Life is a Cabaret at the BPP

Life is a cabaret. \nThis is a phrase that many are familiar with, hailing from the musical with the same title. This weekend, audiences can watch a new cabaret, "Candy & Friends," at the Bloomington Playwrights Project. \nThe show is produced by Candace Decker who performs several times throughout the year at the BPP in various cabarets. \nDecker, the creator of the BPP Cabaret Nouveau Series, is known for bringing in local performers and those from large cities to the stage. She defines cabaret as being a piano, a singer and the audience. \n"It's a journey told through stories and songs, and it's immediate and real," Decker said. "It is an artform that breaks the fourth wall of conventional theatre and includes the audience in its intimate performance."\nIn addition to creating the cabaret series in Bloomington, Decker has been doing cabaret for twelve years, starting her career in Chicago. She was selected for the 2000 NYC Cabaret Symposium as a Cabaret Fellow at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre Center, where she performed with such artists as Sally Mayes, Julie Wilson and Margaret Whiting.\nThe current group that she has collected for "Candy & Friends" is comprised of Shani Wahrman, Cairril Adaire and William and Christina Shriner. The performers' ages range from 17 to 83, in addition to nine-year-old Maya Wahrman, a guest performer. \nThe youngest cabaret artist performing will be Bloomington High School South senior Shani Wahrman. Wahrman is debuting as a cabaret artist but has performed for several years with the Sounds of South and the IU Children's Choir, performing in arenas such as Carnegie Hall. \nWahrman said she became interested in cabaret after seeing many of Decker's performances and winning a cabaret lesson from a BPP auction. \nDecker's accompanist, Hakan Toker, described the group as being "an intriguing variety of singers, ranging vastly in the amount and type of life experiences."\nWith the emergence of an outlet such as the Cabaret Nouveau Series, Decker said people become inspired to try cabaret as an expression. \n"To these people, the key to cabaret is honesty, to sing the lyric, and not to let the 'performer' get in your way," Decker. "You want to make eye contact with the audience and share the evening through stories and songs that bring you closer together."\nDecker equates the cabaret to giving a party for friends where the performers are the hosts or hostesses. \n"Audiences can expect to be entertained through stories and songs that are woven together by a theme," Decker said. "Audiences will appreciate the intimacy of the art form and the uniqueness of all the performers. If you come to the show you will be moved to laugh, cry and you will feel a connection with the artists onstage."\nDecker said the various ages and backgrounds of the performers add a special touch to the cabaret.\n"I knew that each of these artists had the ingredients to do a show but maybe not the recipe," Decker said. "I'm like the head chef helping them bring their vision to fruition -- like the perfect soufflé."\n-- Contact staff writer Liv Cole at olcole@indiana.edu.