John Hoglund

In her current show at the Metropolitan Room, It's Personal, Baby Jane Dexter once again reaches beyond the footlights and embraces her idolaters as only she can. In doing so, she makes them cry, laugh out loud, and view life with a different slant. After all these years, she's still packing them in and raising the bar. Her gravitas and strong self-belief make for an exciting and unique hour of cabaret. Dexter's joy at giving is evident throughout this new show. Serious minded but never preachy, this is an artist enjoying herself as much as her audience is.

Fourteen years since his debut at Don't Tell Mama, Marcus Simeone has evolved into a fearless singer who is able to climb inside any song and deliver it home with ease. Aside from eclectic solo work, he has also partnered with others over the years with mixed results. Currently, he has joined forces with two cabaret artists in two totally unrelated songwriter showcases running simultaneously in two different clubs. One salutes a controversial folk pioneer and the other pays homage to three Broadway icons.

Some performers push the envelope. In the case of Kim David Smith, no avant-garde, gender-bending, or mainstream artist dancing in the cabaret arena today takes more risks. Never was this more in evidence than in his brand new show, Stargazing at Joe's Pub on October 8. Few artists work harder to express themselves through the increasingly visible alt-cabaret genre than Smith. He doesn't just break glass ceilings he crashes them with a jackhammer. To accomplish this, he seamlessly re-imagines Weimar-era, neo-classicism and Berlin-channeling cabaret at every turn the likes of which have not been seen since Marlene Dietrich in the 1930 film, The Blue Angel.

For any cabaret performer, delivering an original song can be a nice touch in any show, but finding the right one can drive a singer crazy. The upside is that as well as highlighting the songwriter (which in some cases can be the singer's musical director) it gives the performer an opportunity to show what they can do with unfamiliar material. The combination of the two can be effective and memorable. Such was the case recently with singer Gary Crawford who along with musical director, arranger and songwriter Barry Levitt delivered a very compelling evening of songs on September 2 at the Metropolitan Room. Crawford is a lovable singer who highlighted the somewhat under-the-radar talent of one of cabaret's most respected musicians. After producing a MAC Award-winning show (for "Best Debut") in 2013-In Love With Love-and recording a subsequent CD, it was inevitable that Crawford and Levitt team up again, this time for Secret Dreams: Gary Crawford Sings The Barry Levitt Songbook.

Near the end of his exceptional new show, Very Good Years: The Intimate Sinatra at the Metropolitan Room, Richard Malavet recalls famed radio personality William B. Williams who once said: "Frank Sinatra is the most imitated, most listened to, most recognized voice of the 20th century." Williams did not exaggerate. Consequently, in this centennial year of Sinatra's birth, there will be many observations of the man known as "The Voice." For his tribute to Sinatra, Malavet did his homework. In this meticulously researched, respectful homage, he turns his talents to the more personalized aspects of the pop star's recording years, from 1939-1968, when musically, Sinatra became synonymous with songs of heartache and loneliness.

Since her cabaret debut at Eighty Eight's in 1992, Yanna Avis has played every major room in New York and has become one of the most popular international artists, with a fan base that continues to grow. With her new show at 54 Below (on June 18), Make Some Magic, Avis demonstrated why she is so unique and renowned for classy interpretations of songs from the 1930s to 1940s. Singing in German, Spanish, English and French, Avis sauntered through an hour of what she called "my cabaret," which included her old-world deconstruction of seductive songs recalling an intimate boite style made famous by legendary divas famed for erudite and sexy ditties from a world we'll never see again.

To paraphrase a Peter Allen song, she could have been a sailor. Instead, she chose to sail the open seas. And now she's singing about it. It all made for a promising theme for the Manhattan cabaret debut of Robyn McCorquodale and her series of four April shows, Diary Of A Piano Girl, at the Laurie Beechman Theatre. Pert, lively and totally likable, she shared her stories fused with original songs about wanderlust in which all roads eventually lead back home. From the opening number to closing with "Somewhere Over The Rainbow," her only familiar entry, she took a circuitous route with visits to numerous ports of call. New to our local cabaret shores, but no stranger to entertaining, she's made her mark in the Big Apple with this outing.

After a 20-year absence from Manhattan cabaret, Roslyn Kind resurfaced last year with a sold out run at 54 Below. The show was a hit and audiences so adored her, she probably could have extended a month. At the time, she was fresh off a world tour that that began at Brooklyn's Barclays Center and famously included her nephew Jason Gould, acclaimed jazz trumpeter Chris Botti, and half sister Barbra Streisand with whom she sang some duets. The Brooklyn native returned to 54 Below for the first three days in May and again her show was a hit under the masterful direction of Broadway's Richard Jay-Alexander

Any seasoned entertainment pro will tell you that the key to success on a stage is keeping your audience happy. It also helps to throw in a bevy of show-stopping songs, parodies, and raucous tongue-in-cheek laughter along the way. Those make up only a few of the ingredients offered in the ongoing Judy and Liza: Together Again show at Don't Tell Mama (now in its fourth year) starring Tommy Femia and Rick Skye.

Ben Rimalower just might be heading a revival of downtown theater. Following the wild success of his popular cabaret-theater piece, Patti Issues, which ran forever (and is still going strong), he's back with his latest entry into obsessive-compulsive issues, Bad With Money, running at The Duplex Cabaret Theatre through April. This is a profoundly darker work, laced with campy humor and his trademark spitfire delivery. It is more serious and thought provoking as he expounds on his neurotic spending habits and substance addictions.

Watching a singer like Celia Berk, who brings a heartwarming balance, a subtle good humor, originality, and a lot of affection to everything she sings, makes one realize the crucial role good instincts play in the self-conscious, self-absorbed world of cabaret. Right at the top of her recent debut run of shows titled You Can't Rush Spring (the title of her recently released excellent debut CD) at the Metropolitan Room, this New Yorker from the business world ingratiated herself with the audience by admitting she was fulfilling a lifelong dream. Berk had already built a following with a few excellent guest performances (most notably at this past October's Cabaret Convention at Lincoln Center) and in this auspicious debut she proved she easily puts her personal stamp on an eclectic mix of songs. Such ability springs directly from who she is and not from someone's idea of who she should be.

In a show business world of frauds and air kisses, Baby Jane Dexter is the ultimate survivor . . . the real thing . . . a true New York cabaret legend. Accolades, awards, great press, and life-altering shows have been her calling card over the last 25 years since she returned to cabaret after a decade long absence. She has shared her life experiences through laughter and tears in song and through good times and bad. Regardless of the situation, she has ferociously plowed forward with a vengeance and never let her fans down. Her new show, Rules of the Road (Part 3), running at the Metropolitan Room on weekends through December 27, is another life-affirming mix of shattering realities fused with the promise of better days.