Ricky Pope - Page 3

When it comes to the vagaries of modern urban romance, no team has written more succinctly or prolifically than Marcy Heisler and Zina Goldrich. Since they first met in a workshop in 1992, they have created a steady stream of musical gems that audiences and actors alike adore. Their off-Broadway musical Dear Edwina was nominated for a Drama Desk award. Their Junie B. Jones is a staple of youth theatres around America. Their musical based on the Drew Barrymore film Ever After, has had one of the most anticipated development periods since it made its premiere at Paper Mill in 2015. They write about love and loss and joy and heartbreak so truthfully they are like the Nora Ephron of musical theatre.

Tyce Green is an artist of great vocal dexterity who is delightful to listen to. An alumnus of American Idol and a cast member of the tour of Jesus Christ Superstar, his voice soars to the rafters.  He has a personality that is charming, touching, irreverent, and vulnerable by turns. He is a deft mimic and is possessed of a quick wit that is for the most part self-deprecating.  He is smart, politically astute, and in spite of claiming to be socially awkward has the ability to dominate a room with his presence. His 54 Below show, TYCE GREEN: DOING THE MOST has been crafted to showcase his humor, his pyrotechnic singing, and his dual love of musical theatre fandom and true old-school rocker tunes. His show was stuffed full of an embarrassment of riches that display his many versatile talents.

How cool would it be to have a composer write a song personally tailored to you? Cabaret performers live for those tunes that tap into their truest essence and express exactly who they are as an entertainer. That is the premise and the purpose of MUSE MATCH, a concert of new works benefiting The Musical Theatre Factory. The founder of the event, Bill Coyne described it as a “musical theatre blind date.” Cabaret artists are matched up with a composer or composing team. They answer a series of in-depth questions about what believe in and what’s important to them as people, and voila! a custom-made song.

On Monday, Australian jazz pianist Matt Baker returned to Birdland with a new version of his project A RHAPSODY OF GERSHWIN. The project is very much in the spirit of Gershwin’s own mix of jazz and classical styles. Using Gershwin’s original compositions as a launching board, he created inventive variations with his 5 piece band. There was a great deal of virtuosity on display. Gershwin’s work lends itself to such displays of bravura. The material is so rich it can’t help but yield fruitful improvisations. Matt Baker’s ensemble definitely rose to the challenge. The joy of the evening was the addition of Grammy-nominated singer Nicole Zuraitis. Ms. Zuraitis has a supple voice that is both warm and delicate. In addition to providing the lyrics, she also had many numbers in which she was treated as another instrument in the band, providing haunting vocalises.

The real star of the evening was the musical arrangements that Huffman and McSweeney created themselves. They reimagined some wonderful classics by artists as diverse as Ann Margaret, Nat King Cole, Jimi Hendrix, The Pointer Sisters, Cole Porter, Joni Mitchell, and Peggy Lee, utilizing only bass and voice with a little sprinkling of piano, violin, and Ms. Huffman’s “Low G” ukulele. The sparseness of the ensemble was a huge asset, focusing attention on the lyrics and the performances themselves. And the performances were lovely. Ms. Huffman is a gifted and versatile actress and Ms. McSweeney is a truly soulful jazzwoman.

As the pandemic nears its much overdue endemic end, artists are coming out of the woodwork to sum up the past 24 months with their personal stories of survival and thriving. Last September, Tony award winner Cady Huffman and respected jazz bassist Mary Ann McSweeney presented such an evening at Birdland. With only the two of themselves, they put together an eclectic evening of jazz-flavored tunes with Ms. McSweeney on bass and Ms. Huffman on vocals entitled IT WAS A VERY GOOD YEAR: SONGS INSPIRED BY A PANDEMIC. This coming Tuesday, February 22, Huffman and McSweeney will present a new and improved version of the show at The Green Room 42, with a few surprises for those who caught the show before.

