The Official Website for KT Sullivan-Career

"I love so many things, but I had to focus, and I think I did."

The show was ended at a tiny club in Los Angeles called The Rose Cafe. KT was singing alone, and the owner of the club heard her and asked if KT had an act and was looking for work.

"I never thought of an 'act.' I love doing stage work. I had just come back from doing, Sugar. with Arte Johnson. I never though of standing up in front of people, singing to people, being yourself. My friend, Howard Witt said, 'You've got to do this. This is what you can do that's YOU. Other people can sing opera better; other people can do Shakespeare better. This is what you can do and you need to focus on this.'"

Convinced, KT found a teacher named Carlos Noble, a man who became essential in forming her style.

"I always introduce Carlos as the man who taught me 'not to sing.' He approached songs like an actor, and taught me to break down the songs, paraphrasing them. When you've made them into something personal, they'll always be yours -- like Mabel Mercer did, and Sylvia Syms, and Julie Wilson does, these are the people I admire. Before that I was a chirper."

They found a pianist, Bobby Gorman, who had been understudy for Stubby Kaye on Broadway. He had a great sense of humor, and sat down at the piano, throwing her barbs.

"He just made me loosen up. We first started off with songs I knew, songs I loved, and songs from the Barbara Cook recording. I still do a few of them, like, 'I Love A Piano.'"

A show was put together. Howard told her what worked, what didn't work. She got an engagement at The Rose Cafe, and one of her first reviews said she was very good but added, "She sings too many Barbara Cook songs." KT, nevertheless, was given the favored Friday night slot, and she performed there every week for over a year. From The Rose Cafe, she went to the Gardenia.

By 1985, KT decided it was time for New York City. She got work performing on and off-Broadway, and began cabaret shows at clubs like Don't Tell Mama and Duplex. While she was on Broadway with Sting in The Threepenny Opera, she met Danny Apolinara of Danny's Skylight Room, and her cabaret career took off.

"Danny's is where I really found a home in '89."

Buddy Barnes was her first pianist in New York and around this time he introduced her to the songs of Bart Howard.

"When I heard a Bart Howard lyric the first time, I thought, 'This man's been reading my diary.' He thinks the way I think."

She was convinced further when she actually met Bart Howard and eventually became good friends.

"He's ironic, he's witty, he's very worldly. He traveled around the world and could fit into all societies -- Marlene Dietrich, Greta Garbo, and the Duke of Windsor. Mabel (Mercer) came from that whole group, and he was her first pianist. Bart has a way of looking at life that's my way."

In 1987, KT appeared in New York at Jan Wallman's, with her cabaret show of Bart Howard songs, and Donald Smith, executive director of the Mabel Mercer Foundation, invited her to appear at his first Cabaret Convention in Town Hall. Today KT is considered a leading interpreter of Howard songs, like "Fly Me To the Moon" and "Let Me Love You." Her Bart Howard show earned her a first New York Times review, John Wilson commenting that she reminded him of a young Mabel Mercer.

Five years later, in 1992, came a major engagement at the Algonquin Hotel's Oak Room. That same year, KT won a MAC Award as Outstanding Female Vocalist.

To think, she says, "It all started back at the little Rose Cafe."

In her cabaret shows, KT aims for a mix of songs. She has a special love for ballads but knows the audience needs something lively as well, to lift the mood.

"One of the big faults of our shows is too many ballads. You've got to resist that temptation of singing too many ballads. You have to save them."

She is, therefore, always searching for uptempo songs as well as good comedy material, certainly Noel Coward and Cole Porter, but songs they wrote that are less familiar to audiences.

KT's stage patter is as snappy and crisp as her personal conversations, punctuated by a ready full laughter. On stage, her snappy wisecracks and flirting are accompanied by wide-eyed expressive innocence and quiet posture. What she tells her audience is what she herself wants to know about the material -- why she's singing a particular song, why it's special to her. In her recent show at the FireBird, she tied up the links between Porter, Coward, and Howard. Meticulously, she checks her facts, calling musicologists like Barry Kleinbort to check dates and lyrics.

"I love when people get the jokes. I want them to laugh. Participate. Give good audience. I give good audience when I'm in an audience. Sometimes people tell me how they enjoyed the show, but why didn't they let me know while they were there?"

Most recently, KT starred Off-Broadway in American Rhapsody, winning a MAC award for the Best Review of 2001. The show was also nominated for a Lucille Loretel and a Drama Desk Awards. Previously Off-Broadway she appeared in Splendora and A... My Name is Still Alice. On Broadway, she has appeared in The Threepenny Opera with Sting, Broadway, and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. With Tommy Tune she co-starred in the workshop of Easter Parade. She appeared in the national tour of Annie Get Your Gun. She has appeared in distinguished repertory theatre companies, such as The Old Glove, The Long Wharf, The Missouri Rep and Goodspeed Opera House, playing leading roles in plays like Born Yesterday and Light Up The Sky.

*In You Never Know* at Papermill Playhouse. Photo by Jerry Dalia**	KT and Leslie Neilson in TV's Police Squad.
In 42nd Street. Photo by Allan Fitzgerald

KT has headlined at The White House, Carnegie Hall, Caramoor, The Spoleto Festival, and The Chichester Festival in England. On television, she was seen in Police Squad, Night Court, Remington Steele, and Cabaret 13.

In her rare quiet moments, KT listens to classical music, delighted when she hears their influences on the great standard song writers like Porter and Coward. But no matter how lovely a melody is, to KT, the lyric is always primary.

"When I get a song, I always look at the words first. I can't sing it unless I love the words."

---Elizabeth Ahlfors

-Winner of two 15th Annual MAC Awards!
*Revue of The Year: "American Rhapsody" with Mark Nadler
and
*Recording (Duo/ Musical Group): "The Sweetest Sounds of Richard Rodgers" with Larry Woodard

-Nominated for 2001 Lucille Lortel Award and Drama Desk Award for
"American Rhapsody"