Episode 32 – Creating a Cabaret Career with Pat Hobbs

Hi Friend,I’m your podcast host, Sally Adams. Every week I talk to people about creating original work for a live audience. Welcome to Episode 32 of Sally’s Performing Arts Lab Podcast. Today, I’ll talk with musical theatre performer and Tulsa cabaret producer Pat Hobbs. Send an email anytime to Sally@sallypal.com. Your ideas keep great conversations coming every Monday evening.

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Pat Hobbs is old school. He always says "please" and "thank you". My grandmother might have said, "He’s generous to a fault". Pat is a longtime player in the musical theatre scene in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He’s played the Tin Man, the Governor of Texas, a shady lawyer, a drag queen, a wealthy socialite, and a 2-bit gangster. But Pat’s favorite role is that of song stylist. He has a love of the American songbook that opened doors to the cabaret stage. Pat has recently created several cabarets just to have an excuse to sing his favorite songs. His shows became sold-out events. Pat has a long list of fans including me. You can find out more about his shows on his website, https://www.wpathobbs.com/ He’s used cabarets to showcase new talent and support his favorite causes. Although he retired from his 9-5, Pat Hobbs is hardly retired. He and his husband John and their two westies lead very busy and musical lives. John is also a musical theatre performer.

Because he loves old-school jazz and musical theatre, Pat works hard to interpret numbers with authenticity. He mentioned a story about cabaret singer Marilyn Maye on CBS Sunday Morning. Here’s the link to the story: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/marilyn-maye-proudly-old-school/ 

On Saturday, February 10, from 6 - 10pm, Pat is producing a new cabaret show called “Spectrums of Love.” The show celebrates the official opening of the new Lynn Riggs Black Box Theatre at OkEQ (Oklahomans for Equality) at 621 East 4th, in the East Village of Tulsa, Oklahoma. For more information, visit www.okeq.org

Here are few clips from Pat’s cabaret performances: https://vimeo.com/249609929

Concise Advice from the Interview is a short version of tips from Cabaret King, Pat Hobbs. Here are 5 important bits of advice.

5) When deciding on songs for your cabaret show, make a list with 3 columns; column 1 is songs you absolutely have to sing, column 2 is your alternate numbers, and column 3 is songs you love that you might have to save for a later show.  

4) Let an audience see your authentic self

3) Share your experience by mentoring the next generation of performers

2) Give yourself permission to make mistakes

1) Live in gratitude

 

 

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Thank you for following, sharing, subscribing, reviewing, joining, & thank you for listening. I want you to pursue your dream to have your work on the stage in front of a live audience. It’s scary, but SallyPAL is here with resources, encouragement, and a growing community of people like us. I’m Sally and this is SallyPAL (the P-A-L in PAL stands for Performing Arts Lab).

 

If you’re downloading and listening on your drive to work, or falling asleep to my gum flapping jibber jabber like my sister does, let me know you’re out there. I want to help you create original shows for a live audience… All the performances you’ve seen on stage once lived only in someone’s imagination… Now it's YOUR turn!