Come to the Cabaret Into the Music with the Enchanting Maude Maggart

Something magical happens when you hear cabaret prodigy Maude Maggart sing for the first time. You are pleasantly swept back to the days when names like Ella Fitzgerald and Judy Garland ruled the airwaves and, realizing that you are listening to a singer of that same caliber, you are overcome with an urgent compulsion to tell everyone you know about her.

Primarily covering songs from the Golden Age of the Great American Songbook (1920s–1950s), her lilting vocals (a beautiful fusion of velvet, operatic vibrato, and the occasional channeling of MGM’s Glinda The Good Witch) and delightfully compelling stage presence offer an experience so fresh and natural it creates the illusion that you are the one who discovered her, but you haven’t. Ms. Maggart has been the toast of the cabaret scene since her stunning 2003 debut at Danny’s Skylight Room in New York and continues to light up the wonderful world of cabaret with stellar performances attended by a fun mix of young hipsters, Broadway veterans, and celebrities, including Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ted Danson, and Neil Simon. “What makes cabaret so special is that it’s such a pure and basic art form,” Maggart says, relaxing at Primitivo Wine Bistro, near her home in Venice. “It’s like creating and having a delicious meal that’s made with just simple, basic ingredients. You just have a song and the minimal requirements, like a voice and a piano. It’s all stripped down to the basics.”

Raised on both coasts, splitting her life between New York’s “upper, Upper West Side” and the bohemian sensibilities of Venice Beach, Maggart’s show business roots run deep. Her parents, Brandon Maggart (whose many TV credits include being a member of the original cast of “Sesame Street”) and Diane McAfee, danced, sang, and acted their way through numerous Broadway productions, and her grandmother, Millicent Green (who recently turned 100!), paved the family’s artistic path as a vaudeville performer and dancer in the legendary “George White’s Scandals” of the 1920s. Maggart’s two biggest musical influences, Michael Feinstein and Andrea Marcovicci, happen to be both family friends and cabaret royalty. “I am very fortunate in that I was given everything I needed to be supported artistically. As far back as I can remember, I was always surrounded by freedom of expression and encouraged to express myself. It really set me up to have music be an essential part of my life. I now feel like I have a treasure to share because I have a literal connection with the era of my songs as well as the history of Broadway.”

Since her blistering arrival on the cabaret circuit, the young chanteuse has released four brilliant albums (Look For The Silver Lining (2003), With Sweet Despair (2005), Maude Maggart Sings Irving Berlin (2005), Maude Maggart Live (2007)), sang on Garrison Keillor’s “A Prairie Home Companion” at The Hollywood Bowl, and become a regular performer at such prestigious venues as The Gardenia in Hollywood and The Oak Room in Manhattan landmark The Algonquin Hotel. Between songs, Ms. Maggart becomes an adorable and educational storyteller, shining light on the history and meaning behind the songs she performs, as well as sharing, often through intriguing family tidbits, the way in which they are uniquely personal to her. She deeply researches the genesis of the Great American Songbook’s popular compositions (from Gershwin and Cole Porter to Jackson Browne and even Dolly Parton) and also has a tasteful knack for dusting off obscure (and often very dark) gems and breathing sprightly new and humorous life into them. Through Maggart’s interpretations and gifts, she makes the familiar standards sound even more special, and generously delivers otherwise buried treasures to the grateful consciousness of her audience.

A sweet and gentle soul, Maude Maggart is a major talent, and discovering her work is like finding an invitation to a secret soiree of elegance and musical sophistication whose gracious hostess is dedicated to pursuing her vision of cabaret. “Cabaret is a noun, not an adjective. And it’s a nice noun, too. It’s a room where the performers can take you in any direction the performance happens to go. A room where anything can happen.” ▼

Maude Maggart will play two, not-to-be-missed shows at The Gardenia Supperclub in Hollywood on August 20 & 21. Call 323-467- 7444 for reservations. For more information on Maude Maggart, please visit www.maudemaggart.com .”