Hello Everyone!
Happy Wednesday! It is sunny and beautiful today and it will be a special full moon tonight, a perfect opportunity for me to share this interview which I know you are all eagerly waiting for... my interview with the amazing Scott Barbarino! It is my honor and pleasure to share this exclusive interview with you all!
For those of you who do not know him, I want to start with sharing his bio:
SCOTT BARBARINO wears many hats; he is a promoter, performer and raconteur, making his living managing and producing shows in live entertainment venues. In 2007, Scott added another hat to his collection by creating NiteLifeExchange.com, an entertainment website “Where Broadway Meets Cabaret,” focusing on Cabaret performers who appear on Broadway and vice versa. This past year, NLE has extended its coverage to Provincetown, with the newly added PtownNiteLife.com. His career began at the original Duplex Cabaret, where he became the Manager and Entertainment Coordinator and the Host of “Stars of Tomorrow,” one of the first competition shows in cabaret. Over the next 40 years, Scott managed and/or booked acts at Parkside Lounge on New York’s Lower East Side, Chelsea Lobster Company, THAT Bar, Dillon’s Supper Club, The Cutting Room, Laurie Beechman Theatre, Iridium Jazz Club and the Triad Theater, where he presented a weekly open mic with the late great Dana Lorge and the late great Maestro Barry Levitt. He is currently the Artistic Director of Ellen’s Stardust Diner on Broadway. Along the way, he was also able to helm the comedy doo-wop group, Scott Barbarino & The Bev-Naps, who garnered two MAC Awards for Vocal Group in 1999 and for Vocal Comedy Group in 2000.
I've known about Scott for a long time but I got to know him more when I received an unexpected call from him to join NiteLife exchange as his staff photographer! Scott is warm and kind and wonderfully supportive of cabaret and artists! He is the perfect opener for Spotlight for 2019!
For this interview, I asked Scott the following questions:
1) Can you share with us some interesting facts that most people don’t know about you?
That, with my vocal group Scott Barbarino & the Bev-Naps, I actually have won two MAC Awards - one for Best Vocal Group in 1999 & one for Best Vocal Comedy Group in 2000. I guess that makes me funny.
2) You are so many things, you have ScoBar Entertainment, NiteLife Exchange, Artistic Director at Ellen's Stardust Diner and you are an amazing performer, supporter of cabaret and so much more. What kick started your passion for it all? How did you discover your passion for it all and realized that it was what you wanted to do?
Walking into the Duplex Piano Bar in 1980, I found my passion & I've been working, in my head, as a singing waiter ever since.
3) Do you have a couple of particularly interesting stories that you'd like to share with the readers?
Over all these years I have an amazing amount of stories, there is truly, never a dull moment in my life, When I first fell in love with piano bars, cabarets & open mics, my mother asked me if I really wanted to be in show business. I said, "Yes" and, much like the guy who sweeps behind the elephants in the circus, I never looked back.
One of the more exciting evenings I've had is when a rat...a REAL rat... cornered MAC Award-winning jazz vocalist Judy Barnett on a chair in the backstage area of Dillon's.
But of all my various experiences, the most gratifying was being the house manager at Iridium Jazz Club on Monday nights, when legendary guitarist Les Paul held court. The man was a walking education & stories abound. I may tell a few this night.
4) What motivates your creativity and passion for life? Name three things that never fail to put a smile on your face!
At this time in my life, the thing that motivates me most is working with the Stardusters, the 60 singing waiters who perform at Ellen's Stardust Diner to what has become a capacity crown, with lines down the block & around the corner.
1) a check that clears;
2) a young performer utilizing something that I've taught them to make their performance better;
3) any mention of the cabaret genre on TV, film, radio...anywhere! Thanks to the Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, and the real life Marvelous Marilyn Maye ... I've been smiling all year.
5) Share with us what you have in the pipeline for us to be on the lookout for!
I always have many different projects going on at the same time, which I call plate spinning. For those of you who are too young to know what that is, google it. One of the things I'm really looking forward to this year is being a supporter of the upcoming 2019 Cabaret Festival in Provincetown. It is a very promising year ahead for the genre. Onward and Upward!
I think that you would all agree that this is a fascinating interview... JOIN US at the Spotlight to experience Scott Barbarino as a performer! It will be a rare treat for all of us!
Bring a friend, come and share with us what you've got coming up, bring a song to sing with the fabulous Matthew Martin Ward!
Cant wait to see you at the Spotlight on Tuesday, March 5th! Remember, door opens at 6 and show starts at 6:30 PM!