Interview: Catching Up with Linda Kahn of SAY YES! at The Laurie Beechman Theatre

Linda Kahn had waited long enough. She had taken her years off from performing, found the spark again, got into class, did some workshops, taken some private lessons, found the right director and Musical Director to guide her to the stage, worked with them to create the perfect solo show debut. She was ready to go.

She only had to wait out a pandemic to do it.

When Linda Kahn finally took her debut bows at The Triad Theater on Manhattan's Upper West Side, it was to a thunderous and well-deserved ovation in a fully-packed house. Say Yes! and Linda Kahn were a hit, and she had come home.

This month Linda returns to the stage with the show the she created and gave to the light only a few short months ago when, on May 25th, Say Yes! plays Midtown Manhattan's Laurie Beechman Theatre. Before trying out the new cabaret room and repeat performance, Linda took some time out to chat about staying creative while out of the business, the importance of telling the truth, and why, for her, timing is about trusting your instincts and all the factors surrounding you.

This interview was conducted digitally and is reproduced with minor edits.

Linda Kahn, welcome to Broadway World!

Thank you for asking!

Last fall you made your cabaret debut with something less like a splash and more like a cannonball. Put a picture in my head of the experience of opening a show to the kind of response you had.

I'm standing in the dressing room all by myself right after I've left the stage; hearing the play-off music, the audience chatter, the fading final applause and all I could think was, I did it. After all these years of holding the vision of returning to the stage in a show, it had finally happened, and people seemed to like it. And I had fun!!! And as the responses began to flow in- first in-person, then in emails, texts, and then reviews, I was flooded with gratitude that the art form of cabaret had allowed me to open my heart and my artistry to share a bit of my story.

There was much ballyhoo made about the fact that you waited so long to make your nightclub debut. Is it fair to ask why the delay for something that seems to be such a natural state of being for you?

The delay in my returning to the stage had a lot to do with my fears about not being enough and not trusting that all the training I had in my younger years was still inside me.

Any regrets? Or did you find the timing to be precise?

I don't have any regrets because the show happened exactly when it was supposed to, informed by the fullness of my life experiences. Without them, it wouldn't have been the same.

You work with some of the best in the business. How does a first-timer end up with a debut act with such pedigree?

I was so very blessed to have Jeff Harnar, Christopher Denny, and Jay Leonhart on this journey with me.

I first met Jeff and Chris at the St. Louis Cabaret Conference several years ago. That extraordinary experience allowed me to work with professionals in the cabaret genre, gain confidence, and understand what I needed to work on to grow as a performer. It took me awhile to get the confidence, but when I reached out to Jeff to direct, he couldn't have been more supportive and willing to work on a solo show with a rookie. From the start he guided me, including encouraging me to reach out to Christopher as music director. My working with them in St. Louis had given them a chance to see what I was capable of and, together, they helped create the show that became "Say Yes!" It was very much a joy-filled collaboration. Every rehearsal was filled with laughter - and often tears. We always knew when we had the right song choice, as I would start to cry when I felt deeply connected to the lyric. They taught me so much about putting a show together and, more importantly, gave me the freedom to experiment creatively. Even when a song fell flat, they never made me feel less than, it was always about growth, taking chances, finding a better choice, a better key and telling the truth.

Your skill as a storyteller is plain as day throughout SAY YES! Is this a natural gift, and at what stage of the game did the skill make itself known to you?

Even when I wasn't performing, I was always doing something creative in my life and often that involved getting up in front of people and talking. In my corporate job at Hughes Communications, a satellite communications company, I was in charge of advertising, trade shows, and, most important of all, special events, including our satellite launches. I had the most amazing experiences all over the world, often lasting several days, hosting senior executives from the then-emerging cable industry like HBO, Disney, Turner Broadcasting. We also had a joint venture in Japan and I worked with their senior staff on a variety of projects. All too often, I was standing in front of a crowd chatting about everything from launch protocols, to tourist activities, to selling a new ad campaign, to leading a sing-along on a broken down bus after a disappointing launch postponement.

When my husband and I moved to the San Francisco area, I took these skills and started my own special event consulting business and continued to make use of both my organizational and performing skills. My events always had a theatrical flair to them. By the time our daughter was in high school, I began to feel the itch for creative collaboration and, with no seeming way to pursue performing, I took a leap of faith and was accepted into the Masters of Writing program at Manhattanville College. My stories began to pour out of me, and I guess you could say were paving the way for my return to the stage.

