Interview: Mizrahi comes into focus in June cabaret shows

You might know Isaac Mizrahi as the flamboyant judge on Project Runway All-Stars, or the designer whose name has appeared on both couture runways and Target tags, or the actor who played himself on Sex and the City, Gossip Girl and Men in Black. But none of those roles quite captures who he is.

But on stage with a microphone in hand and a jazz band behind him, the real Mizrahi starts to come into focus. His June 5 and June 7 cabaret shows, “I Know Everybody,” is part performance, part comedy, part confessional — and nothing is off-limits.

This season, Spoleto Festival USA audiences will get to see that side of him up close. Mizrahi got on the phone to discuss creativity, cultural chaos and why a little oversharing never hurt anyone. The following has been edited for concision and clarity.

CITY PAPER: Do you see your cabaret as a way to push boundaries or more to preserve this classic form of entertainment?

ISAAC MIZRAHI: One thing that I associate cabaret with is a kind of presence. When you show up in a cabaret, you are there in that room with that audience. You’re, like, sitting on their laps, and they know exactly who you are. Usually, they’re very surprised by the music, and they love it, which is a great thrill for me. But it also tends to be a political thing. You engage with the audience in this very intimate way — whether there are 3,000 or 1,000 or 100 people. I think it has a bit more of a political slap to it.

CP: Do you think the Southern setting will change your energy at all on stage?

IM: Probably, yes. We’ve appeared in the South, and it’s not the audience that you get in New York City, San Francisco or L.A. So I proceed with caution, but I do think that people are ready for it.

CP: Your audience seems to be very diverse in terms of age. How do you tailor your storytelling for different age groups?

IM: You feel your audience and you go with something. I did this show last night in Long Island and I understood, suddenly, that they were laughing at this one thing about Barbra Streisand. It was like, Oh, wait a minute, I’m going to tell the story about Streisand. Audiences lead you in different directions. At least me. We rehearse the music like crazy. The structure of the arrangement is very important, and the tempo — that’s what we rehearse. But we rise to any occasion as far as the venue or the context.

CP: You can practice the music, but what about your commentary? Can that ever get over-practiced?

IM: I do err on the side of not knowing what to say rather than pretending to say something fresh when you’ve rehearsed it 1,000 times. The patter and stories really do take a whole new form every single night. Sometimes you stumble across a line and you go, “That’s a really good line that deserves to be repeated.” I was talking a couple of nights ago about drinking and taking pills and trying to overcompensate for what the hell is going on in the political world. And I said something like, “Oh, maybe that’s the lesson of Trump America: Never put off for tomorrow the addiction you can have today.” And it got a huge laugh. So now it’s in the set somewhere.

CP: What about when you’re bringing up people you’ve known? Has that ever come back to bite you?

IM: Here and there I do get a little bit of pushback. Billy Stritch is also a musical performer, and he was good friends with Liza Minnelli when I was good friends with Liza, and we all worked together, and I told a story about him on stage. I was worried that it would get back to him because it was kind of a racy story. And then one night he was at the club, and I was like, you know, I’m just gonna tell the story. And he loved it.

CP: You’re very open in your book and your shows. Is there anything off limits about your personal life?

IM: Not really. No matter what, even if it is completely off limits, I still go there. I talk about my husband. I know my husband doesn’t like it when I talk about him, but I do because, well, for one thing, it’s hilarious stuff. But I also feel like secrets are not good. I don’t believe in keeping secrets for very long.

CP: What part of your personal identity do you think comes through most when you’re performing cabaret?

IM: I think my humor really comes through, and I think that’s a very important part of everything right now. If you don’t have a sense of humor, darling, you are not going to make it for the next couple of years. I think you can go on my Instagram and tell immediately who I am. You can understand I’m a Jewish homosexual who lives in New York City, so put it together. I’m not a Trump supporter. That’s just who I am, and that’s pretty self-evident.

CP: Do you think politics has become an underlying theme in “I Know Everybody”?

IM: It’s not my choice, but it is what I end up talking about because it affects my life so much. I tell this one story about when Biden got back into the White House, and I posted a picture of him and Kamala on Instagram, and I wrote, “Oh, hooray.” Most of the comments I took down, but one very funny comment that I left up said, “I didn’t know he was a Democrat.” And I thought to myself, Really, lady? You didn’t know I was a …? Like, come on, put it together.

CP: As someone who’s super extroverted, how was it during Covid-19?

IM: We actually did virtual shows at the Carlyle. We snuck in and taped them, not with an audience. So I didn’t really miss that much over Covid, except what everybody else missed. And the thing about being extroverted is that it’s sort of the opposite. I’m so shy, I’m so introverted, that I am constantly pushing myself to be extroverted and say things and open my mouth, and I’m always living with fear and dread until I get into a situation. Stupid, but that’s who I am.

CP: Do you think that tendency helps you always have content?

IM: Yes, I do. I think that. I always want to say that to creative people. They dread, they dread, they dread, but that’s what feeds them. That’s what feeds us. It’s a terrible thing, but it’s true. It’s like a curse and a blessing.

IF YOU WANT TO GO: “Isaac Mizrahi: I Know Everybody,” 8 p.m. June 5; 6 and 9 p.m. June 7, at Charleston Music Hall.

Olivia Meier is a journalism graduate of the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University.