Christine Lavin News

The musical comedy about nightclub singers and night-time musical fantasies - Humpty Dumpty Cracks Up: The Nightmare of Cabaret --- will be performed in Manhattan on November 23, 24, and 25. The cast includes cabaret singers themselves in prominent and cameo roles, along with singer-actors who are kids, teens and adults (senior citizens among them). In the year marking her triumphant nightclub return, not resting her laurels or her tuffet, singer KAREN WYMAN is featured as Little Miss Muffet, writer of self-help books for arachnophobes and bullied teens. Cabaret-goers will find other favorites in the cast such as TERESA FISCHER as the Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe. Rotating guests in cameo and featured roles include such folks as RICKY RITZEL at the first performance, The Duplex's THOMAS HONECK at the middle performance, and CHRISTINE LAVIN on the Monday night. As the legendary Little Bo Peep, TANYA MOBERLY sheepishly appears at the first and third performances. The plot concerns a first-time cabaret performer (WENDY RUSSELL), her singer pal (BRENDA BERGMAN) and strange dreams about nursery rhyme characters putting on cabaret acts.

Artists' Exchange has announced its upcoming events for November 2013. Details below!

Artists' Exchange has announced its upcoming events for November 2013. Details below!

Catch the NEW episode of Dave's Gone By (#443 - Backstage Pass) - LIVE, today, Saturday, Nov. 2, 9am-noon(MT) streaming on UNC Radio (www.uncradio.com). Featuring: Rabbi Sol Solomon chats with theatrical press agent Susan L. Schulman ('Backstage Pass to Broadway'). Plus: Inside Broadway and remembering Lou Reed.

Catch the NEW episode of Dave's Gone By (#443 - Backstage Pass) - LIVE, this Saturday, Nov. 2, 9am-noon(MT) streaming on UNC Radio (www.uncradio.com). Featuring: Rabbi Sol Solomon chats with theatrical press agent SUSAN L. SCHULMAN ('Backstage Pass to Broadway'). Plus: Inside Broadway and remembering Lou Reed.

Catch the NEW episode of Dave's Gone By (#440 - Super Mario) - LIVE, this Saturday, Oct. 5, 10am-1pm (MT) streaming on UNC Radio (www.uncradio.com). 11th Anniversary Episode featuring: Rabbi Sol Solomon chats with veteran playwright MARIO FRATTI. Plus: Inside Broadway,Saturday Segues (Matthew Sweet, John Lennon), Bob Dylan - Sooner & Later (nobel deeds) & more!

You never know who will show up at Jim Caruso's Cast Party at Birdland! The award-winning open mic/variety show has been the place for show folk to strut their stuff for the past ten years, with no let-up in sight. Scroll down for a look at this week's star-studded concert!

Over the past ten years, Jim Caruso's Cast Party has become the ultimate spot for show folk to mix, mingle and entertain themselves and the people who love them. It helps that Birdland, it's home base, has been a world-class music room since 1949, that the sound, lights, food and staff are all top-notch, and that the entertainers that drop in are accompanied by world-class musicians. This past Monday night, the cast of "Real Housewives of New York" joined in on the Cast Party fun. Music was made, fun was had, and there was some vamping, camping and scamping, what with series regulars LuAnn de Lesseps, Mario and Ramona Singer, Heather Thompson, and Sonja Morgan in the house. Ann Hampton Callaway created a fabulous impromptu song for the cast of characters, and Monica Mancini thrilled the crowd with two of her dad Henry's biggest hits, ably accompanied by Shelly Berg on piano and Dave Koz on sax. Beloved regulars like Christine Lavin, Therese Curatolo, Gabrielle Stravelli, T. Oliver Reid, Andrew Nemr, Lodi Carr, Jon Victor Corpus and Nancy Harms performed their hearts out. Jessica Keenan Wynn, Annika, Shane Stevens, Tabitha Fair, Cole Burden and Katherine Alcorn made brilliant debuts. Happily, Billy Stritch, Steve Doyle and Carmen Intorre were the Cast Party Symphony Orchestra, dazzling and accompanying everyone. Check out a look back below!

Sutton Foster may be a Tony-Award winning Broadway Musical Theatre darling, but if her opening-night show this past Wednesday at Café Carlyle (which launched her current three-week run until September 28) is the best she can do, she's far from also being considered a nightclub/cabaret diva.

Two-Time Tony Nominee, Martin Vidnovic (Oklahoma, Baby, etc.) will join Ali Stroker, who first rose to fame in The Glee Project on TV, and then upped the ante when she graduated into Glee. Also joining the cast are Glee Project Star Dani Shay, famous folk singer/songwriter Christine Lavin, Broadway Rising Star Dominque Solano, and visiting Australian star Catherine Alcorn. They will all appear in the next Broadway Ballyhoo on Wednesday, Sept. 11th at 10:30 PM at the Laurie Beechman Theatre.

