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Feature | By Bryan Reesman True To Her Roots An interview with Amanda Palmer, ukulele star and Cabaret queen. Amanda Palmer and Brian Viglione, her compatriot in the “Brechtian punk cabaret” band Dresden Dolls As frontwoman/pianist for The Dresden Dolls, multifaceted multi-instrumentalist Amanda Palmer brought punk-cabaret chic to the rock world. She has also explored her other musical whims with her recent solo album and the Evelyn Evelyn side project, performed with the Boston Pops and even released an EP of Radiohead covers performed on ukelele. But no matter in which format or forum she has worked, the stylish and brash Palmer has brought a theatrical edge to her work, and that makes sense considering she’s always been active in theatre, starting with her theatre at her high school in Lexington, Mass. LHS arguably has one of the finest high school arts programs in the country, and many of its alumni go on to do great things. What is intriguing is that Palmer not only thrived artistically there, but she has gone back and stayed in touch with the people who nurtured her talents. For her latest project, a production of Cabaret at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Mass., for which she has the role of the Emcee, she is working with fellow LHS alumni as well as her old mentor, director Steven Bogart. Despite her international success, Palmer has stayed true to her roots, and she opened up about it while taking a break from a busy rehearsal. <strong>Stage</strong> <strong>Directions</strong>: What I think is interesting about your life story is the fact that while many famous people leave the place where they grew up and ascend to bigger things, they rarely go back. You have a very close relationship with your old high school. Amanda Palmer: It’s in part because my parents still live there, and I have remained in Boston. That makes it easy to continue this relationship and keep checking in on my favorite teachers. I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that a lot of my teachers were a real sanctuary for me in high school. I was kind of a loner, so the drama department, the music practice rooms and my relationships with music teacher Jeff Leonard, Steve Bogart and my Latin teacher were more significant than my relationships with the other tenth graders. When I left, I missed them and I wanted to stay connected. I went back all the time and visited, and in the case of Bogart I went back and helped with productions. I’ve stayed in touch with all those other people. I did a benefit for the French Exchange Club with the Dresden Dolls, and Jeff Leonard came and played sax at it. I also think I was blessed with a really liberal, advanced, artistic education for a high schooler, so the minute I felt like I had to give anything back I wanted to give it back in abundance because I felt so lucky. There’s something hard about going off and having this big career and watching Bogart struggle with the bureaucracy of a high school. He’s a teacher, but he’s also a serious artist who has to face the challenges of being in a high school, which loans you lots of freedom but also has lots of limitations. Once I became an adult, he remained one of my prime objective collaborators because I grew up speaking his language. He taught me how to speak his language of theatre, and I always wanted to work with him because the more I worked with other directors—other film directors and other theatre directors—I just realized how special our relationship was and how deep his work was. You don’t see that when you’re in it, when you’re a teenager. You just assume that the whole world of theatre is 14 October 2010 • www.stage-directions.com
Marcus Stern “This production feels like a fantasy because every single person on the artistic side is a close friend or respected collaborator.” —Amanda Palmer Amanda Palmer as the Emcee and chorus members from the American Repertory Theater fall 2010 production of Cabaret. going to be like this. But it was not. What Steven Bogart was doing was really edgy and risky and profound, so I feel like it’s the least I can do. But I don’t feel like I’m doing it to help him out, if you know what I’m saying. I’m doing it because I want to work with the guy. Lexington High School has always been very arts-oriented, even when I was there in the mid-to-late ‘80s. Last year you did a musical at LHS called With The Needle That Sings In Her Heart that was inspired by the Neutral Milk Hotel album In the Aeroplane Over the Sea and The Diary Of Anne Frank. It even got NPR recognition. Was this production done with LHS students? Yes, it was a workshop piece, and we used those two things as source material and created the show out of improv. It was a beautiful, beautiful show and was really fantastic. Is the A.R.T. production of Cabaret being done at a local nightclub? It’s owned by the A.R.T. so it’s kind of an ancillary space, but it’s being used for all different kinds of theatre and interactive nightclub shows. This venue is really www.stage-directions.com • October 2010 15
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