An Interview with Pamela Sue Fox
By Todd Shuman

Pamela Sue Fox is a singer, dancer, Equity actress, and, now, a cabaret producer. Her cabaret acts have ranged from songs about prostitution to the comedy songs of Cole Porter. She is currently performing her brand new cabaret show "Can't Help Singing the Music of Jerome Kern," which the Cabaret Hotline called "a wonderfully entertaining and lyrical salute to one of the greatest composers in the American Popular Songbook." Ms. Fox recently took some time to sit down with me to discuss her career as a cabaret artist and her new production company pacy Productions.

Todd Shuman: Tell me about your background and musical training.

Pamela Sue Fox: I started dancing when I was very little and started singing a couple years later. I was going to be a dancer, and I got hurt, so I turned to music. I started studying voice privately when I was 12, and I really thought I was going to be an opera singer until my first year in college. I loved the opera program, but I hated the people, so I switched to musical theatre. I still currently study voice and work consistently in musical theatre.

T.S.: How did you become involved in cabaret?

P.S.F: I did my very first cabaret act when I was 19 for my cousin's Bat Mitzvah reception, and I loved it. When I first moved to Chicago, my apartment was broken into, and my keyboard was stolen. I went to the building manager, and reported it, and he introduced me to my next door neighbor, Herbert, who had a grand piano. So, there started a relationship. I learned a lot of song with Herbert, including a bunch of standards that I hadn't known before - a lot of Cole Porter and Gershwin. After we worked up some stuff, Herbert and I started going around to open mic's . I realized that I had a cabaret act of standards, so in 1997 I began taking my cabaret act to senior centers and retirement communities with Cyndi Stevens. It got to the point where I had a gig at least once a month, sometimes every week, at senior centers. I began doing cabaret at Davenport's in 1999.

T.S.: How do you define cabaret?

P.S.F.: What it should be is a lot of people in an intimate space learning about an artist through song. It should be as honest as if they were sitting in their living room.

T.S.: What kinds of shows are you drawn to?

P.S.F.: I am drawn to fun shows. I enjoy going to see people be funny and have fun. I have had a very good time doing composer shows for many reasons. I love the research. I love that within a show, you can hear many different styles of music, all by the same composer.

T.S.: What do you think makes for an A+ cabaret show?

P.S.F: It has to be honest. It doesn't matter if it's sung well. The performer needs to be relaxed and focused, but telling the truth. It can be funny, it can be sad, and it can hurt, but it has to be honest.

T.S.: How do you go about putting a show together?

P.S.F.: I look at where I am in my life. Right now, I'm doing a Jerome Kern show, and it's perfect for me because a lot of his music is very simple in the lyric, and in my life I am looking for calmness. There's not a lot of vague lyrics dripping with symbolism. Next, I am probably going to do the comedy songs of Cole Porter II, because the first one was successful and so much fun to do.

T.S.: How do you go about choosing material for your shows?

P.S.F.: I have to read the lyric and relate to it. Sometimes I may love the lyric, but I hate the melody, and that song may be cut. However, the Jerome Kern song "Remind Me," I hate the melody, I don't think it's well written, but I love the lyric, so I kept it.

T.S.: Who inspires you as a cabaret artist?

P.S.F.: Locally, Justin Hayford and Cory Jamison. Nationally, I love Karen Mason, and I love Dawn Upshaw, who's not a cabaret artist but I love her voice and find her fascinating. I think that these performers have a spark, a presence that is elegant, funny, and witty all at the same time.

T.S.: Tell me about your current projects with pacy productions.

P.S.F.: I happily will. pacy stands for Performing the Art of Cabaret for You. It originated with myself and Cyndi Stevens, who is no longer involved but she's still applauding. It began when Cyndi and I took my cabaret act to senior centers. In its current format, I have the seniors coming to see cabaret in a theatre setting.

T.S.: How did you come on the idea of presenting cabaret shows targeted at seniors?

P.S.F.: When I was working on the Cole Porter show, I was thinking about all of these senior centers and retirement homes where I had sung, and I was sending them press materials about every show that I did. I realized that my Cole Porter show was perfect for older people. The average age at my composer shows has been 55. Seniors have lots of free time, and cabaret in Chicago has become the "in" thing to do - or it's working its way there. So I want to bring the seniors to the shows PACY Productions presents at a lower ticket cost, and give them a good high quality show in a theatre setting where they don't have to drink alcohol. I want PACY Productions to be the thing to do for the 55+ crowd.

T.S.: Tell me about the current season.

P.S.F.: The current season runs from September 11, every Wednesday, through December 18. Each month is a different performer. September is 3Girls3 (Gail Becker, Patty Morabito, and MaryMonica Thomas), October is MaryMonica Thomas doing a Broadway show, my Cole Porter show is in November, and December is Foiled Again (Allison Bazarko, Rob Lindley, and Sheridan Smith) doing a holiday show called Holiday Bizarre. The spring season will run April-June in 2003, and will include Spider Saloff, Tom Michael, Beckie Menzie, and Cory Jamison.

T.S.: What are the ticket prices?

P.S.F.: For this season, September tickets are $18, and the rest are $15 each, or $50 for a season pass.

T.S.: Any final thoughts?

P.S.F.: Get out, see good stuff, do good work, and make the world happy!

copyright 2002 by Todd Shuman

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