Cabaret duo has act down pat

October 29, 2009

Richard Ouzounian

Photo by Chris Nicholls, Lorca Moore

When your cup runneth over, you have only two choices: drinketh or spilleth.

Unfortunately, no matter how thirsty you are for great musical entertainment, there's no way you'll be able to sample more than a fraction of the 62 events being presented between this Thursday and Sunday at the Young Centre for the Performing Arts as part of the Canwest Cabaret Festival.

The event was an out-of-the-gate triumph in its opening session last year and artistic director Albert Schultz has put together an even more dazzling assortment of material this year.

The work of songwriters ranging from Stevie Wonder to the Breithaupt Brothers and from Joni Mitchell to Rodgers and Hart are all on display and the performing artists include the varied likes of Brent Carver, John Alcorn, Molly Johnson and Melanie Doane.

You'd almost be forgiven if you just decided to take a sleeping bag down to the inviting Young Centre and settled in for the weekend, although some authority figures might tend to frown.

But if you'd allow me to make one recommendation, I'd encourage you to drop by The Tank House on Saturday at 3:45 p.m. to catch the truly dynamic duo of Patricia Zentilli and Patti Loach (or "Patty with a Y and Patti with an I" as they're sometimes called) when they present their original and winning cabaret entertainment, The Shopping Cart of Love.

Loach is a chameleon of the keyboard, playing brilliantly in so many different styles I sometimes feel she should be checked out for multiple personality disorder.

And Zentilli is one of the true musical theatre originals, whose voice can channel into song the gamut of human experience from hilarity to heartbreak.

I spoke to the two of them on a recent break from rehearsal. Well, I tried to speak. It's hard to get a word in edgewise with this pair.

Patti: I'm really excited about the Danny Kaye tribute with Don Francks and Albert Schultz.

Patty: I always think Sharron Matthews is so wonderful. And Patricia O'Callaghan? Please! I'm honoured we share the same first name.

Patti: I like the diversity in this festival ... ethnic, jazz, musicals. Song is song and good music is good music. You don't have to pigeonhole.

Patty: What makes our piece a cabaret? You only need three ingredients: a piano, a singer and an audience. And all three are equal partners.

Patti: As a musician, I think of cabaret as kind of a sonata form. Exposition, development and recapitulation. We have a roadmap to guide us through our show. We may stray from it depending on what the audience may give us. It's not just a shopping list.

Patty: No, it's a shopping cart! We got the title, The Shopping Cart of Love from a Christine Lavin song, because I thought those are two things I can talk about: shopping and love. Yeah. When I'm miserable in love, I go shopping.

Patti: I enjoy the fact that I get to play songs from a terrific bunch of writers like Jason Robert Brown, Jim Cuddy and John Bucchino. With material like that, the juice is worth the squeeze.

Patty: Cabaret is coming back in this town and why not? It's entertaining and inexpensive. These concerts are each only $20.

Patti: Maybe they're inexpensive here, but in New York, I went to hear Victoria Clark at Feinstein's and by the time I got out, the Visa bill was $250.

Patty: Has John seen the bill yet?

Patti: No.

Patty: Good. Keep it hidden until after we finish our show. I need you alive.

Just the facts 

What: Canwest Cabaret Festival: Patti Loach and Patricia Zentilli play the Tank House at 3:45 p.m. Saturday October 30, 2009 as part of the Canwest Cabaret Festival.

 Where: Young Centre for the Performing Arts, 55 Mill St., Toronto.

Tickets: $20