Alix Cohen - Page 4

Bar Thalia, a narrow, uber-casual bar/café adjacent to the Upper West Side arts hub Symphony Space, has become the musical pied-à-terre of vocalist Marcus Goldhaber. Each first Sunday of the month, the artist presents two loosey-goosey acoustic sets with a guest singer and guitarist. The past Sunday's show featured vocalist Tessa Souter with Tony Romano on guitar.

In her new show, Café Society at Feinstein's/54 Below, Christine Andreas doesn't so much sing “Puttin' On the Ritz” (Irving Berlin) as personify it, channeling the attitude and era in which it was conceived. With just a tad of hip action, tipping shoulders, and an elongated ssss, the artist shares a really good time. “So, where are we going after the show . . . to Harlem's Savoy or The Copa? (The Copacabana) . . . ” This evening is about the late 1920s to the early '60s “an ongoing party of glamour and excess . . . when everybody was listening to the same music.”

In a follow-up to their 2013 presentation Sin Twisters, on Wednesday night at Feinstein's/54 Below, show biz veterans Anita Gillette and Penny Fuller offered stories from the Broadway trenches, songs from their musical history, and affectionate one-upmanship, again deftly directed by Barry Kleinbort.

Multiple Grammy-winning drummer, composer, producer, and bandleader Terri Lyne Carrington and her group play dense, intense jazz with elusive melody. Ornette Coleman's 'Chronology' arrives like a wall of sound. An adamant and up-tempo 'Body and Soul' (Edward Heyman/Robert Sour/Frank Eyton/Johnny Green) is almost tribal, at odds with familiar mood and lyric intention. Towards the end of Saturday night's show--Mosaic Project: Love and Soul--in the American Songbook Series at Lincoln Center's Appel Room, Ms. Carrington executes a lengthy solo spotlighting her extraordinary musicianship, but instrumental arrangements escape me.

Some years ago when Tony Award-winning actress (for For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf (Ntozake Shange) and playwright Trezanna Beverley's voice coach suggested she listen to Mabel Mercer, the artist had not heard of the nightclub and cabaret singing icon. A trip to the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture (Harlem) began a protracted period of research into Mercer's life and work. Beverley found she not only respected and admired her subject, but felt a kinship both in spirit and color. Inspired, she decided to write her own theatrical script about Mercer's life and art with the goal of playing her in a one-woman show. Her dream has been realized with Mabel Madness, a play with music that opened this week at Urban Stages and runs until March 20.

In their continuing effort to broaden its musical scope, Lincoln Center's American Songbook series at The Appel Room Saturday night presented two-time Tony Award nominee Andy Karl (Rocky, On the Twentieth Century) and his Tony-Award nominee wife Orfeh (Legally Blonde) performing together in concert for the first time.

The brainchild of Metropolitan Room managing partner Bernie Furshpan, his General Manager Joseph Macchia, and Cabaret Scenes Magazine Publisher Peter Leavy, New York's first International Cabaret Festival (February 17-21) debuted Wednesday night at the Met Room with performances and inductions into the newly established Cabaret Hall of Fame (an actual location for Hall and its memorabilia to be determined at a later date). Clubs hosting this year's festival include The Metropolitan Room, Don't Tell Mama, The Duplex, Feinstein's/54 Below, Iridium, Joe's Pub, and Stage 72 (formerly The Triad).

Hosted by famously deadpan Julie Halston (You Can't Take It With You), the melange of actors presented in Monday night's comedy show at Feinstein's/54 Below drove home the fact that humor is simply not universal. Additionally, lack of continuity made it seem as if artists chose material no one reviewed.

When vocalist Todd Murray discovered several of the musicians for his excellent show Croon were unavailable for their scheduled Valentine's Day appearance last Sunday afternoon at the Metropolitan Room, he asked Sean Harkness (the guitarist in the show) to join him for a two-hander. The fortuitous accident yielded a terrific presentation of romantic material from sentimental to ardent, a pared down sharing of unadulterated heart and high musical craft that deserves wider audience. “It's our goal to put you in the mood,” Murray tells us. They do.

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.

The indomitable Liliane Montevecchi revived her 25-year-old cabaret show Thursday night at Feinstein's/54 Below with verve, style, and the expansive flirting of a lifelong femme fatale. This time it's aptly titled Be My Valentine. Few can ad lib with so much beguiling heat. As the Cliff Notes of her extraordinary life are now familiar to most fans, this audience is here to experience the infectious joy of live performance.

