Cabaret Star Lauren Fox Brings 'Love, Lust, Fear & Freedom' to Outpost in the Burbs

The late-1960s love affair of Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen was brief, but resonates far and wide in the songs of these two iconic singer-songwriters. Those musical scenescapes will be explored in a special Outpost in the Burbs Nov. 15 offering described as intimate, dramatic and sultry. The woman at the center of "Love, Lust, Fear & Freedom" is Lauren Fox.

Fox is an actor, author, tea shop proprietor, healthy living advocate who is arguably the hottest star on New York City's cabaret scene today. She sings from the "new American songbook" of popular music from the folk-influenced singer-songwriter era of the 1960s and '70s. Her particular focus, a passion she says started in her youth, is music from California's Laurel Canyon, which gave us stellar songwriters including Jackson Browne, Judee Sill, the members of the Eagles, JD Souther, Jack Tempchin and Joni Mitchell.

The 16-song set Fox will perform with a trio at Montclair's Unitarian Universalist Church turns compositions by Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen into a spellbinding his-and-hers dialogue that brings new depth to the songwriters' individual bodies of work.

Fox said her father, whom she credits for allowing her a world-class music education, introduced her to the music of both artists and at one point let her know that the two had been romantically involved.

"I became obsessed," she told Patch during a recent phone conversation. 

Being a self-described cerebral person, she dealt with her obsession by going online and buying every book she could find out what she could about the short-lived affair that occurred when they were becoming acclaimed songwriters, but before Mitchell and Cohen had released their own albums. Eventually, Fox realized that glimpses into the relationship could be found in the artists' songs.

"It was Joni more than Leonard," she said. "She wrote about seven or eight songs directly about him that she was very forthright about. And there are references in Leonard's songs, he's just been quieter about it."
 
She said that when she started doing research she found hints within song lyrics, noting that "if you didn't know their songs line for line, word for word, you might miss it." 

"In 'Suzanne,' Leonard writes that 'she feeds you tea and oranges ... and the sun pours down like honey,'" she said. "A couple years later Joni writes in 'Chelsea Morning': 'Woke up, it was a Chelsea morning, and the first thing that I knew, there was milk and toast and honey and a bowl of oranges, too, and the sun poured in like butterscotch...' It's incredible. it's really cool stuff.

"That's where I came up with the concept of the show," Fox continued. "It's a dialogue between the two without making any judgment or drawing any conclusions. It lays out why they were attracted to each other and probably why it didn't work out."


The work has won Fox much acclaim. Last year, the Manhattan Association of Cabarets & Clubs’ named her Female Debut Artist of the Year  and Debut Artist of the Year at the 27th annual Bistro Awards. Her performance at the Mabel Mercer Foundation’s Cabaret Convention at Lincoln Center was hailed by the New York Times as “the most transfixing performance of the evening.” And she found a particular admirer in probably the most powerful theater reviewer in New York, the Times' Stephen Holden.

"That was a gamechanger for me, in my life and in my career," Fox said, noting that she suffered self-esteem issues as a teenager and young adult. "I always knew I was creative and had ideas that could reach people in my head, but never thought I was ready. When Stephen Holden wrote that review I knew I was ready. I accepted it."

Fox recalled seeing the venerable reviewer, probably the most knowledgeable journalist on the Laurel Canyon years, on the night of his visit to a New York performance of "Love, Lust, Fear & Freedom." 

"As he was passing by, he grasped my arm and went, 'Brilliant,' and left," she said. "I just about fell over. The review came out and I cried. His opinion meant more than anyone's. He appreciated it and understood it. That was the most important.

"My biggest focus in putting the show together was making sure that i honored these people I respect so much. I laid out the facts and showed the brilliance of their performances."

Next on Fox's to-do list is hitting the road with her cabaret piece “Canyon Folkies: Over the Hills & Under the Covers,” which takes on the notorious love lives of the denizens of that pioneering musical tribe. In January, she'll play at New York's Stage 72 in Fox in the Henhouse, her collaboration with bassist Ritt Henn. The duo will sing love songs from David Lynch films. In the spring, she'll debut a new show about history of "the most famous super groupies and muses and the men that they loved."

But first, she will bring the brief but epic love story of Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen to Montclair. Lauren Fox and her trio perform "Love, Lust, Fear & Freedom" with popular opener Kenny White offering an extended set on Nov. 15 at Montclair's Outpost in the Burbs in the main sanctuary of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation, 67 Church St.  Outpost volunteers will be collecting nonperishable food items for the Human Needs Food Pantry located in Montclair at this concert, so bring along items to help the effort. 


Tickets are $28 in advance and $32 at the door and are available at Keil’s Pharmacy, 732 Valley Road; Studio 042 – Super Business Printer, 423 Bloomfield Ave.; or online via TicketLeap.