Jean Malin

So what is the show, you may ask - the show is Mark. He is the show, the show is him and SONGS AND SCANDALS OF THE 1920S is merely the vehicle to deliver Mark to his adoring audience - an audience that goes with him wherever he plays. Mark is an unparalleled musician and singer whose piano playing is a true phenom and his vocals are some of the finest, smoothest, and richest you will here in our Cabaret's these (or any other) days.

Theater for the New City presents Speakeasy: John and Jane's Adventures in the Wonderland, a fantastical musical of Prohibition-era NYC queer life written and composed by Danny Ashkenasi.

The creative team of Speakeasy: John and Jane Allison in the Wonderland, a fantastical musical of Prohibition-era NYC queer life written and composed by Danny Ashkenasi, has announced a free public reading to be held on Monday, December 7th at 7pm as part of Theater for the New City's 'New City, New Blood' Reading Series. Lissa Moira directs a cast of 14, including Camille Atkinson, Torian Brackett, Anne Bragg, Tim Connell*, Chris D'Amico, Darcy Dunn, Rosalie Graziano*, Bevin Bell Hall, Brian Michael Henry*, Brian C. Jones, Rebecca Marquardt, Bri Molloy, Allie Radice*, and Zach Wachter. Music direction by Jonathan Fox Powers. The reading will be held at Theater for the New City, 155 First Avenue (between 9th and 10th Streets) in New York City's East Village. For reservations and more information on the free reading, visit TNC. *Member, AEA.

Mark Nadler's latest performance, Runnin' Wild, is guaranteed to win him more fans.

In a white dinner jacket and striped waistcoat, toting a violin case Mark Nadler sets the mood for his new show Runnin' Wild - Songs and Scandals of the Roaring 20's with his own arrangement of Cole Porter's Lets Misbehave, and Lets Do It and Harrington Gibbs, Joel Grey and Leo Wood's Runnin' Wild as he transports his audience to the sex, drug and alcohol fueled era of prohibition. The medley, with a pared back self accompaniment on the piano, highlights the cheeky wide eyed enthusiasm synonymous with Nadler's performance style that draws the audience in so effectively. Nadler is joined by Sophia MacRae on clarinet, appropriately dressed in flapper dress and feathers and Rob Chenoweth on Trumpet.

When Mark Nadler last performed a solo show at 54 Below, it was a very personal musical exploration of Germany's Weimar Republic of the 1920s, a place and an atmosphere that was dark, dangerous and decadent. I'm a Stranger Here Myself was such a compelling tour de force that it was expanded into a highly praised off-Broadway piece that Nadler staged at the York Theatre last Spring. Nadler's new 54 Below effort, Runnin' Wild: Songs & Scandals of the Roaring Twenties, (which opened last Sunday, ran last night, and will also play on May 7 at 9:30pm and May 14 at 7pm) is like a playful and debauched sequel to Stranger, only in this show—which would be more aptly titled “Reckless Abandon”--Nadler is clearly a gleeful member of the club. To this passionate piano man, America's big cities in the pre-Depression era 1920s were happy, hungry, and hedonistic. There was always a party filled with sex, drugs and booze looking for a place to happen. And goodness knows, Mark Nadler wishes he'd been invited to every one of them. But since he was born too late, all he can do is serve as congenial host in re-creating the speakeasy ambiance and in this show he manages to accomplish that--only without the sex and drugs. Damn!