So, I’ve been performing Sentimental Journey…the music of Doris Day for about 2 years. Last night, I did my last show of it for awhile, not counting a library gig in Morton Grove I’ve yet to do. I don’t have it on the books next year…yet. It has been a wonderful journey. It took about 4 months of preparation. Most of that time was spent reading two wonderful books, watching numerous films of hers and trying to whittle down the 600 songs she recorded down to about 40 of them that I just had to sing. That was probably the hardest part. Oh and writing the patter.
It was my first solo show, so I wanted it to be really special. Looking back, my years of musical theatre helped me construct it. I knew it had to have an arc; it needed an opening number, closers for both acts, an eleven o’clock ballad. I knew my patter was my script and it would take me to the songs. The tunes wouldn’t be just randomly grouped together by what year they came out, or if the beat was similar. No my patter was my plot. I find it much easier that way. Most of the time I work from the patter first, but that’s just me. I think most people choose the songs and then find something to say about them. Certainly, it’s that way if you come at a cabaret show from a jazz perspective. There you pick the songs and the patter is just a way of introducing them…what label, what year, who sang it etc. Just the facts, although sometimes they give you a story about the way a song was written or for what or for whom. But, it’s never the plot of the show. And rarely is there a personal anecdote.
Patter can be just one line. A punch line. A zinger. A wink to the audience. Or it can be a paragraph. It can be before the song, in the middle of the song, before a group of tunes. Where ever it is, you never want the patter to give your song away. If the song is Taylor the Latte Boy, your patter should NOT be…”so I walked into my usual Starbucks and there was Taylor, I just love him, he gives me latte’s for free.” I mean what is the point of singing that song, you just gave away all of the punch lines in your patter! But you could say that in front of Caffeine or Black Coffee. In fact, it might be funny because the audience will think you are talking about that song and you spring a different one on them…hmmm.
I know plenty of people that don’t script/write down their patter. Or they give themselves an outline and then just wing it when they get on stage. I can’t do it. I tend to go off on tangents, rambling on with no direction. And what if on the first night I find this great joke and then can’t remember what the hell I said the next night. So, I fumble around trying to recreate a joke I can’t remember. It’s painful to the audience. I want to find the best vocabulary…the word that’s going to make you feel, laugh, understand. I can’t do that on the fly. More power to the people who can. But to be honest, most people only think they can. It’s just too hard.
You are always going to find an audience member who thinks they know best. “You don’t speak enough”. “You talk too much, just sing us a song.” It is a fine line. You want to give info, but you don’t want to bog them down with too much info. It is tricky. I usually write it out and then go back crossing out everything the song says and that I don’t need to. I really edit the patter down to just the essential things that I have to say. It’s hard; I’m not saying it isn’t.
I’m hoping that my Julie Andrews show will be as booked as Doris has been. It’s amazing the love Doris still has from her fans, young and old. Just last night, there was a girl in the audience who had watched most of the films with her mom growing up. She was so excited to introduce her husband to the music and to the movies. He was a great sport and he seemed to really enjoy himself. Having the patter, he learned a lot, too.