One of the biggest downers perpetrated by American culture is the characterization of Labor Day weekend as the 'unofficial end of summer.' But given what has passed for cabaret entertainment-at least the shows I was able to attend--since the 'unofficial start of summer' on Memorial Day weekend, the end of summer can't come soon enough. But my dismay over the hours lost watching average shows this season was tempered a bit by the pride and joy I felt watching the June performances of three strikingly attractive and talented 30ish brunettes with powerhouse voices-- Jackie Kristel, Karen Gross and Jodi Beck, who all staged entertaining shows as spring was turning to summer.

The 3 Tenors, Bill Brooks, Edd Clark, and Stephen Tharp are back, and expanding the boundaries of the American Songbook. For one night only, the tenors are celebrating the songs of American composers from Barry Mann & Cynthia Weil to Ned Rorem, from Christine Lavin to Samuel Barber and Ernest Gold, current composers, Paul Stephan and David Cisco, and throwing in just a little dash of Charles Ives.

Scott Siegel's Broadway Ballyhoo jumps into high gear this Wednesday, July 31 at the Laurie Beechman Theatre. In just its second week, this ever-changing musical revue will feature a wildly eclectic, star-studded cast. If you want variety in your variety show, you'll find it this Wednesday night with performances by nightlife legend STEVE ROSS, country comic singer/composer CHRISTINE LAVIN, Broadway star KELLI RABKE (Narrator in the Broadway revival of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat), up & coming musical comedy star Alex Goley (Standby at NYMF), plus a special appearance by four high-flying members of the hit musical STORYVILLE (York Theatre), among them NATASHA YVETTE WILLIAMS (Sophia in The Color Purple, DAMEKA HAYES (2x Audelco Award winner), MICHAEL JAMES LEONARD, and KYLE ROBERT CARTER!

Symphony Space, New York's home for innovative and diverse cultural programming on the Upper West Side, celebrates its 35th season of Music programs in 2013-14 with a stellar array of artists in imaginative, thought-provoking presentations. Curated by Artistic Director Laura Kaminsky, the offerings range from marathon celebrations to intimate recitals, encompassing a rich variety of musical styles. Highlights include a visit from Krzysztof Penderecki, October 25; the fifth THE MUSIC OF NOW MARATHON, with the dream-inspired theme of 'REM: Rapid Ear Movement,' February 1; and appearances by Dar Williams, Tom Paxton, Christine Lavin, and other icons of folk/acoustic music. Capping the season is SLEEPING AROUND, a multidisciplinary festival celebrating the culture, history, art, scene, and scandal of New York's most famous hotels, highlighted by WALL TO WALL SLEEPING AROUND on May 3.

The 3 Tenors, Bill Brooks, Edd Clark, and Stephen Tharp are back, and expanding the boundaries of the American Songbook. For one night only, the tenors are celebrating the songs of American composers from Barry Mann & Cynthia Weil to Ned Rorem, from Christine Lavin to Samuel Barber and Ernest Gold, current composers, Paul Stephan and David Cisco, and throwing in just a little dash of Charles Ives.

The event should have been titled '520 Mondays.' On Monday, July 1, Birdland celebrated the tenth anniversary of 'Jim Caruso's Cast Party,' the unique and very extreme weekly open mic. Gianni Valenti, the owner of the historic music room, honored host Caruso with a Seth Walters portrait on the wall, usually reserved for jazz icons. (Caruso quipped, 'Somewhere, Charlie Parker is very uncomfortable.')

Singing Les Feuilles Mortes/Autumn Leaves with Mitch Winehouse (Amy's dad) accompanied by Rick Bogart's New Orleans trio at Labane has also been a highlight of the New York trip. Winehouse has invited Ali Harper to sing in his London club. See photos of Ali's performance, and her with Winehouse, below!

After a critically acclaimed one-year run at Feinstein's at Loew's Regency, ending only because the Regency closed for renovations, Scott Siegel's BROADWAY BALLYHOO re-launches at The Laurie Beechman Theatre, downstairs at the West Bank Cafe on Wednesday, July 24th at 10:30 PM (doors open at 10 PM).

Catch the new episode of Dave's Gone By (#425 - Schlocks & Bonds) - LIVE, this Saturday, 6/1, 10am-1pm(MT) streaming on UNC Radio (www.uncradio.com). Featuring: Rabbi Sol Solomon chats with veteran rocker Gary U.S. Bonds. Plus: Inside Broadway, Saturday Segue (Jersey), Bob Dylan - Sooner & Later (Bonds), and more!

Catch the NEW episode of Dave's Gone By (#424 -Plain & Fancy) - LIVE, this Saturday, 5/25, 10am-1pm(MT)streaming on UNC Radio (www.uncradio.com).