Natalie Douglas

We Are Stardust

Act2PV, Puerta Vallarta, Mexico, November 8, 2024

Reviewed by Lynn Timmons Edwards

What an opening for Act2PV’s inaugural Fiesta de Cabaret! Sixteen singers from America and Mexico gathered to learn from and witness the brilliance of master coach Lina Koutrakos, four of the best pianist/music directors in New York City, and visiting cabaret artists, the first of which was Natalie Douglas, who was both a great singer and a teacher.

Reviews of Douglas have appeared in Cabaret Scenes many times, but her show of 1960s songs, We Are Stardust, which she conceived with her music director/pianist Mark Hartman, is new to our site. It was an extraordinary lesson in “less is more.” Douglas used a mic stand and barely moved, but she had the audience mesmerized with each song. Because I grew up in the 1960s, her opener, “For What It’s Worth” (Stephen Stills), set the tone for me personally. It was originally written about a protest in Los Angeles, but it always takes me back to Kent State University, because the day before the students were shot there were armed National Guardsmen in the music building. Douglas and Hartman’s song sudoku (a term stolen from Fiesta singer/songwriter/music director Tracy Stark) was brilliant. We heard Paul McCartney’s “Blackbird,” a song about civil rights, as well as songs associated with Nancy Wilson, Tina Turner, and Joni Mitchell. Douglas, who has a passion for Nina Simone, gave us “Mississippi Goddam,” one of the strongest vocal moments of the night.

Douglas has a trunk of tribute shows under her belt that honor everyone from Sammy Davis, Jr. to Ella Fitzgerald. She has appeared at NYC’s Birdland more than 80 times. She currently spends about two weeks of every month on tour, and she’s also a sought-after teacher of cabaret. She grew up in what she described as the “Black Beverly Hills” of Los Angeles and has been singing since she was four. One of her cabaret shows is based on songs of protest movements throughout the decades. We were delighted to hear the music from the 1960s, one of the best eras in my opinion for songwriting since the days of Tin Pan Alley. It was hard not to sing along with “Love the One You’re With” (Stephen Stills) or “River Deep—Mountain High” (Jeff Barry/Ellie Greenwich/Phil Spector). I agree with Douglas that “’60s music” actually lives between 1964 and 1973. Her research was meticulous, and it brought little-known stories into her patter. Check out the hysterical factoid about how “For What It’s Worth” got its title.

She was close musically with Hartman all night. Friends for many years, they were musical soulmates as well. All of his arrangements—and particularly his piano virtuosity during Roberta Flack’s hit “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” (Ewan MacColl/Peggy Seeger)—were flawless. The day following her show, Douglas spent time with the students at Fiesta de Cabaret and took us inside her life and her artistic process involved in creating such a first-rate cabaret show as We Are Stardust.