Elisse Boyd

Mar Nadler doesn’t perform cabaret; he IS cabaret.

Any of the wonderful mezzos who appear on the NY Festival of Song’s “How About Those Mezzos!” gala could easily be called “a girl singer” --as in “the females who used to sing with the Big Bands in the ‘40s”--as well under their usual hats as opera singers. The proof: There wasn’t an aria to be heard on the program (which will be available on demand through the end of the month), co-hosted by NYFOS chief Steven Blier and mezzo Rebecca Jo Loeb, an up and comer to watch. (Blier also supplied the piano accompaniment on a half dozen entries.) They sang everything from Edith Piaf, Reynaldo Hahn and Alberto Ginastera to Antonio Carlos Jobim and Irving Berlin, all in styles that sounded little like anything you might hear at the Met, Covent Garden or the Wiener Staatsoper. There were songs in French, English, Brazilian and Spanish, with the singers at home in everything they sang

Mendacity and half-truths abound in the new, critically acclaimed musical solo work from internationally renowned pianist-singer, Mark Nadler. The Old Razzle Dazzle: An Evening of Lies, Lying and Liars will bow at the Laurie Beechman Theatre this fall on Wednesdays, Sept. 11th, 25th and Oct. 23rd at 7pm, and Oct. 30th at 9:30pm. The Laurie Beechman Theatre is at 407 West 42nd Street, in the rear and downstairs at the West Bank Café. Tickets may be purchased online at: https://web.ovationtix.com/trs/pr/1008342. Tickets are $30, and there is a $20 food/beverage minimum per person.

Last Sunday, New York's Birdland Jazz Club welcomed the third and fourth shows in Ann Hampton Callaway's This is Cabaret series that is subsequently aired on National Public Radio (check local listings for dates and times). As increased exposure is vital to the health of the art form, one can only applaud its emergence. Callaway's special guests (one in each hour segment) were jazz performer Kurt Elling and cabaret Goddess Marilyn Maye.

Expect the unexpected from cabaret stylist Patricia Racette. Yes, I said 'cabaret.' If you've only heard her at the Met or San Francisco Opera as Tosca or Madama Butterfly, you'll probably find her performance in 'Diva on Detour' a revelation. It's 'a high-note-free zone'--which doesn't give a hint that its owner spends most of her time on some of the world's great opera stages.

If you're a cabaret performer thinking about staging a musical comedy theme show, or even if you're just a cabaret fan who appreciates a thoroughly entertaining show on multiple levels, you should try to squeeze yourself into The Duplex on Wednesday night at 7 pm to see Adam Shapiro's encore performance of his Guide to the Perfect Breakup, which is also a textbook on how to create the almost perfect musical comedy cabaret show. With the guidance and support of Director Peter Napolitano and Musical Director Barry Levitt, Shapiro has crafted a structurally intricate yet seamless show about the evolution of romantic relationships-no matter what your gender-which is also funny without being sarcastic, biting without being bitchy, and tender without being cloying. And it showcases the talents of a cuddly teddy bear of a performer, who possesses the kind of solid singing, acting, and comedic chops that make him a young, rising cabaret star.

If you have a hankering to see a room full of grown-ups acting like those teenagers watching The Beatles on the Ed Sullivan show, then get thee to The Metropolitan Room, where Marilyn Maye is doing her traditional job of knocking 'em dead.

The vocal miracle that is Marilyn Maye is once again working magic in the cozy confines of The Metropolitan Room, where, in the past two years, she's opened a wondrous quartet of engagements to break a 16-year exile from Manhattan.

For two and a half glorious hours your only care in the world should be deciding which of the magnificent songs you'll be humming on your way out of the theatre.