Toronto Star
Aug 19, 2006
article wrttien by Rita Zekas
Hubba, hubba.
When we attended Sharron’s Party, Sharron Matthews’ cabaret show at the Gladstone Hotelseveral months ago, we remarked on how sexy she looked in her dominatrix meets Donatella ensemble: a black pencil skirt topped by a black pin-striped corset.
“It’s the waist cincher,” she demurred.
The outfit came from Fashion Crimes at 322 1/2 Queen West, which we’d always associated with clothes for stick figures. We’d shopped for accessories there — like the faux fur floor pillow the size of King Kong we hauled home in a body bag.
Matthews is not gargantuan but she is curvy. Fashion Crimes designer/owner Pam Chorley had always cut for her own body, which is like a swizzle stick. Not anymore. Chorley’s designs now accommodate up to size 16.
In addition, her sales staff comes in assorted body types, so you aren’t intimidated by someone in size zero telling you disdainfully to try Chubbettes R Us on the next block.
Fashion Crimes is like a fun ride at an amusement park crossed with a bordello. The Star photographer is afraid to come in; Store Gazing is heady with marabou.
“Every time I come into this shop, it takes me half an hour to take everything in,” Matthews says. “I’m over stimulated.”
She is shopping for something to wear to her Aug. 28th cabaret show, whose drop-in guests include Thom Allison and Bitter Girls Alison Lawrence and Mary Francis Moore.
Fashion Crimes has been a fixture on Queen West for almost 25 years. It relocated to its present space just over two years ago after a fire gutted the old location across the street.
“This location was established as a kid’s store (Misdemeanours),” explains Chorley. “I design and manufacture everything. We do pattern making and can make anybody look their best. It’s not all on the rack; we can custom make in a day or two. If you need it tonight, it can be hemmed or a neckline dropped. We also have a prom registry so we don’t sell the same dress to the same prom. We can fit (everyone) from newborn to when you no longer have a pulse.”
Matthews emerges from behind the curtain of the dressing room in a white patterned dress with black crinoline underneath that makes her look like a funky shepherdess. “I love the dress — then they give you the gloves, the crinoline,” she says.
She looks amazing in a drapey, ’30s bias cut dress that Jean Harlow would have plotzed over had she worn black.
“I’ve never been to a store that has so many choices,” Matthews swears. “Every dress I take in, I’m terrified won’t fit me and 9 times out of 10, it does.”
She describes her look as “bohemian chic, especially since I started shopping at Fashion Crimes. These girls dress to celebrate every day.”
We spot Teresa Pavlinek, star of The Jane Show on CBC, poking through the racks. She’s also a Fashion Criminal.
“When I was searching for wardrobe (for past shows), I had Fairview Mall,” she jokes.
Matthews does two costume changes during her cabaret act.
“I feel like I’m the super hero of dressing. Everything I put on in Fashion Crimes makes me feel like a woman — so sexy. The audience can tell; it changes your attitude. My husband (actor George Masswohl, whose credits include lead role in Sweeney Todd at CanStage) says that when I put on my cabaret clothes, I become fearless. I don’t feel I need to be skinny.”
Matthews has been doing the cabaret circuit and open mike nights from Vancouver to the U.S. She attended Sheridan College for theatre and is the quintessential Canadian hyphenate: singer-dancer-actor.
“I started tap dancing at age 5,” she recalls. “I was too intimidated by ballet because all the girls were so teeny. I always wanted to perform — I never felt like it was a choice.”
Her first show was 22 years ago at age 15 in Hamilton.
“I started cabaret when I did Show Boat at the Ford Centre 12 years ago. I played Lottie, one of the girls who took Captain Andy (Robert Morse) to Palmerston House on New Year’s Eve. My costume was cut to the navel, with six underskirts and a 12 foot ostrich feather boa.”
She recalls whining to Elaine Stritch, who played Captain Andy’s wife, about how hard it was trying to get cabaret mounted in Toronto.
“She said, `Boo, hoo, hoo. You’ll just have to keep trying.'”
Matthews played Madame Thenardier in Les Miserables in Toronto and in the North American tour; Babette in Beauty & the Beast; and The Narrator in two runs of Joseph and His Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Her film works includes the role of Joan, the secretary in Mean Girls, which starred Lindsay Lohan.
“I’ve always been a character actor rather than the ingénue,” she says. She appeared in Cinderella Man with Russell Crowe; Kojak with Ving Rhames; Take the Lead with Antonio Banderas; and recently had scenes in Camille with its star Sienna Miller.
“I’m a paramedic,” she explains. “I spent five hours in an elevator with Sienna Miller, who is no bigger than a peanut.”
Miller might have had a tryst with her co-star James Franco after all. Heard (not from Matthews) that Franco was licking her leg at the film’s wrap party. Then again, could be Miller had spilled ice cream on it.
Matthews has eight days of singing and dancing on Hairspray, starring John Travolta. “There are 150 of us, all character people. I have a scene with John Travolta and the Tracy Turnblad girl. I play Mr. Pinky’s cashier.”
Which means she’ll need more dancing shoes. Matthews confesses that she loves to shop. And her weakness is shoes.
“Shopping is the only thing that makes me feel better when I’m blue — especially when it’s a bargain,” she explains. “You can get big or small, but your feet never change size. If I feel fat, I buy shoes. I lost 65 pounds over the last four years. I’d quit smoking and was touring with Les Miz and I packed on the pounds. Buying these cabaret clothes gives me an excuse to buy shoes for every show.
“I have 12 pairs of evening shoes. I love four-inch heels. For years, I didn’t think I could wear high shoes but Thom Allison said, `You know you mean business when you put on five inch heels.’ I dress for him.”
And for Paul Burwell, her accompanist. And he for her.
“My leopard skin outfit brought water to Paul’s eyes. He gets T-shirts made with things like ‘Sharron’s bitch.’ ”
Matthews shops Winners and Le Chateau. “I’ve never been in a fancy store. I am not a label whore. This is my favourite shirt: I got it at GAP for $8. If I had a lot of money I would buy all my shoes at B2.”
Working in Canada means doing cabaret one day and the next day, being on set on Cinderella Man with Ron Howard.
“I was a Church Lady,” she recalls. “I did five days and ended up on the cutting room floor. You can hear my Brooklyn accent float by in one scene.”
Meanwhile, it’s come to the cabaret, old chum.
“My dream for a cabaret show is to look like Carrie in Sex and the City but my version. Sarah Jessica Parker (who plays Carrie) also has curly hair. I did The Music Man with Matthew Broderick (Parker’s husband). She was seven month’s pregnant in a red teeny top with overalls and six-inch high heel shoes.”
Store Gazing succumbed to a pair of pointy-toed leopard ankle boots at Fashion Crimes. Since it was in the line of duty, we plan to try to expense them.
— Rita Zekas, The Toronto Star