When you go to see an evening featuring Michael Feinstein, it is a given that you will hear some well-crafted performances of classics from The Great American Songbook as well as some more obscure gems. What is less well known is what an educational experience any appearance by Mr. Feinstein is. There is probably no one who knows more about American popular music from the golden age than Michael Feinstein.

Nicholas Kaminski, whose self-titled show opened on Saturday at the Green Room 42, is a new writer who would have felt completely at home in the mountain resorts where clever and topical songs were created at a breakneck pace. I have had the pleasure of seeing M Kaminski sing his songs individually at Michael McAssey’s “Open Mac” at Pangea. They are always something fresh and unexpected. Seeing an entire evening of his work was something I was looking forward to. I’m happy to report he did not disappoint. Together with his friends, Staci Jo Johnson, Rachel Phalen, Jada Valenciaga, Bart Shatto, Kelsey Kaufman, Lauren Ranahan, and Aaron Remy, he delivered over a dozen well-crafted story songs that announce the arrival of a very individual new musical theatre voice. Mr. Kaminski has a talent for catchy melodies and wry, self-deprecating lyrics that have the elegance of Bock & Harnick combined with the bawdiness of William Finn.

New York cabaret is back and in many ways, it is better than ever. We can take pride in a community that is stronger, more supportive, and more diverse than it has ever been. There is, of course, much to do still, but we are on a path that may lead us toward a second “golden age” of New York cabaret that could rival the 1980s. The signs are all around us. Not only have most of our cabaret rooms survived the pandemic, but we have also seen the birth of new spaces this year. There is more crossover between Broadway and cabaret than we have seen in decades, and thanks to social media, there are more new artists on the scene as well. Even with all the pandemic woes, as Jerry Herman would say “the best of times is now. As for tomorrow, well, who knows…who knows…who knows?”

There are some people who manage to make everything look so easy, even the difficult things. Lisa Howard is just such a person. She has worked with some of the best and brightest on Broadway. She has won a Drama Desk Award and been nominated for another. Her powerhouse voice feels as effortless as a cool breeze on a summer day. She’s been directed by James Lapine, David Hyde Pierce, Joe Mantello, Bartlett Sher, and Christopher Ashley, and yet it always looks like she glided on from the wings and just made up something brilliant.

Mykal Kilgore is a force to be reckoned with. In only a few short years he has appeared in a brace of Broadway musicals, including, Hair, Motown: the Musical, The Wiz Live!, Dear Evan Hansen, Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert, Songs for a New World, and Into the Woods. His first album, A Man Born Black was a big hit for Affective Music. His single from the album  “Let Me Go” was nominated for a Grammy for Best Traditional R&B Performance in 2021. He is the first openly gay artist to be nominated in the category.

So what does a cabaret director do? Today in my ongoing series, THERE ARE NO ONE-PERSON SHOWS, we will find out from one of the busiest cabaret directors in New York, Marc Tumminelli. Marc is the founder of Broadway Workshop, which provides year-round, professional-level classes and workshops for kids 8-19 with some of the finest artists working on Broadway and in the West End. He is also the founder of Project Broadway, a non-profit that provides scholarship opportunities to young performers.

Linda Purl has the kind of career that actors dream of. Since she began in the 70s on the daytime drama Secret Storm, she has rarely had a period in which she was not working. She has appeared in films like Crazy Mama, Visiting Hours, Mighty Joe Young, and Fear of the Dark. She has appeared on Broadway in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Getting and Spending, and Off-Broadway in The Baby Dance. With over 50 television movies to her credit, she is a perennial presence on the small screen. She has had recurring roles on Matlock, Murder, She Wrote, The Office, Homeland, and The Oath, among dozens of others. She has the distinction of having played two different characters on the classic sitcom Happy Days. In Season 2, she played Richie Cunningham's girlfriend Gloria. Eight seasons later she played the Fonz's fianceé, Ashley.

