Ken Haller is a pediatrician in his day job. But in his spare time, he is a cabaret singer. Following the success of his previous shows “Side by Side by Sondheim” and “The TV Show,” Haller will celebrate his 60th birthday with “Mama’s Boy,” part of the Gaslight Cabaret Festival series.
“Cityscape” host Steve Potter began his conversation with Haller by asking him if he really was a mama’s boy. He responded, “Yes, I’m a mama’s boy. I’m an Irish-Catholic kid from Long Island, and one of five kids. So in the show this is sort of a tribute to her. It starts out with songs that she used to sing around the house, songs that remind me of her, and that’s sort of a springboard for all the rest.”
Potter gently suggested that being labeled a “mama’s boy” is typically a bad thing. Haller explained that he didn’t see it that way. “I learned a lot of lessons about how to take care of other people and how to take care of yourself and how to be a human being in the world from my mom. There’s that and the music she listened to, the music that she taught me - those gave me some really important lessons of life. As I was growing up and I realized that I was this little gay kid and I was in many ways a mama’s boy in that sense, what was the music that sort of helped me through that? Of course that was Broadway musicals... So there will be a lot from Broadway, Hollywood, that kind of Great American Songbook and theater tradition that will be part of this show.”
The Gaslight Cabaret Festival runs through Nov. 22.
Related Event
Gaslight Cabaret Festival Presents Ken Haller in "Mama's Boy"
October 30 and 31, 2014
8:00 p.m.
Gaslight Theater, 358 N. Boyle
(314) 725-4200
Presenters Dolan Website
“Cityscape” is produced by Mary Edwards and Alex Heuer and sponsored in part by the Missouri Arts Council, the Regional Arts Commission, and the Arts and Education Council of Greater St. Louis.
