A special musical event is scheduled for the Green Music Center at Sonoma State University on April 24. TV personality, author, actor, well known fashion designer, and cabaret singer Isaac Mizrahi brings his jazz band in to play selections from the great American songbook.
A special musical event is scheduled for the Green Music Center at Sonoma State University on Thursday, April 24. TV personality, author, actor, well known fashion designer, and cabaret singer Isaac Mizrahi brings his jazz band in to play selections from the great American songbook. There will also be some original songs, and a bolt of two of funny, autobiographical stories. An all-around entertainer, his shows are full of delightful surprises for both his fans and music lovers alike.
Interviewed via telephone from his New York City dwelling, Mizrahi spoke freely of things musical, fashionable, pharmaceutical, and personal. The designer was remarkably jovial and jocular, and the allotted 15 minute interview ran well over schedule. While some interviews are the equivalent of a wet fish handshake, this was a bear hug. And his excitement concerning his appearance in Sonoma, “as in Williams-Sonoma?, I’m there,” was infectious.
Mizrahi was a musician before he became one of the country’s most noted fashion designers. As a teen, he enrolled in Fiorella H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, a.k.a. the “Fame” school, as a pianist, but moved to a drama emphasis by the first day of school.
Before that, however, Mizrahi showed tremendous design talent and exceptional prowess with a sewing machine. Impressively, he launched his own fashion label when he was only 15 years old.
That lead to a very successful career in the New York City fashion scene, with sold out runway shows and his label visible in all the glossy fashion magazines.
Mizrahi has, since 2009, been selling his designs on QVC, where he is seen and enjoyed by millions of viewers on his Friday afternoon show.
But Mizrahi is coming to “Sonoma” to sing. His chosen musical genre is a jazz/standard style. The show he will bring to Weill Hall, dubbed “Life is a Cabaret,” will feature an impressive band, with a good dose of Mizrahi’s humor and style.
He is one of the few singers who openly uses a music stand with a binder full of lyrics to the songs he performs. This is a sticking point for many vocalists, some of whom say a singer must be “off book.” But Mizrahi countered, “I don’t know why it’s ok for the oboeist to have a music stand and not the singer.”
Speaking of oboeists, of his band, Mizrahi said, “It‘s a bunch of musicians that I work with regularly, some as far back as 1998.” It was then that Mizrahi began a run of solos shows he called “Les Mizrahi.”
The current show is a bit different, allowing musical collaborations that a solo show cannot. The band itself “is a jazz band, but the music I get them to do is also, kind of like, musical theater-y. It is a real play between us,” Mizrahi said.
He continued, “The choice of material is completely up to me. It might be a song I love, or that I have become obsessed with, or that I write. Or maybe it is a song I need for the show, but usually it’s a bunch of songs that sound great.”
He likes to tell a tale between each song, and the audience eats it up.
Mizrahi also mentioned that he rewrites the shows often, personalizing them for the occasion. Mizrahi said, “Things are changing so rapidly in our world. Every day I wake up and think, ‘Now here’s something I need to say to these people.’”
After gigs in Florida and Scottsdale, Mizrahi is looking forward to performing here, in more left-leaning Northern California. His comments are bound to be political occasionally, but he mentioned that he feels “safe” here. He said, “I call feel the room, I can feel the audience. I am very good at that.” He said, “sometimes it‘s like a death-defying tight rope walk, and it is so fun.”
The multitalented Mizrahi will be a joy to watch in concert. He will, no doubt, command center stage with grace and style, and will delight all those in attendance.
Tickets to this unique show by this multifaceted performer can be obtained by visiting gmc.sonoma.edu. Show time is at 7:30 p.m. April 24.
The Green Music Center is located on the Sonoma State University campus, 1801 E. Cotati Ave., Rohnert Park.
Author, actor jazz musician Isaac Mizrahi coming to Sonoma County – Sonoma Index-Tribune
