Lennie Watts has achieved something unique in the annals of cabaret; he's managed to garner awards for performing, directing, producing AND booking. And, he deserves every blessed accolade. The last two decades have seen the gentleman through an incredible journey down the highways and byways of both theater and cabaret, and now that he's found a rightful home as booking manager of The Metropolitan Room (34 West 22nd Street, which New York Magazine rightfully called "the best cabaret in New York"), it's an incredible experience to sit with him at a local Chelsea hamburger joint to discuss his career and the various paths it's taken since the mid 1980s.

Watts, a native of St. Louis, ultimately graced the shores of New York City in 1985 at the request of a cherished childhood friend, Ms. Fredi Walker (who would ultimately go on to create the role of Joanne in "Rent" on Broadway). He auditioned for AMDA (the American Musical and Dramatic Academy) soon after, and then began work as a singing waiter on the Spirit Of New York cruise ship, ultimately working his way up to Entertainment Director for their nightly dining/cabaret experience. (A fellow member of the waitstaff was another "Rent" original cast member, Idina Menzel, who would go on to greater glory as the original Elphaba in "Wicked"). He continued to work on "the boat" until 1992.

However, his initial foray into formal cabaret came in 1990, when he was cast in the revue "Ain't Missin' Dinner" at the old Duplex, with music by Paul Sportelli and book/lyrics by Tom Angora. (A fellow cast member was longtime cabaret fixture Randy Lester). Watts quickly joined the fold of piano bar talent at Don't Tell Mama (343 West 46th Street) almost immediately and found a home there. This was followed by a stint at the Theater Barn in New Lebanon, NY as Lycus in "A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum" (in which the cast was headed by "Will & Grace" actor Tom Gallop as Pseudolus), and then the first of a long line of roles at Theater-By-The-Sea in Matunuck, RI as Marcellus Washburn in "The Music Man," which was highly lauded. Thus began a ten-year-stint for Watts at the respected regional theater, including a tour with the company as The Lion in "The Wizard Of Oz" which brought the gentleman to Korea.

But it was in 1992 that Watts premiered his first solo cabaret act, at Don't Tell Mama. "And nobody cared," he says, chuckling over a Diet Coke. "Other than your magazine, nobody paid any attention at all. Not for that show, or the second show." Indeed, for the cabaret climate in 1992, it was unusual. Watts was wholeheartedly NOT singing the Great American Songbook, and was also appearing on stage with a full rock band and three backup singers, which wasn't the norm for a male singer; in fact, even Lina Koutrakos, while presenting contemporary music, would only appear with Dick Gallagher on piano, and the only other singer at the time to work with a full rock band and backup singers was the late, lamented Vanessa Campbell at Eighty Eight's. "It really wasn't until a couple of years later, when Jamie deRoy put me in her show, that anyone even heard of me. And that was just so strange how it happened. I was bartending in the back room at Mama's, and Sidney Myer told Jamie that I should be in her show. And somehow it all just clicked."

Click it did. Watts found himself a short time later readying to appear before a national television audience on Rosie O'Donnell's show to sing "O Holy Night," seemingly in the blink of an eye. "Here's what happened," he tells me. "Ginni McMath recommended me, and I got this phone call from Judy Gold. She was one of the producers on Rosie's show then. And she told me, "We need a guy who can "Star Search" a Christmas carol for the "Untapped Talent" series." I didn't know the song AT ALL. I went to Colony immediately after the phone call and bought the sheet music, and worked like crazy to learn it. Then the next day, I went to the audition at the studio, and there's John McDaniel at the piano, and he asked me what key I sing it in. And, I mean, I have no idea, but I know I sing a lot of things in E-flat. So I told him E-flat. He plays it, I sing it, and Judy turns to everybody and says, "OK, thank you all for coming down today, but we've decided we're using Lennie." And tells me they're sending a limo for me at 7 AM and to be ready. So I didn't even have time to get nervous or anything. It was just all so fast. The best part was, that night my niece called me up and said, "Have you read Rosie's website? All the e-mails are about you." And I hadn't, and I didn't want to, because I just figured it was all, like, "Hey, did you see the big fat guy on Rosie's show who thinks he can sing?" But it wasn't like that at all. It was HUNDREDS of e-mails, and everybody was so kind. Nobody said anything about my size or anything like that; it was all about my voice and how much they loved me." He chuckles again. "I even got an offer for a date, from somebody in San Francisco."

In 2000, the powers that be at Theater-By-The Sea opted to produce Watts' highly-acclaimed CD, "I Want...You Want." He purports his favorite track to be "Celebrate Me Home," but he's proudest of all of the two tracks he's written, "I Can Love Again" and "I Wanna Go Back." "I've only written two songs," he tells me, "and it's just so wild when you know you've actually done it. When you can hear it on a recording, and think, wow! I DID that." Though he hasn't spent a great deal of time in the studio since then, he may very well traipse back in during the coming winter months to do a CD to correspond with the Barry Manilow show he'll be presenting in April at the Met Room after a successful initial run. "The thing about the show is, I have always, but ALWAYS, done a song by Manilow in one of my shows," he says. "So my criteria for this show was, it has to be Manilow songs that were strictly released between 1973 and 1983, and it has to be a Manilow song that I've never sung before in a show." Time will tell, but it certainly sounds like a winning combination.

Watts has also won copious accolades for his directing of other people's cabaret acts. "I think it's just that people found my work refreshing," he tells me. "They found my shows to be very well structured, and they enjoyed the theatricality even when I was using pop music and more contemporary forms. So I just sort of fell into it. Which led to my teaching the Cab Lab, which I do as an eight-week program, and teaching the Summer In The City program with Lina Koutrakos, which we do as a three-day intensive program and we've done for the last six years." As far as the Metropolitan Room, Watts makes no bones about how much he enjoys working there. "It's clean, it's elegant, it's a lovely room. But it's not stuffy. I'm completely grateful for the opportunity to bring what I can to it. I had done Entertainment Directing on the boat, and I was also booking at Mama Rose's on 2nd Avenue, so this isn't a new frontier. But I just love that what we have is the comfort of the smaller rooms with the prestige of the larger rooms. Chris Mazilli's vision, and my conviction in the people I book, seem to really work well." And indeed, since the room has already hosted the likes of Julie Wilson, Maureen McGovern, Baby Jane Dexter, Faith Prince, Karen Mason, KT Sullivan and others, one is sure than no one could argue.

Finally, how does Watts feel about being a larger man in an industry that doesn't always honor larger people, and more importantly, what advice can he give to the larger teenager or young adult who feels their size might be a hinderance to achieving success in this business? "Look," he says frankly, "you just have to get out there and do it. There is ALWAYS a role out there for everybody if they have the talent. Size means nothing. Yes, it can hurt you. But ultimately it's got nothing to do with anything. To be honest, the only time I DON'T think about my weight is when I'm on stage performing. Dick Gallagher, God bless him, once said, "The essence of cabaret is being yourself on purpose."

We couldn't love Lennie Watts more for being himself, onstage or off. Please stay tuned for additional reports of his Manilow show in April and the other exciting goings-on at the Met Room.

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