The Duplex News

Ben Rimalower's addiction to spending beyond his means has driven him to extreme lengths all his life. In BAD WITH MONEY he charts his sometimes hilarious, sometimes harrowing struggle to overcome his problem-or get rich trying. Written and performed by Ben Rimalower and directed by Aaron Mark, BAD WITH MONEY premieres at The Duplex (61 Christopher Street at Seventh Avenue) from September 4 through November 6.

In a return engagement at the legendary Duplex Cabaret Theatre, popular New York comic Adam Sank stars in his own cabaret show, complete with songs, comedy and humiliating childhood stories.

Mostly Sondheim, the long-running musical theater open mic at The Duplex Cabaret, will celebrate Elaine Stritch with a special tribute tonight, July 18, 2014.

Check out a look back at Lavin's concert at Birdland, featuring appearances by Hunter Ryan Herdlicka, BroadwayWorld's own Richard Ridge, and more, below!

Belting songstress Kate Pazakis was recently named executive producer of Rockwell Table and Stage in Hollywood. In our chat she talks about her past successes and gives us a glimpse of her big plans for Rockwell's immediate future. Kate, you have an amazing voice and have become known as one of the theatre's best kept secrets. How do you react to that? Tell me a few of the shows you have been involved with. I'd rather be nine people's favorite thing than

New Perspectives Theatre Company (NPTC) has announced on the margin, the 7th Annual Women's Work Short Play Festival with six original scripts developed to that theme. The festival runs from Monday, August 4th to Saturday, August 9th with performances of two Programs alternating 4:00pm and 8:00pm curtain times.. on the margin performs at NPTC Studio, 458 West 37th Street (at 10th Avenue.)

The love that dare not speak its name becomes exactly that in Bill McMahon's heart-tugging work Cover, a play which examines the fault lines found in even the most committed relationships. Produced by Tony Award-winning producer Jim Kierstead and directed by Paul J. Michael, Cover will be performed today, July 15 at 6pm, Thursday, July 17 at 7:45pm, Saturday, July 26 at 4:15pm, Sunday, July 27 at 7pm, Monday, July 28 at 7:30pm and Tuesday, July 29 at 6pm at the Dorothy Strelsin Theatre, located at 312 West 36th Street.

Special Agent Galactica, along with critically acclaimed jazz/classical guitarist, Peter Fields, weave together an intimate evening of songs, stories and a good old laugh or two. Featuring music of the Golden Age of Jazz, the Blues of Burlesque, Hollywood standards and a few rock and roll favorites from today, Galactica enchants with tales about her past missions, her love life, her time as a cadet, important people she's met along the way, and other anecdotal gems from her life as a hired galactic assassin for the privately owned underground organization referred to only as 'The Agency'.

Since I attended more than 50 shows over the past eight months (a few more than once)--the large majority of which were reviewed on these web pages—I felt I had more than enough cabaret show inventory to present my second-annual “Mid-Year Cabaret Review” citing the “20 Best Cabaret Shows and Performances” for the first half of 2014. Since the eligibility period for 2014 BroadwayWorld New York Cabaret Award consideration begins with shows staged since last November (late October if it was the first of a run), I've included a few of those late 2013 shows in this group. And with the announcement of the BWW Award nominees just four months away, I've offered some projections on the Award categories for which these shows very well might receive consideration.

The 23rd Annual HOT!, the NYC Celebration of Queer Culture, will run July 5th through August 2nd at Dixon Place. The world's longest-running LGBTQ Performance Festival, HOT! offers theater, music, dance, puppetry, performance art and homoeroticism for the whole family! HOT! is the pioneering celebration of queer performance and culture - and the oldest annual festival of its kind in the world. Dixon Place is proud that HOT! serves as the model for other queer festivals across the globe and has become a performance destination for emerging talent in the LGBTQ community.

Dixon Place (Ellie Covan, Artistic Director) presents the 23rd Annual HOT!, the NYC Celebration of Queer Culture. The world's longest-running LGBTQ Performance Festival, HOT! offers theater, music, dance, puppetry, performance art and homoeroticism for the whole family! HOT! is the pioneering festival of queer performance and culture - and the oldest annual festival of its kind in the world. Dixon Place is proud the HOT! serves as the model for other queer festivals across the globe and has become a performance destination for emerging talent in the LGBTQ community. This year's HOT!, featuring hundreds of participating artists presenting their newest creations, will run July 5th through August 2nd at Dixon Place, located at 161A Chrystie Street in New York City.

