Looking about, one sees Victoria Shore, a striking six-footer and a dancer with Las Vegas shows behind her. She’s putting together a cabaret act. Tessa Bell, who has a professional Cabaret history. Tessa describes juggling her music with kids, husband and real estate. She’s seeking a better grasp of the element of "intimacy" in cabaret. Actress/singer Lois Robbins, a familiar face from her TV commercials, who is working on her debut club act. Jeanne Resua, who has done musical theater, and like many of the participants, is not fulfilled in her present day job. Linda Klein, who is talking of a twenty-year break from music, says "Linda helped give it back to me." There’s Laura Lee Preyer, a stand-up comedienne with several cabaret singing shows to her credit, who’s been in many of Linda’s workshops the past half-dozen years in order to "re-enforce the basics." Marge Radtke, who states positively that she’s never more alive than when I’m singing or performing." Paul Sherman is a sixty-plus human resources consultant. Carmen Dunn is a daytime pattern maker on her 31st workshop "to become a better performer." Several of those in the workshop are more interested in the professional experience than in becoming professional. Maria Mercader is a network news producer. Patricia Jara is a physical therapist. Preston Stockman is a CPA and a songwriter, happy to sing his own or others’ compositions. There’s Lois, an E.R. room nurse, now a nurse practitioner, who wants to sing without being part of a chorus. Maggie, who’s an editor and journalist on a major national newsmagazine. And there is Gary, an Assistant District Attorney, whose new wife, aware of his love of singing, signed him up as a birthday gift.

What is the magnetic attraction that so many feel for Linda and her workshop? First, of course, is her commitment to helping the participants overcome their roadblocks to free and full performances. She describes a lot of her methods as "corny...but they work." One example -- on first meeting each person is required to identify and put into an illusory "magic bag," passed from one to another, whatever has been hampering a full realization of his or her talents. "Fear of failure," is a commonplace. So is "my own need for perfection." One participant, ridding herself of the problem, threw in "my mother." Linda has them form a circle and join in Sing, Sing A Song. As they loosen up, she’ll switch them to "la la la la la," having them change personae and attitudes as they sing. "Now be angry," she’ll call out, "Now French. Now be in love with the one you’re singing to." It breaks down walls between them, she explains. After everyone has met everyone else, she pairs them off, requiring them to look steadily into each other’s eyes for sixty-seconds. Most of all, Linda advocates "truth in singing." At the very first session, each person must arrive with song prepared, lyrics memorized and sheet music for the accompanist. She insists on the songs having a relevance to the singer and on an intro that explains why it does. Always, the patter must be their own, not prepared for them by another. "That way, " she explains, "if they blow a line during a show, it makes little difference because it’s their own words and they can ad-lib without worry." The songs and their presentation are always the main focus but during the four meetings prior to their performance, the classes will also address proper mike technique, working with an accompanist, and appropriate costuming.

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