Ashley Steves - Page 2

Betty Buckley's STORY SONGS #2, the artist's new show at Joe's Pub running through Sunday night, was initially supposed to have another, darker title. She won't divulge the original choice, but one can certainly imagine. Making a sequel to the original, which, as a mixtape of numbers rich to the core with vibrant tales, was one of 2016's best solo shows, it feels like a momentary return to some form of normalcy, musical comfort food in its purest form.

One of the country's most vibrant eras in music, in general and especially for women, was the 1960s, filled to the brim with girl groups like The Chantels and The Supremes, folk pioneers like Joan Baez, and songwriters so influential that, decades later, that musical written about them keeps filling its Broadway house to capacity for close to four years (Carole King, of course). In the midst of political and public unrest, in a male-dominated world and industry, these women made space and carved out their own spots in music history. Who better to spotlight these singers and songwriters than Carole J. Bufford, who has carved out her own spot within the New York cabaret scene as an enthusiastic and rich interpreter of the Jazz Age songbook, and returned to the circuit with something a little different: YOU DON'T OWN ME: THE FEARLESS FEMALES OF THE 1960S, a celebration of the 'bold and daring women [who] planted their flags and ensured their voices were heard.' And as it turns out, it's not only Bufford's most fearless show, but also one of her best.

Melissa Errico is no stranger to Stephen Sondheim. She played Dot/Marie at The Kennedy Center in the first revival of SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE, Clara in PASSION in 2013 Off-Broadway, and, most recently, Leona in New York City Center's production of DO I HEAR A WALTZ?. Three shows and many performances later, Errico has become a major interpreter of the composer's work, daring but reverent, and hyper-focused on all of the minutiae and layers found per page of just one song. On June 3, she will bring her MELISSA ERRICO SINGS STEPHEN SONDHEIM to Feinstein's/54 Below for its New York debut, following raves from its original incarnation in Washington, D.C. In between rehearsals prior to the show, we discussed her subliminal start on Sondheim, the composer's 'warmth [and] ruthlessness,' and how his work may or may not be a religion.

“Shouldn't I be somewhere at 8:00?” That is a fair reaction for the Chita Rivera to have to once seeing boards and bus ads for CHIGAGO, BYE BYE BIRDIE, and WEST SIDE STORY a few years back while they were all simultaneously running, a story she regaled the audience with in the intro to her WEST SIDE medley at the Café Carlyle last week. When your name has become synonymous with iconic shows, maybe as iconic as the shows themselves, you have somewhere to be at 8:00… and people will be there to see.

The New York Pops brands itself as "a different kind of orchestra," and the proof is in the programming. The orchestra, the largest independent orchestra in the United States, will begin the second half of their season on Friday, March 10, 2017, with a LIFE IS A CABARET: KANDER & EBB, celebrating the music of the legendary duo, and continuing a season (and organization mission) dedicated to featuring a wide variety of performers, composers, and genres.

BREAKING NEWS: The votes are in and the results are official for the fifth annual BroadwayWorld New York Cabaret Awards. More than 32,000 votes were cast this year for the excellent performers and shows in 16 categories. BroadwayWorld would like to extend congratulations to all of this year's winners and nominees.

Starting in the back of the packed Feinstein's/54 Below house with 'It's a New World' (Harold Arlen/Ira Gershwin), Molly Pope has your attention. The band has played the overture; now it is her turn, crooning in silence. As suddenly as the first number ends, you're launched into the energetic 'Gotta Have Me Go with You,' Pope working her way through the crowd to the stage to join Brian Beach and Danny Bevins, her pair of enthusiastic backup dancers for the evening and the final pieces of her very complete transformation into Vicki Lester.

Hold your hats and hallelujah. After an electrifying opening night, the Mabel Mercer Foundation's 27th Annual Cabaret Convention continued Wednesday night in a packed Rose Theater at Jazz at Lincoln Center. Hosted by Jeff Harnar and Andrea Marcovicci, the cabaret community gathered to salute the music of Stephen Sondheim, the EGOT-winning composer/lyricist whose oeuvre has been simultaneously catapulting and tripping up artists for decades. Despite 30 performances on the evening, you'd be hard-pressed to find a weak spot in Wednesday night's lineup, hosting what is arguably the best rotation of the four nights, featuring cabaret giants, up-and-comers, expert arrangers (plus the talents of Jered Egan on bass and Dan Gross on drums), and Sondheim role originators.

Ask Celia Berk what she loves about New York and she'll give you a list. Or, better yet, an album. Corporate executive by day, cabaret chanteuse by night (and a damn good one), Berk has won a MAC Award (New York Debut – Female), a Bistro Award (Vocalist), a BWW Award (NY Cabaret Debut), and The Margaret Whiting Award from The Mabel Mercer Foundation since her 2014 debut album You Can't Rush Spring. Her latest, Manhattan Serenade, is an eclectic collection of New York and New York-esque songs steeped in nostalgia and romance, complete with arrangements by Alex Rybeck and a stunning orchestra. Extended by popular demand, Berk will celebrate its release once more at the Metropolitan Room this Friday, October 14 at 7:00 pm. Before the show, we sat down for a discussion on her love note to New York, carving out a space for yourself in the city, and typical New York resilience.

No matter the song, style, or setting, Janice Hall, the multi-talented opera singer, cabaret chanteuse, and character actress, is her own master. She broke into the cabaret scene in 2010 in a big way with the 2011 Bistro Award Winner for Best Tribute Show and 2012 MAC Award Winner for Best Female Vocalist. The show that earned her those awards? 'GRAND ILLUSIONS: THE MUSIC OF MARLENE DIETRICH,' which Hall debuted in 2010 and will revive for one night on September 13 at 7:00 pm at the Metropolitan Room. Before Hall takes the stage this upcoming Tuesday night, we sat down for a discussion on career invention, reinvention, and versatility--- both Dietrich's and her own.

Name an opera or operetta and it is likely listed in soprano Sarah Rice's repertoire. Over her long and illustrious career, she has starred and performed in a myriad of productions all across the map, from Broadway to Teatro La Fenice in Venice, Italy. Strauss, Salieri, Sondheim--- it's there. Now, in her first solo show since 2013, Rice will debut her new show Music of the Night (borrowing, of course, from Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera, in which Rice played Christine in the National Tour) at Pangea Restaurant Pangea Restaurant (2nd Avenue between 11th and 12th streets) on August 17, 18, and September 20, all at 7 pm. Alongside pianist Matthew Martin Ward (Eric Sedgwick for the September show) and special guest David Vernon, she will sing and play a set aimed to explain 'the things that go through your head at 4:00 AM,' covering classical, Celtic, television and movie themes, and musical theatre.

2016 is one of Broadway's most diverse seasons, so much so it spawned a Twitter trending hashtag #TonysSoDiverse following the nominations for this past weekend's awards ceremony. 12 Black and non-Black actors of color were nominated for a Tony Award. For the first time in the Tonys' history, all four musical acting categories were won by Black actors, and if you walk down 45th Street, as soprano Paula Dione Ingram has, the block is lit up by 'Black Broadway.' It's a laudable moment in a theatre history that has not always been so and still continues to have a long way to go, the subject of Ingram's Dark Legacy: Bright Lights of Black Broadway, her debut show at Feinstein's/54 Below on June 4.