Casey Mink - Page 2

"Millennial" as a descriptor is used with far too much frequency and carries with it connotations that are both unnecessary and inaccurate. However, at the first of a sold-out four-show run at Joe's Pub on January 31, John Early and Kate Berlant were undeniably of their generation.

Nellie McKay's return to Feinstein's/54 Below went up in smoke. No, literally.

Jill Kargman is a pleasant singer. Her voice is lovely, in fact, but that is not why audiences joined her inside the legendary Cafe Carlyle for a string of sold-out performances which began on January 17. No, patrons made their way to the Upper East Side venue on this damp winter evening to hear Kargman's hilarious and often cringe-inducing war stories from her New York City upbringing, through her entrance into show business and Manhattan motherhood. Kargman, whose bawdy humor and unapologetic crudeness undoubtedly had some in the room blushing into their cocktails (her euphemism for the mouth, in particular, is a tickler) saliently strung the show together with influential songs from her past which she deemed 'wildly sexist,' and which she was 're-appropriating as a 42-year-old Jewish female.'

For her two-show debut engagement at Feinstein's/54 Below, the first of which took place on January 11, Tracie Thoms's set list was surprisingly short. In fact, on paper, it looked as though the concert might not even fill an entire hour. It speaks, then, to her performative nature as an equal parts entertainer-singer, that the show actually lasted for a full 90 minutes.

Early on the morning of November 19, Donald Trump took to Twitter (as he has a tendency to do) to make the assertion that "The Theater must always be a safe and special place." On December 19, one month to the day after Trump's Broadway-fueled Twitter deluge, Liz Meriwether and Shira Milikowsky put on A SAFE AND SPECIAL PLACE, an evening of works written and performed by some of the theater's best and most promising talents. The event, held within the atmospheric walls of the McKittrick Hotel and which benefited The Trevor Project and Kids in Need of Defense was, as you could guess, anything but what Trump would deem "safe and special."

Perhaps you have attended a wedding and, despite repeated refusal, you are forced by your date or young family member to get up on the dance floor. You moan and groan and detest at the cloying silliness that is boogying to some horn-heavy interpretations of Top 100 hits or a once-inescapable Whitney Houston number. However, when you do ultimately decide to embrace this strange human ritual (perhaps the urge comes after your fourth drink or a sugar rush from wedding cake), you realize there is actually quite a bit of admittedly silly fun to be mined from singing along to the staple “Macarena.” That long-winded analogy could, in some ways, describe the joint performance of husband and wife power couple Andy Karl and Orfeh, in their debut engagement at Feinstein's/54 Below, which began December 8.

In THE WORLD ACCORDING TO KURT WEILL, one of the more than 20 shows put together to form the Winter Rhythms festival benefiting arts education, old met new and timeliness met timelessness. At Urban Stages on December 6, six skilled performers were assembled to interpret several of the most well-known songs of the composer Kurt Weill (who died in the year 1950), through the lens of the world as we see it in 2016. This meant that each song from shows such as ONE TOUCH OF VENUS or THREEPENNY OPERA was introduced with a framing device that was the statement of an accurate and modern headline or situation ("The Refugee Crisis in Syria Worsens," "Donald Trump Wins the Election in Shocking Upset").

Holiday cheer is considerably tenuous this year, in much of the country, anyway. But damn if that would prevent Megan Hilty from delivering abundant joy in her four-show engagement at Joe's Pub, a run which began December 2. The concerts were intended to celebrate the release of Hilty's new Christmas album, A MERRY LITTLE CHRISTMAS, which she recorded live with her four-musician band. Six months pregnant and glowing as bright as the Rockefeller tree herself, Hilty jovially commandeered the evening and not once acknowledged the state of the world outside, making it possible for a room full of New Yorkers to temporarily suspend their shared cynicism or desolation, and plunge into 80 minutes of glee.

Laura Osnes, Tony-nominated for originating title roles in BONNIE & CLYDE and CINDERELLA, has devoted an entire cabaret act to pondering that hypothetical what if. Bringing an updated version of her show THE PATHS NOT TAKEN back to Feinstein's/54 Below for a four-performance run beginning November 27, Osnes exclusively performed songs which have never seen the light from shows that she nearly booked and either didn't get or had to back out of for one reason or another.

