Toronto Star
Dec. 1, 2005
article wrttien by Richard Ouzounian, Theatre Critic
There’s going to be a lot of parties happening this month, but it’s a safe bet that none will be quite like the one Sharron Matthews is planning to throw.
The star of many of Toronto’s best-known musicals (Les Miserables, Beauty and the Beast, Show Boat) is switching to cabaret mode and offering a pair of distinctive experiences Dec. 4 and 18 at Tallulah’s Cabaret at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre with Sharron’s Holiday Party.
“I tried to figure out what would be different than just coming to see someone in a club” said Matthews on a recent break from rehearsals. “So I decided to make it like The Dinah Shore Show. There’s some interviews, prizes, a sing-along and maybe even a few more novelties. David Rogers and David Warrack are going to come by one night and they plan to play Stump The Musical Singer, which should be a hoot.”
Matthews has also lined up such local notables as Blythe Wilson, Bruce Dow and Avery Saltzman, so there’s bound to be plenty of talent around.
Matthews will rightfully be the main attraction. Known for her versatility in drama as well as comedy, she says that she approaches each song in a cabaret,”as if I were playing a different character each time around. That means it’s like I was doing 30 different plays in a night.”
It was the lack of variety that caused Matthews to become a bit disenchanted with the theatre after her series of long runs, but once she started appearing in shows with limited engagements, she confesses that “I’ve grown to love musical theatre again.”
But while Matthews admits “there’s something about cabaret that makes me feel this what I really should be doing,” the economic realities of it “mean that it’s a real labour of love.”
She was encouraged in her belief by a pep talk from one of the giants in the field — Elaine Stritch.
Matthews had worked with her on Show Boat, but hadn’t seen her in nearly a decade. Earlier this year, she went to N.Y. to audition for a show and found herself watching Stritch at the Carlyle Hotel.
Afterwards, Matthews went backstage. “I was trying hard not to feel typically Canadian. I didn’t want to get in the way. But I told her how awesome she was, trying all the while not to gush.”
Stritch’s assistant knew Matthews and prodded her to tell Stritch about her own experience doing cabaret.
“I told her about my experiments doing it here, but how there aren’t really any rooms in Toronto for people who specialize in cabaret and that I’d tried it and I hadn’t been exactly triumphant.”
“She went silent. Then she looked at me and said `Well, with all you’ve done, I guess you’ve got to just f—ing keep trying.’ She has a way with words, Elaine.”
“But afterwards, I couldn’t sleep. Excited, daunted, scared, but I knew I had to try it.”
This series of evenings is the result of Stritch’s intervention and Matthews’ determination.
“I know there’s an audience out there. When we did Jason Robert Brown’s Songs For A New World, the college kids absolutely came out of the woodwork as well as the more traditional musical theatre audiences.
“People will come to cabaret. They just have to get used to the idea that something is happening on stage that’s unique, live, unpredictable. Something they couldn’t experience by sitting home and playing a CD.”
The distinctive Matthews laugh rings out. “Hey, I’m even going to help to seat them when they get to the theatre. I want them to know there’s something special happening here.”
— Richard Ouzounian, The Toronto Star