Attending a Ben Vereen show these days is like worshipping at the altar of Happy. As he displayed once again on Monday's opening night of his latest run at Feinstein's/ 54 Below, the veteran entertainer exudes palpable pleasure at being on stage while repeatedly expressing gratitude to his audience. Performance is deeply sincere. Vereen seems possessed by spirit. When not singing, eyes often closed, his body echoes the sinuous (Bob Fosse) movement that helped established his early reputation.

With her new CD release Photographs, veteran New York jazz and cabaret singer Mary Foster Conklin puts her own stamp on the material, which is part interpretation and part the limited range of her often smoky alto. Accompanying musicians—led by John diMartino on piano--are top notch with especially deft use of brass.

How much do most of us know about Brooklyn's own Mary Jane 'Mae' West (1893-1980) other than that she was an iconic sex symbol who had a wicked sense of humor? It's common knowledge she acted and sang, but are you aware she was a playwright and screenwriter? Did you know she didn't make her first film until the age of 39 and never drank alcohol? Jazz vocalist Molly Ryan has done her homework, presenting a smart, multifaceted woman who was, outside her carefully constructed persona, "the epitome of modesty." Though narrative needs to be edited, her show Come Up and See Me Sometime at the Metropolitan Room (which completed a three-show run this past Wednesday night) is an excellent mix of history and anecdote making a case for increased appreciation of the subject.

Karen Oberlin's original performance of Heart & Soul: The Songs of Frank Loesser in 2010 (Loesser's Centennial celebration year) at The Algonquin Hotel's legendary Oak Room earned her a MAC Award nomination for “Best Major Artist” (as well as an award for the Live CD) and sterling reviews. Hence, the show's inclusion in Producer Stephen Hanks' monthly Metropolitan Room series, New York Cabaret's Greatest Hits (which launched last August and runs through 2016). Oberlin's captivating performance Wednesday evening showcased not only her acknowledged prowess with plumy ballads, but also her flair for comedy and an aptitude that handles nuanced jazz with seamless transitions. The vocalist was joined by her original collaborators, Musical Director Jon Weber on piano and Sean Smith on bass, while the show was directed by the piece's original helmsman, Eric Michael Gillett.

Thursday night at Feinstein's/54 Below, Scott Siegel--the busiest cabaret show producer in town--hosted a tribute to Cole Porter's classic musical, Kiss Me Kate, as part of the 2015 BroadwayWorld Award-nominated 54 Below Sings . . . series. With Siegel at the lectern filling in plot, Musical Director Ross Patterson on piano, and contributions by The Broadway By the Year Chorus, the evening was vivacious and fun.

Lo and behold, The Plaza Hotel once again has music. Located up a flight of stairs where once the legendary Persian Room stood, The Rose Club is a comfortable two tiered bar and lounge with a varied menu and specialty cocktails. Service is excellent. This all but unknown refuge is a good place to meet for a drink or snack and decompress in pleasant, upscale surroundings. Wednesday nights, the excellent Kat Gang and her trio--Matthew Fries on keyboard, Phil Palombi on bass, Tim Bulkley on drums--hold forth during three sets from 8:30-11:30 pm. Though drinks are hotel priced, there is NO cover making this good value.

Marlene VerPlanck always makes one feel as the gathering's in her own living room. On the night after Christmas, with expert colleagues Jon Weber (piano) and Jay Leonhart (bass), the vocalist offers a mix of classic and new material at the intimate Jazz at Kitano. VerPlanck, who released her first album in 1955 when she was just 21 and sang with the Tommy Dorsey band, continues to put her own subtle stamp on phrasing without disrespecting melody or lyric. She swings without stress and communicates without acting.

With a song list comprised partially of holiday numbers, partially of high points in his Broadway career having nothing to do with Christmas, and partially of--I don't know, how would you categorize “Fever” in this context?--Norm Lewis is making his debut at Feinstein's/54 Below this week (9:30 shows continue tonight and tomorrow night) in a show called 'Norm Lewis Wishes You a Swingin' Christmas,' directed by veteran Broadway actor/singer/dancer Richard Jay-Alexander.

Thirty years ago, championed by Liza Minnelli (Ira Gershwin's goddaughter), young Michael Feinstein debuted at the iconic Oak Room of The Algonquin Hotel. I was there, having been escorted by an older, more sophisticated friend. As I recall, Feinstein was alone at the piano; thoroughly engaging, telling stories of his time as Ira Gershwin's assistant, even then, peppering the show with lesser-known songs. This past Sunday, this standard bearer of The American Songbook began a run (through December 30) in partnership with the New York club now bearing his name, Feinstein's/54 Below (“The only place I have to sleep with myself to get the job,” he quipped). Though he's performed in the city since the 2012 closing of his room at Loew's Regency Hotel, the artist no longer had a place to call home in New York. This has happily been rectified.