Daily Sitka Sentinel

Sitka Festival Highlights Multi-Talent Artist

By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer

When trailblazing performer Shelly Watson is asked what she plans to perform at her live online show Thursday, she said probably the best description is “a pastiche.”

“Jazz classics – Cole Porter, Irving Berlin. Opera – Puccini, musical theater, art song ...” she said.

 “My strongest talents may lie in my diversity. I really do it all,” the Juilliard School graduate said. “I definitely have some jokes, I’ll ask trivia things ... I like to give people something to think about while I’m performing.”

The Sitka Music Festival will present her show 6 p.m. Thursday, January 14. The show is available for free online, through a link off the music festival’s website.

Watson earned her undergraduate and graduate degrees from Juilliard, where her integration of music, dance and drama in performances resulted in Juilliard’s creating an award to honor her, the InterArts award. 

After Juilliard, she continued along a multidisciplinary tack with a resume that covers her work as a Metropolitan Opera outreach artist, as well as a world premiere music collaborator specializing in improvisation. Her skills include work as a vocal performer, emcee, producer, director, writer, comedian, costume designer and set designer.

She said she’s been on the “hustle train” for her three decades as a performer in New York, on stage for up to 10 shows a week. The closure of the theaters due to the pandemic has moved her live performances online, but she’s been no less busy.

“As tragic as 2020 has been for the arts, it’s been a chance to recalculate and redistribute energies,” Watson said.

That has involved moving out of the city, and to a location where she could live more affordably while continuing to perform, design and create from her own theater, complete with lights, makeup, costumes, topnotch sound engineering and sets – plus interaction with the audience. 

Speaking to the Sentinel on her three-month anniversary of relocating to Harrison, Arkansas, Watson said she not only has enough room in the 1,300-square-foot home for costumes, wigs, set pieces and headdresses but also to perform.

“I’ve been doing incredible shows in a 10-by-10-foot space,” she said. 

Watson is doing what few other performers are doing successfully at this time: creating online live shows that draw audiences and participation from viewers in a varied show that incorporates several art forms and multiple genres.

She’s looking forward to sharing her work with Sitkans on Thursday, interacting live and perhaps telling a story or two about music festival artistic director Zuill Bailey, whom she met at Juilliard.

“She’s wonderful, and a great example of a musician in the 21st century,” Bailey said.

Although the two did not stay in touch after they moved on from Juilliard, Bailey said Watson is someone he would describe as “unforgettable” – both as a person and performer.

During the pandemic, many are performing online, but Bailey heard Watson’s shows were something else altogether and caught a live show on Facebook.

“When it started, it showcased all the things she was capable of,” he said. “Every genre of music, stage designer, costume designer, storytelling, pop, jazz, opera ... I was blown away. I called her right away – I was thrilled it could be an actual true live event for our senses. ... What’s great about her shows, expect the unexpected. It’s a thrill ride. She’s the ultimate entertainer.”

Before moving to New York, Watson spent most of her life in California. She enjoyed choir and singing rock music more than academic subjects in high school, and entered community college. She was offered a scholarship to study opera at Cal State-Fullerton, but was told she needed more academic courses to enroll. She was happy staying at the community college, where she studied under professor Jane Hardester, an award-winning choral director. Watson was encouraged to audition for the prestigious Juilliard School and was accepted.

She was 24 as a freshman, and found she did not fit the mold when it came to the kind of performer she wanted to be. She loved the singing classes she took, but also enjoyed theater, as well as working behind the scenes.

“I fought a lot trying to fit into the classical society, when I thought, ‘why?’” she said. “I created a lot of controversy about what was expected of art and artists, and I’m glad I did.”

Her unorthodox performances ended up earning her the first InterArts award at the school, and she went on to earn her master’s of music.

The pandemic in the early part of 2020 put an end to most live stage shows, including concerts, recitals, cabaret and plays.

Festival Executive Director Kayla Boettcher said Watson adapted to the live online performing medium more quickly than many others accustomed to performing on stage.

Boettcher said she watched Watson’s performance with Juneau Jazz and Classics last fall, and enjoyed seeing not only Watson’s vocal and performance skills, but her interaction with audience members who posted comments, and Watson responded.

“She’s very much about interactivity,” Boettcher added.

The Thursday program is free, available through a link on the Sitka Music Festival website, and no password is required. Donations to the music festival are welcome.

Bailey said he plans to be “there” – online – with Sitkans and other audience members Thursday, enjoying the show and “cheering her on.”

The show will be recorded as well, and on the festival’s website through Sunday, Jan. 17. 

Those needing more information can go to sitkamusicfestival.org or email the festival.