Laura Osnes' journey to Broadway was anything but ordinary. Having competed on the reality series GREASE: YOU'RE THE ONE THAT I WANT, she went on to win and make her Great White Way debut as a brunette Sandy in 2007. She proceeded to make craterous impressions on Broadway, replacing Kelli O'Hara in Lincoln Center's SOUTH PACIFIC, as well as originating the role of Bonnie in BONNIE & CLYDE, earning the first of her Tony nominations, followed by the titular Cinderella in Broadway's first production of the Rodgers and Hammerstein classic, for which she earned her second. Osnes will return to Feinstein's/54 Below on November 27, kicking off a string of four shows in which she travels down the roads that might have been, performing songs from roles she nearly booked but, for one reason or another, never came to be. BroadwayWorld chatted with the sweet-as-pie multi-talent about why her forthcoming Broadway gig, THE BANDSTAND, is a vital piece of theater, her co-star Corey Cott, and the inspiration for her unusual cabaret premise (here's a spoiler: Osnes keeps a literal binder in her closet labeled 'Songs I Learned for Auditions').

Three days after the presidential election, with much of the country still in a daze, attempts to reclaim a sense of 'normalcy' felt futile, but a collective grasping for comfort was ever-present. In her return to Feinstein's/54 Below on November 12, a one-night concert benefiting Art House Astoria, Katie Rose Clarke began her set with a mashup of Pharrell's 'Happy' with 'Get Happy' by Harold Arlen. Incandescent and in remarkably strong voice, Clarke immediately harnessed and shifted the energy of the room and, for the next 90 minutes, a mutual agreement was made not to check contrition at the door, but for Clarke and her audience to ever-slightly rejoice in what was likely a first post-election realization by many that, well, we still have art.

By all accounts, Kate Baldwin is pure Broadway Baby. Having made her Great White Way debut in the 2000 production of THE FULL MONTY, she went on to star in Broadway's THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE, WONDERFUL TOWN, and the celebrated 2009 revival of FINIAN'S RAINBOW, banking a Tony nomination for the latter. She will also, thrillingly, return to the boards this spring, starring as Irene Molloy alongside Bette Midler in the overdue revival of HELLO, DOLLY! And yet, in EXTRAORDINARY MACHINE, Baldwin's most recent string of concerts at Feinstein's/54 Below, audiences were in for nary a show tune amongst her versatile and surprising set. At the second of the four shows on October 27, Baldwin made clear her intent: not to elude her Broadway background but to highlight the other colors of her voice along with her own musical affinities.

Once a theatre kid, always a theatre kid, and even after Hollywood has called, one cannot seem to elude the song and dance beckoning of their Broadway roots. For proof of such a personification, look no further than Matthew Morrison, the smooth-crooning triple threat who made his Broadway debut in the ensemble of FOOTLOOSE back in 1998, and went on to star in several stage productions before becoming a household name as the earnest glee club teacher on the once-must-see series GLEE. Making his Rainbow Room debut on October 24, the second-ever performer in the venue's new LIVE! From the Rainbow Room series, Morrison attempted to toe the line between his Broadway past, and his evident yearnings to also traverse through the genre of more contemporary pop. What was made clear by this 70-minute set, though, is that Morrison is irresistible in his element of Broadway and jazz standards, but veers dangerously close to wedding-singer shtick when delving into Hot 100 tunes.

Ana Gasteyer is a true renaissance woman. Having been a cast member on SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE for six seasons, she subverted some expectations after leaving the sketch show by going on to play Elphaba in WICKED, originating the role in Chicago's sit-down production before eventually taking her Green Girl to Broadway. Gasteyer has also had extensive success in the concert capacity, and she is now preparing for a major milestone in any solo performer's career: her debut at the Cafe Carlyle. BroadwayWorld spoke with Gasteyer ahead of her Carlyle shows, the first of which is on October 25, about the differences between SNL and eight shows a week (both are grueling, but disparately so), why she yearns for the emotional connection of performing live, and whether or not Donald Trump makes her miss being in the trenches of live comedy.

On the penultimate night of the 2016 Cabaret Convention, presented by the Mabel Mercer Foundation, 11 fantastic cabaret artists---those who are celebrated in the form as well as those who are emerging alike---assembled to salute the late and legendary Sylvia Syms. The evening, hosted by one of Syms' closest confidants, the critic Rex Reed, was brassy, delivered wonderful anecdotes, and was ultimately very moving musically, much like Syms herself. A black and white photograph of Syms, accurately capturing her maternal warmth, hung high inside the Rose Theater at Jazz at Lincoln Center throughout the evening, which was formatted in two distinct segments. Act One was comprised of each performer taking to the stage alone to sing one of Syms' lesser known cabaret staples, or the songs which she "rescued" from obscurity such as those cut from golden age musicals. Act Two saw the performers again take on a Syms staple, but those which were more well-known hits and standards, displaying the full range of Syms' nightclub chops.