TUNE IN TIME, New York City's exciting, new musical theater challenge returns to Stage 72 today, July 1 at 9 pm with a new crop of exciting up-and-coming musical theater songwriters. The composers and lyricists must write a song from a musical whose title is literally picked from a hat, and in the genre determined by a spin of "The Dreaded Genre Wheel." Will it be a historical epic? Something a la Rodgers & Hammerstein? Or even [insert name of large theme-park owning megacorporation-turned-Broadway-megalopolis here]? Oh yeah, and they have just 20 minutes to do it.

Back by popular demand, THE BOOK OF MORMON, which played a record breaking two week run in 2013, returns for a limited engagement at the Detroit Opera House, July 1 through July 13, 2014.

TUNE IN TIME, New York City's exciting, new musical theater challenge returns to Stage 72 on Tuesday, July 1 at 9 pm with a new crop of exciting up-and-coming musical theater songwriters. The composers and lyricists must write a song from a musical whose title is literally picked from a hat, and in the genre determined by a spin of "The Dreaded Genre Wheel." Will it be a historical epic? Something a la Rodgers & Hammerstein? Or even [insert name of large theme-park owning megacorporation-turned-Broadway-megalopolis here]? Oh yeah, and they have just 20 minutes to do it.

A year ago this summer (July 31, to be exact), Terri White performed a one-off show at 54 Below that was so stirring in its show-woman ship she was voted the winner of the 2013 BroadwayWorld New York Cabaret Award for 'Best One-Show Special Event.' Based on the Broadway and nightclub veteran's performance in her recent June 22 show at the same club, White should be a candidate to pick up the award once again this year. Maybe it's time to just call her, 'Terri Terrific.'

Composer Hyeyoung Kim's hit musical romantic-comedy, CAFE-IN, re-opens in South Korea on June 27th, 2014 at the KT&G SangSangArt Theater, for a limited run through September 7th, 2014. Performance schedule as follows: Tues-Fri @ 8pm/ Sat @ 3pm, 7pm/ Sun @ 2pm, 6pm, with a 4pm show during the week of July 25th-31st. Dark Monday nights.

The love that dare not speak its name becomes exactly that in Bill McMahon's heart-tugging work Cover, a play which examines the fault lines found in even the most committed relationships. Produced by Tony Award-winning producer Jim Kierstead and directed by Paul J. Michael, Cover will be performed Tuesday, July 15 at 6pm, Thursday, July 17 at 7:45pm, Saturday, July 26 at 4:15pm, Sunday, July 27 at 7pm, Monday, July 28 at 7:30pm and Tuesday, July 29 at 6pm at the Dorothy Strelsin Theatre, located at 312 West 36th Street.

Special Agent Galactica, along with critically acclaimed jazz/classical guitarist, Peter Fields, weave together an intimate evening of songs, stories and a good old laugh or two. Featuring music of the Golden Age of Jazz, the Blues of Burlesque, Hollywood standards and a few rock and roll favorites from today, Galactica enchants with tales about her past missions, her love life, her time as a cadet, important people she's met along the way, and other anecdotal gems from her life as a hired galactic assassin for the privately owned underground organization referred to only as 'The Agency'.

After a successful launch with two shows / competitions in April, New York City's exciting, new musical theater songwriting challenge, TUNE IN TIME, returns to Stage 72 (The Triad) tonight, June 25 and Tuesday, July 1 at 9 pm.

The biggest challenge in personalizing a tribute show is when the set list is structured to tell a story about the performer's life. Those songs better be good, that life better be interesting, and that storytelling patter better be clever, humorous, and self-deprecating or an audience (let alone a reviewer) will tune you out quicker than a liberal accidentally hitting FOX News on the remote. I recently saw two different shows at The Duplex from enchanting young women performers—Carly Ozard and Nikki MacCallum--who deftly managed to weave their love of a singer (Bette Midler for Ozard) or a songbook (Kander & Ebb for MacCallum) into a tale of life journey and personal growth to produce charming and entertaining shows.