Stage Talk with Rick Koster
Where every show has something to say.
As a HE, I’m very much looking forward to May. 2, when a music revue called SHE — Song. History Energy. The Women of Music hits the Garde stage.
Starring two astonishing performers, Becky Bass and Sarah Martin, with the backing of the Gold Label Groove Band, the production utilizes a wide array of songs and stories to reflect the frustrating, oft-brutal but determined and ultimately triumphant journeys of some of the world’s most transformative female musical icons.
Audiences will delight and marvel to hear and learn as SHE highlights such remarkable talents as Carole King, Billie Holiday, Amy Winehouse, Donna Summer, Gloria Estefan, Whitney Houstin, Natalie Cole and many more.
Earlier this week, in separate conversations, HE — er, I —was privileged to speak with the two SHEs, Bass and Martin, each of whom is a delightful conversationalist and clearly proud of the opportunity to share their talent and passion in this distinctive fashion.
Here’s the discussion with Sarah Martin, to be followed soon by our talk with Becky Bass.
The Garde: SHE is an amazing idea for a production: a musical revue with an educational component that doesn’t come across like, pay attention, there’s going to be a quiz later. But it’s precisely that informative element that helps make the whole thing unique. How did you get involved?
Sarah: I was actually part of the inception of the idea. A number of years ago, I was talking with members of the Gold Label Band, and my father’s the musical director. We had an idea for a show based around women and music because we didn’t feel like there was a lot of representation out there based on our concept.
There are a lot of tribute acts for a lot of big artists, but we didn’t see anything that was highlighting the whole gender. A look at the history and not just one artist. A whole span of centuries span of music and women. And I was fortunate enough to kind of be at level one and for incredible evolution of the show.
Garde: You and Becky Bass are the artists who get to be at the front of the production. How did the two of you and the band determine who sings what, and also did you determine which artists and specific songs would be part of it all?
Sarah: Becky and I have known each other a very long time. She’s absolutely amazing. I adore her. Originally, it was me at the front of the stage for an hour-long show, and we tested that out and it just needed something else. We were doing all these classic artists, you know, Carole King, Whitney, Gloria Estefan… We were getting somewhere, but it wasn’t enough.
And Becky came in and said, “I have a bunch of female artists that I love. I can sing those songs and talk about them as artists because I know a great deal about them.” And we were like, by all means! And she brought in all these songs and material and it just gave the concept a whole new life and energy.
Garde: It provides an onstage dynamic and interaction between two performers rather than one.
Sarah: Yes, because we both bring different artists to the table. Neither of us do an artist twice, so we get to jump back and forth, plus we’re both instrumentalists, too, so we contribute even if the other’s singing or talking about particular artists. We bring songs based on the artists themselves, and we each did our own research in terms of the talking points.
Garde: What were the criteria, besides the artist, in the framework of the production?
Sarah: What we looked for was a female artist who was part of a very male dominated industry in a certain way. Carole King, for example, was a songwriter at the Brill Building. She, you know, had to fight for a place at the table, literally and figuratively, and from there became one of the iconic voices in the last century of music. There are a lot of stories representing a lot of different aspects of the music business.
Garde: In addition to your onstage career, you have a quote-unquote day job as a board-certified music therapist working in the mental health field. I’m someone who, if conscious, is probably listening to music, so I wonder if it’s simplistic to suggest that just the act of casually hearing music is almost by definition an exercise in therapy?
Sarah: Oh, absolutely. Like, music at its core is therapeutic for so many people. That’s why I have my day passion, if you will. Yeah, it’s absolutely incredible what music can do, even on a casual level, for anxiety and for a lot of issues.
Garde: What song do you most enjoy hearing Becky sing during the show?
Sarah: Oh, so many! But she does an absolutely incredible rendition of “Besame Mucho.” It can make me cry! It can make me dance! It’s just beautiful.