THE MELODY LINGERS ON: A GALA TRIBUTE TO THE SONGS OF IRVING BERLIN was a gathering of some of the biggest names in the cabaret world. There’s something a little odd about celebrating the intimate art of cabaret in a Broadway-sized theatre like Rose Hall, but to be honest it was one of the few venues sizable enough to hold all the cabaret fans who came to see this fine collection of talented artists. There were performances from Sandy Stewart, Jeff Harner, Andrea Marcovicci, Eric Yves Garcia, Karen Oberlin, David LaMarr, Natalie Douglas, Stacy Sullivan & Todd Murray, Karen Akers, Steve Ross, Amra-Faye Wright, Klea Blackhurst, Billy Stritch, Aisha de Haas, Christine Andreas, Sidney Myer, Karen Mason, Nicolas King, Mark Nadler, and the Moipai Triplets. In addition to these wonderful performers, we were treated to some of NYC’s best musicians including Ray Marchicka, Steve Doyle, Jon Weber, Bill Charlap, Darnell White, Alex Rybeck, Mark Hummel, Michael Rice, and Tracy Stark.

As has often been reported, Marilyn Maye appeared on the Tonight Show a record-setting 76 times and was Johnny Carson’s personal measure of excellence for any other singer who appeared on his show.  As a cabaret performer, it is not hyperbole to say she simply has no peer. She is the person that everyone who sets foot on a nightclub stage, sings a jazz riff, or dabbles in The Great American Songbook looks to for inspiration and instruction. There is no getting around it, Marilyn Maye is the undisputed gold standard.

Jacob Khalil is a fairly recent resident of New York. He moved here only a year ago after time spent in Texas and Utah and Las Vegas. His style is remarkably eclectic. At the root, he is a jazz artist, but he also dabbles in piano-based pop, standards, and straight-up show tunes. He also is very at home as a singer/songwriter. Jacob Khalil is exactly the musician that New York was designed for. He is a very talented singer in search of an individual voice.

Lorna Luft is a consummate entertainer. That’s no surprise of course. She was born to entertain. Her mother, Judy Garland was arguably the greatest entertainer of the 20th century. And Lorna has been entertaining professionally herself since she was 14 years old. Her high-profile turns in the film Grease 2 and as Miss Adelaide in the national tour of Guys & Dolls are only two of her many film, television, and stage credits. She has also been a very in-demand nightclub performer for decades. Over the years she has known and worked with some of the very best.

Blackhurst is no stranger to the world of Jerry Herman. She played Dolly Levi in the 50th-anniversary production of Hello, Dolly! at the Goodspeed Opera House with the enthusiastic endorsement of Herman himself. Her show is a loving tribute, filled with the big hit songs as well as some more enchanting obscure tunes, all tied together with some informative and sometimes dishy stories about the legendary composer of Milk & Honey, Hello, Dolly! Mame, Dear World, Mack & Mabel, The Grand Tour, La Cage aux Folles, and many others.

This coming Saturday, October 23 is officially Tin Pan Alley Day in NYC. As a physical destination, Tin Pan Alley is five buildings at 47-55 W. 28th St. near the Flatiron building in the neighborhood called “NoMad,” north of Madison Square Park. But Tin Pan Alley is much more than a physical destination. It is a state of mind. It is the spot where the American music industry was born. From the 1890s to around 1910, this block of publishing houses and agent’s offices was where you went if you had written a song that you wanted the world to hear it. Many of our most illustrious Broadway composers got their start plugging songs in the offices of Tin Pan Alley including Irving Berlin, George Gershwin, and Jerome Kern.

How would you feel if you could remember every single day of your life? That is the focus of MARILU HENNER: MUSIC & MEMORIES!, which returned this evening to 54 Below. Ms. Henner walked us through some of her favorite memories from her decades in show business. It would actually be more accurate to say she danced us through some of her favorite memories, for Ms. Henner is a performer almost constantly in motion. She has been dancing from the age of two. Her mother ran a dance studio in her hometown of Chicago for 20 years, and Henner is still in fit dancing condition. She is the author of two books about health.