Out Canadian Ryan G. Hinds makes his New York debut with #KanderAndEbb.
By Brandon Voss
What good is sitting alone in your room? Come hear the music play when Canadian performer Ryan G. Hinds makes his New York cabaret debut at Don't Tell Mama. His show, #KanderAndEbb, blends his personal anecdotes with the indelible show tunes of John Kander and the late Fred Ebb, the team behind hit musicals like Chicago and Cabaret. Much like Chita Rivera, after Hinds pays his visit, you may never be the same again.
Next: How does it feel to be making your New York cabaret debut at the legendary Don't Tell Mama?
Ryan G. Hinds: While other venues have come and gone over the years, Don't Tell Mama has stood the test of time. For that reason alone, it will be an honor to take that stage — not to mention all the names who have performed there before me. It's like the cabaret version of "playing the Palace." That's huge to me, almost intimidating, so it's a good thing that I get to sing some of the best theater music ever written.
When did your love affair with Kander and Ebb begin?
When I was 12, Kiss of the Spider Woman was trying out in Toronto, where I live. The mystery, the sexuality, and the incredible music pulled me into that theater, and by the end of the summer, Chita Rivera was like my mentor. She's taught me a lot over the years, but her appreciation of Kander and Ebb's music rubbed off on me at an early age. Falling in love as a pre-teen with a show that featured hot Latin guys, juxtaposed with torture scenes framed by an alluring but deadly spectre, probably explains a lot about me! For a lot of people, Kander and Ebb's music is very "showbiz," but I always picked up on the undertones: There's just as much blood and guts as there is razzle dazzle, and now, as an adult, I find that contrast so delicious. I think of their music as the blackest coffee with the sweetest sugar.
The name of your show is #KanderAndEbb. Does that hashtag indicate that you're reimagining Kander and Ebb classics for 2015?
Very much so! One of the reasons I started working on the show was because of how thin the #kanderandebb hashtag was on Twitter at the time. It seemed to me there were a lot "What Sondheim Character Are You?" and "10 Andrew Lloyd Webber Anthems You Didn't Know You Loved"-type memes on Facebook, and I wanted to remind people that Kander and Ebb deserve just as prominent a place in pop culture. We've performed the show for a lot of younger people and theatre students, and watching them enjoy the words and music has been one of the best things about doing it. We do a medley of songs from Steel Pier that is hilariously X-rated, without changing a word, and a song from Funny Lady that never fails to shock people. It's a nice reminder that Kander and Ebb's music doesn't need to be stuck in some golden-era past. It can and should be fresh and surprising.
A lot of people know the big songs from Chicago, Cabaret, and even Kiss of the Spider Woman. What are some of the more obscure treasures you'll be performing?
"Why Should I Wake Up" is a song that was cut from Cabaret, and it's fun to hear echoes of their later work in a song from so long ago. The Visit ran briefly on Broadway earlier this year, which is a shame because it has just about the best love song anyone could sing; we've paired it up with "Only Love" from Zorba and it makes a beautiful moment. A song that really sets a dark and dramatic mood is "I Do Miracles," long one of my favorite songs from Spider Woman, and we've given it a lush and tender arrangement. "How Lucky Can You Get" from the underrated Funny Girl sequel makes an appearance — minus the Streisand touches that obscured what a great song it is.
Which Kander and Ebb song do you relate to the most? For me, "Everybody's Girl" and "Woman of the Year" immediately come to mind.
"Colored Lights" from The Rink, for sure. I love the drive, the optimism, and the sense of restlessness it has. Plus, I'm a Canadian headed to New York City to sing the songs I've always dreamed of singing there, so the lyric "soon I'll have my days and nights of wonderful, glimmering, beautiful, shimmering colored lights" has been running through my head for the past few weeks!
Next, November 2015.