AARP SUPERSTAR COMPETITION?

My dear friend and fellow cabaret singer, Andrea Axelrod, emailed me the information about the competition. At first, I thought it might be spam since she hadn't written an accompanying message and so, I didn't open it right away. Later, when I went through my emails, I took a closer look and saw what it was all about. I was only a few days away from the deadline when I entered.

How many rounds were there, and what were the songs you sang in each round?

I sang PURE IMAGINATION for the initial entry. We were required to sing a capella and I knew that it was important to go with something familiar. I chose FLY ME TO THE MOON for the final round and sang the song more rubato than usual, like a kind of free form anthem. I was happy I could include the opening verse which sets the song up so beautifully. Ten semi-finalists were chosen from the initial entries and, from there, five finalists. The winner will be chosen by a panel of judges who factor in the number of votes from the public.

When participating in a competition, is there a way you use to keep it from getting too intense? And how did you choose what to sing?

I sang FLY ME TO THE MOON in the 2015 MetroStar competition in which I placed second runner-up. At that time we were challenged to reinterpret what we'd sung in a previous round and find a way to do it more expressively, to really connect to the lyric. And so, this was the version I came up with and I've sung it this way ever since. Actually, each time I've ever competed, I've always ended up feeling more a sense of camaraderie than competition. I listen to the other singers and feel compelled to harmonize with them. Wouldn't it be awesome if the five of us could sing together?!!

The Josephine Sanges sound is very unique and individual. Is it a style that developed naturally, or did you come to it by way of a teacher or mentor, perhaps musical influences?

Thank you for that! That's the best compliment I could possibly receive. I don't have any formal training other than taking some voice lessons from Julia Sergi in my early 30's. I believe singing in choirs all my life has given me a good ear and good control over my voice.

Who would you say are your most prominent influences as an artist?

Early on I listened to every recording of Judy Garland I could possibly get my hands on, most especially, I wore out the grooves of A STAR IS BORN. As a teenager and young adult, I listened to a lot of musical theater as I started getting involved in community theater. And, on the radio, I gravitated toward Barbra Streisand, Linda Rondstadt, James Taylor, and Billy Joel. In my adult life, to name a few, Ella Fitzgerald, Nat King Cole, Rosemary Clooney and, last but never least, Ann Hampton Callaway. In fact, I was so influenced by Ann that I released an album entitled FINDING BEAUTY in 2018 which was completely inspired by Ann's recordings and original music. An album which won the MAC LaMott Friedman award that year and which you, Stephen Mosher, very generously reviewed! Thank you, again!!

We've recently learned that one of your musical partners, Eugene Ebner, is relocating to Denver to be closer to family - does this mean that, when live performing is once more permitted, you might be traveling out west to do some dates there?

Well, Eugene and I did a show together out in Denver in August of last year. I was there for only two and a half days and didn't get to see any of the sights while I was there. But, I did get a chance to meet many of Eugene and Paul's family and friends that came out to see us at the Clocktower Cabaret. They were such wonderful, warm, open-hearted people who made me feel so incredibly welcome. I'd absolutely LOVE to go there again, and this time, for more than just a couple of days! Believe me, when this quarantine is over I'll be more than ready and eager to spend some extended time in the mountains.

Do you have any upcoming performances, live or online, that your fans should know about?

We have an encore performance scheduled for September 20th at 3:00 on the Notre Dame School lawn. All we ask is that you bring a lawn chair and, if you can't be there in person, we'll be live streaming it @notredamenhp.com.

On January 13 of 2021, I'm scheduled to bring my show COME RAIN OR COME SHINE, celebrating the music of Harold Arlen, to Lynn University in Boca Raton, Florida. (Let's hope!)

How can Broadway World readers see you sing FLY ME TO THE MOON and vote for you in the AARP competition?

You can vote until September 11 HERE. The winner will be announced on Sept 14.

Josephine, thank you so much for chatting with us today, I've wanted to have you do an interview for Broadway World Cabaret for some time now. Good luck with the contest!

Thank you so much! And, let's all keep on keeping on, as best we can.

Photos provided by Josephine Sanges.