You are returning to the stage with Say Yes! On May 25th, but this time at the Laurie Beechman, rather than The Triad. Does your director, Jeff Harnar, advise you on ways that you will need to adjust your performance to account for the different vibe each room presents?

The Beechman Theatre is a very different room than The Triad - more intimate, yet filled with the quiet clatter of dining and drinking. We altered the blocking to use more of the stage this time, but Jeff's mantra of "Just tell the truth" is what I try to remember, no matter where I perform the show.

Walk me through the process of putting together your first-ever nightclub act.

The process of putting together the show was a long one. Of course, that wasn't the original plan but with each postponement new revelations began to emerge for all of us. Songs that we thought were cornerstones dropped away, as the heart of the show began to reveal itself. We started with a baby and, as it matured, the whole of what it wanted to be emerged. And as patter began to clarify what I wanted to say, songs shifted in their arrangement as well. This was thrilling for me to experience. Christopher was often the lead in pointing out to me that I couldn't sing a song as we had originally thought because now it was about something else or sung from a different perspective. I have to say, as wonderful as performing the show is, the process of creation was glorious. The moments when the three of us would have a revelation were incredible highs.

Say Yes! is a pretty personal tale; I'm not saying it's time to work on a new act, because I think there is a lot of life left in this one and many people who should see it. But when the time comes to work on a new act, do you think you will stay in the personal lane, or would you pick something a little more general, like a composer tribute, or a duo show with a friend?

What comes next is an interesting question. In any aspect of my life, I go inside and ask for guidance for what I'm working on. One step at a time is my motto. (And Jeff always reminded me that time was my friend!)

When we were in the heart of Covid and I was afraid I would never do this show, I challenged myself to do something I had never done before and recorded a song in the studio as a birthday present to myself. Good, creative stretch I thought, and a way to give my husband the gift of a song he really wanted me to sing but didn't make it into the show. When my dear friend David Friedman heard what I was doing, he offered to come into the studio with me as a birthday present. When the song was done, he told me I had a recording voice and should record a whole album. I laughed at first but when I got positive feedback from others, I thought maybe this could be another creative option for me. As of today, with David now officially hired as my producer, we've recorded 7 songs and have several waiting in the wings to be completed. So, it seems my next act will be a cd release show, and I suspect a broadening of those songs into something more may follow. While I am drawn to the personal because I find my own truth there, I am totally open to other types of shows. I'm waiting to be guided.

You had been an actress a few years ago but decided to stick a pin in that work for a time. Did the journey back into the art form of acting and the life of a performer come easily, and what were some of the surprises that lay in wait for you on that journey?

My journey back to performing happened when I took a chance and sang at a music workshop led by David Friedman. It was at a Unity retreat, so it was a safe space to take a chance. Because of that ,our choir director, Kenneth Gartman, asked me if I wanted to join the choir. From there I started taking voice lessons from him and eventually cabaret workshops. I began taking classes from David on song interpretation too.

Kenneth was a fabulous teacher and coach and his encouragement not only kept me going when the vampires in my head told me I couldn't be a singer or performer again, but he pushed me to take chances and I started getting better. Honestly, Kenneth, David and Shawn Moninger all took me under their wings and, the more I studied with them, the more my confidence grew, my skill set expanded, and ultimately emboldened me to study with others in the cabaret world. I've studied with some fabulous talents and learn something different from each one of them.

The big surprise for me was once I got out of my own way, all the training, all the experience from my younger years came flooding back and I found I could trust myself and my choices again. And I found my joy!

What would you say to people who might be thinking about testing the waters of cabaret storytelling?

The beauty of cabaret is in the singular expression of the performer. I can't be you and you can't be me. All we can do is share who we are and be brave enough to let our light shine. As scary as that can feel, it is also the gift every audience member longs to receive because if you can do it, they can do it too. It may be on stage, or it may be elsewhere in their life. But the more we all can shine, the more we blossom and grow, and isn't that what this human experience is all about? Find your passion, and if it's cabaret, then dive in. Find your teachers and learn from them, Go to shows. Be brave and sing where you can! You'll find a welcoming community, gobs of talent, and no one else exactly like you.

Linda Kahn SAY YES! plays The Laurie Beechman Theatre May 25th. For information and reservations visit the West Bank Cafe website HERE.

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