Call Redialed: NEW Michele Brourman Interview: Honoring Greatness at 2020 Bistro Awards
Feb 21, 2020
Once again, I’m getting the chance to catch up with Award-Winning Snger Songwriter, Michele Brourman.
After a sold-out solo debut at Birdland Theatre in 2019, 2020 has started off with many high notes.
Michele just won a 2020 Bistro Award in the category of “Singer/Songwriter/Musical Director” and will be taking part in the awards show on March 9 in NYC.
Just one month after this esteemed award, in April 2020, Michele will be honored by her hometown high school, Taylor Allderdice High School in Pittsburgh.
It’s great to speak with Michele during this exhilarating time, reflect on the past, and find out what new projects she has in the making.
In this new interview, Michele once again answered my call, but this time around she shares:
- Reflecting on the success of the Love Notes show at Birdland
- The creative work she has been doing since our last interview together
- Celebrating recent honors, including a 2020 Bistro Award & hometown school recognition
- Hobbies, everyday rituals & finding hope in dark times
- So much more
Connect with Michele: Website, Facebook, YouTube
Michele Brourman performing, Photo Credit: Bill Dean
1. It's so great to be speaking with you again! Last time we chatted, you were coming to Birdland with your show Love Notes. Looking back, how did that show go? It went beautifully! We had a sold-out audience filled with remarkable artists – a bit daunting, but thrilling!
My guest singers, Sally Mayes and Maude Maggart, were stunning. And it felt so good to be singing my songs at the Birdland Theatre – it’s a splendid space, thanks to Gianni Valenti and Jim Caruso!
2. What have you been working on since then? I’m working on songs for another animated feature for Universal. Co-writing them with Amanda McBroom, producing them with my brilliant friend Stephan Oberhoff.
I love writing for children! To quote John Forster – with whom I’m going to share an evening in LA on April 16th – when we write for children, “all we’re really courting is delight.” Isn’t that a wonderful thought?!
3. One very exciting thing that I know happened is you just won a 2020 Bistro Award in their category "Singer/Songwriter/Musical Director." What does this award mean to you? Adam, it means so much!! I’ve done so many different things in my life as a working musician! Used every skill set I owned – and probably some I didn’t quite own.
This award – Outstanding Singer/Songwriter/Musical Director – it covers all my bases in a wonderful way. And being recognized by the NY Cabaret community, that’s just huge!
4. The Bistro Award show will be taking place March 9. What are you looking forward to most about the show? Being a part of this amazing group of artists!! I’ve admired David Shire and Richard Maltby forever; it’s an honor to share the stage with them and with other fellow singers, songwriters and musical directors, many of whom are also longtime friends.
5. Another great thing happening for you in April is that you are being honored by your hometown school, Taylor Allderdice High School. How did this honor come to be? Honestly, I was completely surprised to receive a letter that said “Congratulations – you’ve been selected...” I have no idea how it came about or who nominated me. But again, I’ll be in amazing company.
Did you know that Billy Porter, Rob Marshall, and Kathleen Marshall went to my high school? They’re all in our Hall of Fame. So is my very first songwriting partner, Iris Rainer Dart, who went on to write the novel Beaches and the musical The People in the Picture. The list of honorees includes scientists, business people, doctors, teachers, and our inspiring HS choir director. I’m so proud to be there!!
The day after the induction ceremony, we’ll spend the day at the school, talking with students about their hopes and ambitions. I’m looking forward to that part.
6. What are you looking forward to most about going back home? Getting to see my cousins and my 96- year-old uncle. Pittsburgh is a beautiful city and my roots there go very deep. I grew up in a huge and very musical family.
My dad wrote songs while he was a POW in Germany during WWII, his younger brother was a symphony conductor, several of my aunts played piano, one cousin was a concert pianist, another a cantor. My sister Robin is an exquisite singer and songwriter; we’ve written a number of songs together, including “The Price of Love.”
7. What do you hope people back home will come away with from this honor? Walking the halls of my school I know I’ll be flooded with memories, good and bad: Sneaking out to smoke Marlboro’s with my friends at The Wall, hearing the shattering announcement over the loudspeakers when JFK was shot, singing with the choir in Room 412, playing Lady Thiang in our senior class production of The King and I. And my first real boyfriend!
Let's switch gears for a moment while I ask you some general questions...
8. What are some of your hobbies outside of music? I have a garden and love getting out in the dirt. I am, sadly, an inconstant gardener, but I’ve managed to grow all kinds of vegetables and fruits. I bake bread. Earthy things that help to ground me. I practice yoga – my sister Sherry is my teacher. And I study Tai Chi which I love!
9. What section of the Sunday paper do you read first? I have to start with the front page news section. We’re in the midst of such turmoil, I try to stay aware of the day’s events. After that, I turn to my obsession: the Sudoku puzzle!
10. Playing off of the song you & Amanda McBroom wrote for Reba McEntire for Land Before Time 14, "Look for the Light." Where do you look for the light in all this darkness we have around us? There is light everywhere! It’s important to see all the beauty around us – and in the people around us.
We’re in tumultuous times – and we’re all scared and feeling angry, baffled, helpless. But I don’t want to let that darkness take over. I see beauty in people, in nature, in the ways we care for one another.
Sometimes I feel like making music is a frivolous and useless pursuit – that it doesn’t change anything in the world. But I have this Soup Theory of the planet. If the Earth and the atmosphere around it is a closed system (which essentially it is) then whatever we add to that system changes it, just as putting a bay leaf or a spoonful of salt in a giant pot of soup changes its flavor and its chemistry.
If we can bring a little more light to everything we do, everyone we interact with, hopefully it will make the soup better!!
More Michele Brourman Interviews:
October 2019 (Read Here): Love Notes at Birdland Jazz in NYC
February 2019 (Read Here): Making Music with The Belle of Tombstone and The Land Before Time
Michele Brourman
Photo Credit: Mary Ann Halpin
More on Michele Brourman:
Michele Brourman is an award-winning singer-songwriter whose music has become a staple of both concert halls and screens. Her signature song, “My Favorite Year,” has been embraced by artists such as Michael Feinstein, Margaret Whiting, and Dame Cleo Laine, among many others.
In long-time collaboration with lyricist Amanda McBroom, she has created the scores for 18 animated features for Universal Studios, including the beloved Land Before Time series, writing for performers like Reba McEntire, Michael York, David Carradine, Jodi Benson, Olivia Newton-John, Donny Osmond, Corbin Bleu, and a wide roster of international talent.
Her songs have been heard in film, television, and on cabaret stages around the world, where they’ve been interpreted by countless performers and honored with multiple awards and consistent critical praise.
