Stephen Hanks - Page 11

Even her biggest fans among the opening night crowd were likely befuddled, slightly bothered, and even a tad bewildered when they heard that Christine Andreas' first cabaret show at 54 Below was called "Bemused," and not exactly sure what that meant. But they would ultimately end up being thoroughly bewitched by a wonderfully engaging show by this totally entertaining pro. While most current or former Broadway stars who are staging shows at 54 Below are performing what amounts to mini-concerts, the lady who first became a Broadway audience favorite as Eliza Doolittle in the 20th anniversary production of My Fair Lady (and is two-time Tony Award nominee) knows her way around cabaret and developed a charmingly creative conceit for this run (continuing on Jan. 29, Feb. 1, 2 at 8:30 pm and Jan. 30, 31 at 7 pm), which included songs from Broadway, pop, the Great American Songbook, and even Edith Piaf.

If you're a cabaret performer thinking about staging a musical comedy theme show, or even if you're just a cabaret fan who appreciates a thoroughly entertaining show on multiple levels, you should try to squeeze yourself into The Duplex on Wednesday night at 7 pm to see Adam Shapiro's encore performance of his Guide to the Perfect Breakup, which is also a textbook on how to create the almost perfect musical comedy cabaret show. With the guidance and support of Director Peter Napolitano and Musical Director Barry Levitt, Shapiro has crafted a structurally intricate yet seamless show about the evolution of romantic relationships-no matter what your gender-which is also funny without being sarcastic, biting without being bitchy, and tender without being cloying. And it showcases the talents of a cuddly teddy bear of a performer, who possesses the kind of solid singing, acting, and comedic chops that make him a young, rising cabaret star.

With her tribute show to the music of Harold Arlen and Duke Allington, 'When Harry Met The Duke' is Rosemary Loar's creative foray back into the caressing arms of the Great American Songbook. If you consider that the contemporary cabaret scene in New York is 30 years on (since the opening of Don't Tell Mama in 1982 and the start of MAC in 1983), there have been likely been thousands of cabaret shows with GAS themes and the interesting new ideas may be down to a precious few. And Loar, who has been performing cabaret shows during that same time frame, has managed to come up with yet another variation and her erudite and accessibly sophisticated show goes down like a delicious vodka martini topped with a skewer of blue cheese stuffed olives.

I don't know about other cabaret journalists, but I have to believe that a reviewer feels the biggest buzz (aside from when composing a really well-crafted show analysis) when he or she has been fortunate enough to observe a young performer's ascent into stardom. That's the way I felt last Wednesday night at the Metropolitan Room as I was watching Carole J. Bufford's new show, Body & Soul.

Performing legends Ben Vereen and Marilyn Maye, celebrated composer Jason Robert Brown, as well as cabaret stars Billy Stritch, KT Sullivan, Karen Kohler, Jim Caruso, and Colleen McHugh are among the winners of the first-ever BroadwayWorld.com New York Cabaret Awards, and who will appear in a star-studded show at the Metropolitan Room on Thursday, February 21 (6:30-9 pm). These entertainers and many others became award-winners after almost two months of voting and the casting of an astounding 10,000 votes over 20 categories on the Cabaret section of the BroadwayWorld.com website. The 2012 BroadwayWorld.com New York Cabaret Awards Show will be hosted by BroadwayWorld.com's lead Cabaret Reviewer/Columnist Stephen Hanks, while the show's Musical Director will be MAC Award-winning MD and composer Bill Zeffiro.

When it comes to the number of award shows staged in a given season, the film, TV and recording industry no longer leave New York Cabaret in the stardust. Kicking off a 10-week period during which the Big Apple cabaret scene will now feature four award ceremonies (including the first-ever BroadwayWorld.com Awards on February 21, the 28th annual Bistro Awards on March 4, and the 27th annual MAC Awards on March 21), the 11th annual Nightlife Awards (voted on by a select group of cabaret and nightlife writers and critics) was staged at The Town Hall on January 14 and, for the most part, was a pleasantly entertaining event. Co-produced by Max Weintraub and nightlife impresario Scott Siegel (Broadway by the Year, 11 O'Clock Numbers at 11 O'Clock, Broadway Ballyhoo, et al), this year's show featured the usual mix of nightclub singing legends, budding cabaret stars, solid veterans of musical theater, outstanding jazz vocalists, stellar instrumentalists, and quirky comedians, almost all delivering the goods under the smooth direction of Scott Coulter.

It may be more than 50 years since the 72-year-old Donna McKechnie made her Broadway debut in 'How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying,' but she seemed as nervous as an ingenue--in a good way--on the opening night of her new cabaret show Same Place-Another Time. Entering in a sparkly black blouse over a black skirt, and boogieing to the classic disco strains of "Do the Hustle," McKechnie and Musical Director/Pianist John McDaniel (leading a five-piece band) turned her opening number into a mashup with Rodgers and Hart's "Where or When" and a few bars of "Native New Yorker" thrown in just to keep up the funky disco flavor.

Led by Lauren Fox, a lively group of New York cabaret all-stars, staged a rousing and highly entertaining late night benefit show called 'Cabaret Rocks the Rockaways' to raise funds for the people out in the far reaches of Queens who are still suffering from the ravages of last November's Hurricane Sandy.

By the last August, I had fallen so far behind on writing reviews of cabaret shows from the spring and early summer (I guess it's a positive when there are more performers and shows in New York than days in the week) that I decided to play catch up by combining a bunch of critiques into one big column. I hadn't planned on doing that again, but this fall there were so many shows that once again I couldn't keep up. but at least I've beaten my self-imposed deadline New Year's Eve deadline of posting these reviews of 12 shows, all staged between September-December by lovely, attractive women (okay, so one is a gender-bender) of varying talents and levels on the cabaret depth chart, from established stars to MAC and Bistro Award-winners to comeback 'kids' to interesting beginners and occasional performers who are in the game to follow their bliss. Whether their performances were rave-worthy, earning of qualified praise, or not quite up to snuff, they all deserve kudos for taking the plunge.

