The pandemic had many horrible, catastrophic impacts but there have been some silver linings. Many actors involved in live theater, for instance, found new ways to express their creativity.
“I became a total Francophile,” says Grey Garrett. “I got into this phase where I was watching Catherine Deneuve movies and I guess I got the bug.”
Garrett has emerged as a major star on the local stage scene over the past 10 years, nominated for an unprecedented eight Richmond Theatre Community Circle (RTCC) awards and winning four of them. But with no live audiences to play to, she poured herself into this new obsession.
“It just kind of sucked me in: I started getting into French fashion, I started following Instagram accounts about France,” she says. “Just listening to French music while cleaning my house made me feel chic.”
Garrett’s newfound passion led to two major developments: a trip to Paris in 2022 during which her boyfriend proposed, and the establishment of “Aléatoire,” a combo that primarily plays classic French songs. Recruiting her partner in the project, Jeremy Flax, was key to getting it off the ground.
“I don’t speak French but I remembered that I knew a language teacher who was also a guitarist,” says Garrett. “I invited Jeremy to lunch and was like, ‘Would you want to do this crazy thing?’”
Flax teaches languages at Chickahominy Middle School but is better known on the local music scene thanks to his involvement in many bands. Though he already had plenty on his plate, Garrett made the ask at the right time.
“I have been on a ’60s French music kick for a good while,” says Flax. “The main band that I perform with, J. Flax and the Heart Attacks, is very influenced by ’60s surf and early punk. There’s a lot of musical overlap with French girl group numbers from the ’60s.
“I started getting into artists like Serge Gainsbourg and the songs he wrote and I’m like, these songs are bangers.”
The two chose the name “Aléatoire” purposely because it means “random” in French, allowing them to develop a very eclectic set list. “We’re doing everything from Édith Piaf to yé-yé to more contemporary songs,” says Garrett. “We’re not bound to any restrictions.”
Flax concurs: “Since it’s just the two of us, we can go wherever we like with it.”
Near the end of the pandemic, Lindsey Zelli and her husband Jeff Ashworth had the choice to go almost wherever they wanted, geographically.
During the early days of the crisis, the two left New York city to stay with family in Indiana but, as the world opened up, Ashworth’s job needed him to be able to get back to Manhattan relatively easily. His best friend from college lives in Richmond so they chose to move here.
Zelli subsequently exploded on the local theater scene, starring in three productions during the 2022-23 season, earning three RTCC nominations and winning best lead performance in a play for her work in Swift Creek Mill’s “Gaslight.”
At the same time, she was focused on family matters, pregnant with her and Ashworth’s first child. After their daughter Imogen (or Izzy) was born last October, Zelli started thinking about getting back to the stage.
“I love performing but Jeff’s not really a performer, even though he has the voice of an angel,” says Zelli. “We had been talking about doing a cabaret, but getting him to perform with me is an uphill battle.”
Doing a show centered on their journey into parenthood, a process that involved in vitro fertilization, appealed to Ashworth though. Together, they’ve created a cabaret called “With Child.”
“It’s a night of songs that we both love from shows that we love,” says Zelli. The couple took care to choose songs that aren’t just about parenthood but that spotlight the emotional intricacies of starting a family.
“I loved the song ‘Everything Changes’ from ‘Waitress’ before having baby,” she says. “But it hits me differently now that I actually experienced it because everything absolutely changes when you have a child: your body, your identity, it’s transformative.”
Though she’s quickly become familiar to Richmond audiences, she hasn’t been in a musical here so this show will be an introduction of her voice to new fans.
“In true musical theater fashion, big emotions require song and we’ve had lots of big emotions about Izzy,” she says. “We’ve coined the word ‘catharsisism’ for this show. It’s narcissistic because we’ll be talking about our story, but it’s also going to be extremely cathartic to celebrate it in a way that people will enjoy.”
“With Child” will be performed at The Basement, 300 East Broad Street, on Sept. 14 and 15. Tickets and information available at https://www.thebasementrva.org/events/.
Aléatoire will be playing at Black Iris Social Club, 321 W Broad St., on Sept. 28, and has a semi-regular gig at Foode in Fredericksburg. Follow them at https://www.instagram.com/aleatoirerva/ for show information.
