MUMBAI: She personified ‘Diva’ way before it was (over) used by the media and hoi polloi, setting the benchmark in live singing and entertainment, and Broadway musicals. The prodigious and glamorous Sharon Prabhakar started young as a singer-starting out of college fests during her student days in Delhi’s Lady Shri Ram (LSR) college to taking to the stage in Broadway productions of ‘Godspell’, ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’, ‘Cabaret and ‘Evita’ in from the 80s. She went on to sing and act for Bollywood films, making solo albums along the way. Never slowing down, she epitomises the modern Indian woman–talented, confident and gracefully balancing her life. Today she conducts communication and management workshops for top companies, and performing classic pop and Broadway hit for fans. The effervescent star talks on Radioandmusic.com’s ‘Rendezvous’ on what keeps her going and what fans can expect from her ‘Broadway and Beyond’ show.
Love:
I love Broadway musicals-the songs are vocally difficult and challenging. It’s the real deal-the songs test your lung power-you have to be a good singer to be able to pull off the songs from Broadway. Broadway music still has an audience in Bombay today. These shows run (in the age of multi-channel entertainment) because they are classics- they have been around and will be there. Unlike films, theatre grows on you. The work of a film maker ends after he finishes the project, but theatre goes on.
Broadway and Beyond:
Our upcoming ‘Broadway and Beyond’ show (starts 22 October) will be a canvas of 20-23 classic songs- not pop or rock. I’ll be performing (with two other singers) the work of Rodger & Hammerstein, Andrew Lloyd Webber, songs of Frank Sinatra (‘My Way’), Celine Dion (‘I’m Alive’) and a medley of ABBA songs.
It is going to be all live and there is no way you can cheat by lip synching to the songs. We will be using ‘minus one’ tracks only because no band can pull off playing the music of the song list. It will be important to get the balance right before the show.
Audience:
In Bombay, the Broadway music audience can be from any walk of life. We can’t ‘decide’ who should be a lover of Broadway music or what kind of people is more ‘cultured’ to understand the nuances of the genre. But, what I can say is that out of those who come for the shows, a lot of them are clued in to the songs and are knowledgeable about the musicals and background. Age wise, we get the whole range of people. The trick about this canvas is that you attract them-your job is to gather appeal across the audience with different songs. You build up the audience, you have to keep an open mind and blow their senses song after song! You have to leave them stunned and have them asking: “How did she do that?” I don’t ever take audiences for granted and I want to ‘wow’ them.
Work mantra:
I love my work, I enjoy my life and I am not chasing anything so I don’t need a break. What I do instead is pace myself. The key is: planning. I am a reasonably systematic person and I have learnt that ‘chalo yaar’ attitude does not work with me, I respect the paying audience. The most important and stressful part of the work process is the planning. By the time the show is on, it’s all adrenalin! I don’t take my stress to work and I also don’t try and prove a point- its burns you out. I have seen many executives collapse as they try too hard and burn themselves out. If I properly plan and pace myself and I love my work, I don’t need a break and working on weekends- (sometimes they are the busiest!)- comes with the territory. To recharge, I take a break in-between. I put my feet up and enjoy a cup of coffee or watch a DVD. I can do that because I'm the master of my own time. When I have free time to relax, I call up friends and share a joke, have a coffee and watch the sun go down.
(Radioandmusic.com has been constantly trying to innovate and provide readers with the best information about the goings-on in the industry. We are happy to introduce the special section titled 'Musical Rendezvous'. The objective: delve deeper into the minds of senior professionals from the radio and music industries, to understand trends and developments and get other insights about the way forward. A big ‘thank you’ to all for supporting this endeavour- giving our reporters time and knowledge- so we can share it with our readers).