By Anne W. Semmes
At the end of April, Paris came to Greenwich for two nights (April 26-27) of “French Jazz Music and Dance” at a new event venue in town, Crush Table Tennis on Field Point Road. “People were so happy,” said Audrey Appleby of some 120 who found their way to what was essentially a Paris cabaret organized by Audrey – a music and Magic-Dance-for-children town legend – along with her co-producer Michael Tolle, owner of Crush Table Tennis. “There’s something about dance and music,” she told, “That just pulls people out of their shyness, their sadness, just everything,”
Yes, it was a romantic crowd of listeners, lovers, and sometimes dancers in that 3,000-foot space lit magically with strings of light, with a groaning board of hors d’oeuvres from Bistro V and Meli-Melo, and a cash bar courtesy of Val’s Putnam Wines and Liquors. The evening had a title, “La Vie en Rouge,” with singer Audrey resplendent in a red satin gown as she sang French songs with a few of her own creations mixed in. And Audrey was often busy on the dance floor when not singing. Her musical backdrop was piano jazz wizard Ludovic De Preissac, there to make the Paris magic happen.
Thank Audrey’s brother-in-law Peter Johnson for connecting Audrey to Ludovic over 20 years ago as one of Paris’ most well-known – and charming jazz musicians. Audrey can claim performing with Ludovic in that notable underground jazz club, Caveau de la Huchette [circa 16th century] in the Latin Quarter of Paris, and in other barge jazz club sites on the river Seine. It was at the Caveau last fall that Audrey would meet up with another charmer, French musician Stéphane Séva, a singer, a washboard instrument artist fascinating to watch, as well as a skilled partner in dance with Audrey. Add to the mix another pianist Chris Coogan, John Mobilio on bass, and Ryan Sands, a wonder on drums. So, nothing missing in this Paris cabaret set up on Field Point Road!
Audrey’s song list began with “La Vie en Rose” but would segway to a favorite creation: “To Paris.” “I want to go to Paris, and sit in a cafe, and cry for no reason to make my tears go away/The flowers are in blossom/The fountains have their spray…” Two years ago, Audrey lost her painter-photographer husband Jim McNitt of 42 years to cancer. But she attributes that song’s first line as voiced privately by her cabaret performance teacher on zoom during Covid. “It took me one hour, and I wrote that song, and I wrote the music, and I don’t even know how to write music. I started humming it and it was like the French language, so close to me.”
Audrey learned to speak French at age 13 – out of curiosity. “My parents would always speak French when they didn’t want me to understand what they were talking about,” she told with a giggle. “And by the time I was 14, I went on a group tour of teenagers to Paris, and I was speaking perfectly.” So, through all those Magic Dance years when she was teaching 2- to 4-year-olds and adults “the joy of dance and movement,” including in later years working with those with Alzheimer’s to experience similar joy, Audrey was planning her first cabaret show – “Ladies Cheap Cocktails” to debut in 2016 in New York City followed by a gig in Greenwich half a dozen times at l’escale Restaurant. Now she’s planning a new show this fall in New York.
“I’ll have 14 original songs” she said, with a seductive name for the show being “Life…A Seduction Tour.” “We’re talking about not just romance, but the rollercoaster of life, the ups and downs…the birth of my daughter [Eliza McNitt – now a noted filmmaker] to the death of my husband to second chances.” And she hopes it will be where she’s performed before – at Pangea. “I feel like it’s my home. It’s a supper club between 12th and 13th on Second Avenue. It’s got this 1960s elegant Eartha Kitt supper club feel. It’s so intimate and charming, a model of cabaret.”
But back to those April-in-Paris evenings in Greenwich. The entertainment had a mix of Audrey singing Edith Piaf and Gershwin tunes while some guests drifted on and off the dance floor. French singer Stéphane had a way of catching your eye with his love lyrics, then surprising everyone before his washboard with his armored fingers eliciting those jazzy rhythms – a force to compete with drummer Sands. Then Audrey’s professional dancer sister Kathryn Appleby [Johnson] captivated everyone with how her body spoke to the jazz music. The two sisters were often entwined in their dancing.
Ludovic was as masterful playing jazz piano as he was twirling Audrey around on the edge of the dance floor in her ruby red dress. Stéphane had his twists and turns with Audrey also. But there was one young couple sitting nearby who only had eyes for each other.
Audrey reflected on that evening with, “What I’ve wanted to do my whole life is make people happy. And sometimes I’ll say, but am I making myself happy? But yes, this all made me so happy. It really reawakened how much I love to make these events. I thought the evenings went incredibly well.”
And not quite as nerve wracking, she thought as performing in New York “all by myself, all my songs, and I have to remember because it was very improvisational and spontaneous. It was Audrey at her best.” And with the success of these recent evenings, has come a new realization. “It made me realize having lost my husband and my child as an adult, how much I love entertaining. I like making strangers happy and giving these incredible events, these happenings.” And she has an idea. Why not, “do a happening that’s got more Spanish or Brazilian music and do the food of that country and the wine of that country, and maybe collaborate again with Michael Tolle and have an amazing event!”