This spring, Kate Baldwin will appear in one of the most highly anticipated shows of the season, the Bette Midler-starring revival of HELLO, DOLLY! Baldwin will once again be portraying the fun-loving and yearning Irene Molloy, a role which she had previously taken on at the Paper Mill Playhouse a decade ago. Prior to stepping back into Molloy's shoes, though, Baldwin will return to Feinstein's/54 Below to perform a brand new solo show, EXTRAORDINARY MACHINE, singing the songs of some of her favorite artists. Busy as she is, BroadwayWorld had a chance to chat with Baldwin ahead of her four-show engagement at the cabaret venue, the first of which kicks off on October 25. Baldwin, sincerely affable and reflective, shared the 'full circle' nature of costarring alongside Bette Midler (she may have once made the ill-advised decision to sing 'The Rose' at a middle school talent show), how she uses her solo concerts to introspect her life and career, and why she, like many others surely, often asks herself, 'What would Gavin Creel do?'

Often, when performers get their big break at a young age, they spend the ensuing years of their career attempting to escape out from under that encompassing shadow. For Adam Pascal and Anthony Rapp, who met in the original Off-Broadway production of RENT in 1995, that is only half true. In the 20 years since that groundbreaking musical about visionary but disease-stricken bohemians launched their careers, both performers have gone on to perform plentifully inside the theatre and aside from it. However, both Pascal and Rapp have spent the last two decades not basking in the bygone glory of having once starred in a cultural phenomenon, but with the celebratory awareness that each subsequent opportunity likely may not have fallen into their paths without having done so. For proof of such a mentality, look no further than the duo's two-hander string of shows at Feinstein's/54 Below, ACOUSTICALLY SPEAKING: CELEBRATING 20 YEARS OF FRIENDSHIP, the first of which kicked off an impressive 11-performance run on October 8. That title, though, is in part misleading. Although there was ample reflection on behalf of both parties in regards to the near quarter century since they met, the evening consisted of two distinctly separate shows, save for the exception of a select few songs which the two performed together.

The Cafe Carlyle is one of most renowned venues for cabaret in the country, seeped in history so rich it could fill a PBS special. In no way, though, does its historical significance relegate a show to seriousness. Take, for example, two-time Tony Award winner Christine Ebersole (42ND STREET, GREY GARDENS), who returned to the Cafe Carlyle for the start of what is her impressive sixth engagement at the supper club on October 11. Buoyant and self-effacing, Ebersole made it quite clear to her audience, through both her song selections and banter, that silliness and poignancy can walk hand in hand, often times to a more moving effect than either component on its own. Additionally, the very title of Ebersole's show, AFTER THE BALL, encapsulates a duality of its own, of both the specific relief and now-what sadness which accompanies the turning of life's pages. That page for Ebersole currently refers to her now-empty nest, having recently sent the last of her three children off to college. Fittingly, Ebersole kicked off her set with the song from which she got her show's moniker, "After the Ball," by Charles K. Harris. Melancholic and lilt, the song was prescient in underlining the evening's intent to investigate---with humor, introspection, and splendid tunes---this new chapter of Ebersole's life.

The 27th Annual Cabaret Convention, presented by the Mabel Mercer Foundation, kicked off on October 18, putting forth performances by some of the most iconic cabaret artists which the arena has to offer, as well as introducing new but equally captivating talent of the art form. Hosted by KT Sullivan, a cabaret stalwart herself, the evening moved briskly through an impressive 19 performers, each of whom was accompanied by their very own pianist--- if they weren't accompanying themselves, that is.

Christine Ebersole will make a triumphant return to the Cafe Carlyle on October 11, kicking off what will be her sixth engagement at the legendary Upper East Side venue. Believe it or not, though, the two-time Tony Award winner (42ND STREET, GREY GARDENS) still finds cabaret to be the most intimidating performance capacity for an artist, but simultaneously the most rewarding. Prior to her run of shows, BroadwayWorld had a chance to chat with Ebersole about what it's like to perform in a space so richly seeped in history, as well as how she is able to craft a narrative for each of her concerts that is resonant of the current space in which she finds herself. Additionally, Ebersole divulged her hopes for the future of WAR PAINT, the new musical which she starred in this summer from the creative team behind GREY GARDENS, and what it was like to finally work alongside Patti LuPone, after having known her for 40 years.