Wow, talk about a thumbs up! BroadwayWorld.com Cabaret Reviewer/Columnist Stephen Hanks received such a positive reaction to his '2012 Best of New York Cabaret' piece posted yesterday that we thought it would be fun for him to add to his original 13 "honorable mentions" list. So, here for your holiday week reading pleasure is Part 2 of his "Best" and "Most" Honorable Mentions in Cabaret for 2012 with 21 new listings (because an even 20 would be trite). Enjoy!

2012 was indeed a very good year for the art of Cabaret in New York City. Here, BroadwayWorld.com Cabaret Reviewer and Columnist Stephen Hanks offers up his exclusive 'Best New York Cabaret Performers of the Year' for 2012, plus some surprising honorable mentions. Let the debates begin!

This past Saturday night, I was finally able to catch Jeff Macauley's show 'It Was Me: The Lyrics of Norman Gimbel,' and found it to be one of the most charming cabaret shows-male or female-that I saw this year. Macauley doesn't possess a particularly powerful voice or a wide vocal range, but he has a smooth, endearing baritone that can occasionally hit tough tenor notes, and for this show he displayed a knack for offering interesting and humorous biographical anecdotes as if he were a smooth jazz FM deejay. Dapper and Mad Men-esque in a tight black suit and black bow tie, Macauley presented his show as if he was a classic 'lounge lizard,' but in the best sense of that term.

Have you ever wondered what might have happened to Tevya and Golde and their whole mishpucha had there been a sequel to Fiddler on the Roof? Well, the National Yiddish Theatre-Folksbiene's production of The Golden Land may be the most unique way to find out how immigrant Russian Jews faired on New York's Lower East Side after fleeing the Czars at the end of the 19th/beginning of the 20th centuries. The English-language musical punctuated by a mostly Yiddish score is reopening Thursday, December 20 (and will run through January 6) following an initial five-week run that ended on December 2. After its first preview at the end October, Hurricane Sandy had forced the producers to cancel the next nine performances (at the Baruch Performing Arts Center, 55 Lexington Avenue at 25th Street).

Although Ann Hampton Callaway has been performing as a nightclub nightingale for around 30 years, I feel like I've caught her act in the absolute prime of her career. Because while 54 Below may have opened it's glorious nightclub in June with Broadway musical legend Patti Lapone, and subsequently booked an All-Star team of women musical theater standouts such as Marin Mazzie, Rebecca Luker, Faith Prince, Sheri Rene Scott, Leslie Uggams, and even Ann's sister Liz Callaway, it's only fitting that a charismatic cabaret chanteuse and down-to-earth diva like Ann Hampton Callaway has become the quintessential Queen of 54 Below.

Acclaimed cabaret singer, Broadway performer and host of The Broadway Breakfast on Sirius/XM Radio, Christine Pedi will perform her hilarious holiday show, There's No Bizness Like Snow Bizness at Savannah Georgia's Charles Morris Center tonight, November 29, 2012.

It may not be like getting a gift on every one of the 12 Days of Christmas, but for cabaret and musical theater lovers, the 4th Annual Urban Stages 'Winter Rhythms' series-presented over a dozen straight nights at the not-for-profit's Off-Broadway theatre on 259 West 39th Street-could be the closest thing to opening a daily present by the tree. From December 4-15, more than 80 singers and actors will perform in an eclectic mix of 22 shows (including three on Saturday and Sunday, 12/8 and 12/9), with all the proceeds from ticket sales dedicated to the Urban Stages 'On Tour Outreach Program.' Two years ago, Urban Stages Artistic Director Frances Hill brought in MAC and Bistro award-winning director, lyricist and producer Peter Napolitano to produce the Winter Rhythms program and broaden the scope of it's musical offerings. BroadwayWorld.com Cabaret Columnist Stephen Hanks recently caught up with the new Sol Hurok of Urban Stages to learn how he had helped Winter Rhythms evolve and get some insights into this year's program.

BroadwayWorld.com is proud and excited to announce that it has joined forces with The Metropolitan Room (34 West 22nd Street), one of New York City's leading cabaret venues, to stage a variety show on February 21, 2013 (6:30-9 pm) featuring the winners of the voting now being held on the site and which ends on December 31. More than 3,000 nominations were posted on the site after BroadwayWorld.com announced its first-ever New York Cabaret Awards in early October, and more than 200 performers in 20 categories made the final ballot that is currently being voted on by cabaret fans throughout the New York metro area and beyond.

'This feels like opening night,' Liz Callaway admitted early on the second night of her new 54 Below Show, 'Coming Around Again,' in response to the lusty audience cheering that continued throughout an eclectic 15-song set. For Callaway, a self-admitted New York Mets baseball fanatic, this show was definitely a home run.

After receiving more than 3,000 nominations once BroadwayWorld.com announced it's first-ever New York Cabaret Awards in early October, BWW is now pleased to announce it's final nominations ballot in 20 categories. Now it's time for all you cabaret performers and fans to vote for the best singers, musicians and shows of the year. Voting will continue until December 31 and winners will be announced in early January.

The Presidential Election isn't the only vote happening this month. Welcome to the 2012 BroadwayWorld New York Cabaret Awards. After receiving more than 3,000 nominations since we launched the process in October, it's now time to vote for the best singers, musicians and shows of the year. Voting will continue until December 31 and winners will be announced in early January.