Back from a cabaret show - I shan't speak of it much in the notes, for obvious reasons, since it involved fifteen-year-old girls - ill conceived, pointless, presumptuous, and other things. When I began this disgusting trend four YEARS ago with the Melody Hollis act (when she was thirteen) the first thing I said to her and her parents was, "If we do this and we're successful, watch the floodgates open." It happened slowly at first and now it's every kid. Only they have no clew WHY the Melody show worked and why these others don't. Yes, you can have all your family and friends attend and scream and yell, but if you put this stuff in front of an audience of strangers, goodbye Charlie. With Melody's show, she could have done it anywhere for anyone and it would have worked. Why? Because I know what I'm doing, it's that simple. All these other people see what we do and just copy us (James Corden being the latest example of absolute chutzpah), only they don't know how to structure these things so they work, or even what the motor of a show like this has to be. It ain't easy.
