Stephen Hanks - Page 12

At the St. Luke's Theatre (until March 23), Billy Hayes relives his full range of emotions and psychological traumas in this taut, tense, and terrific re-telling of his escape from a Turkish prison, first revealed in his 1977 book Midnight Express, and then in 1978 through the Oliver Stone film version.

With just over a week to go before the star-studded BroadwayWorld Awards Show to celebrate the Best in Cabaret for 2013, reservations for this event at Joe's Pub on February 23 are going fast. Tickets for what should be an exciting night of cabaret will be $35 and $25 with a $12 food minimum or two-drink minimum per person. (Reservations are now made when tickets are purchased; it is no longer necessary to call Joe's Pub for reservations.) We recommend arriving no later than 30 minutes before show time. http://tickets.joespub.com/production/?perf=23792

Before the finale of Tuesday night's Café Carlyle show celebrating the varied compositions of Frank Wildhorn, the Grammy and Tony Award-winning composer quoted his frequent collaborator, lyricist Jack Murphy, as once offering that “Great singers are a songwriter's best friends.” Even though Murphy's thought is hardly original, no words could be more true after listening to the scintillating songstress Jane Monheit and the performing powerhouse Clint Holmes deliver 16 solid songs that but wouldn't exactly be called classic examples of what passes for the late 20th century Great American Songbook.

The star-studded list of Broadway stars and A-list cabaret performers keeps growing for the 2013 BroadwayWorld New York Cabaret Awards Show, to be staged at Joe's Pub (425 Lafayette Street near Astor Place in Manhattan) on February 23 from 6:30-8:40 pm. Added to a stellar group that includes Ann Hampton Callaway, Liz Callaway, Terri White, Jane Monheit and Jason Robert Brown, are Tony Award Winner (now also a cabaret performer) Alice Ripley (photo left), who will perform representing Sondheim Unplugged at 54 Below, which won the BWW Cabaret Award for Best Variety Show or Recurring Series. Broadway favorite Jackie Hoffman (Hairspray, Xanadu, Adams Family) will appear to perform and accept her BWW Award for Best Musical Comedy Performance for her show at 54 Below.

Lauren Fox, one of the more multifaceted and ambitious young stars of the New York cabaret scene, seems intent on redefining what is already a pretty open-ended art form. The recent run of her new duo show at Stage 72 with bass player Ritt Henn, Ghosts of Love: Songs from the Reel World of David Lynch (January 9, 18, 23, and 24) was the most recent example of Ms. Fox's unconventional approach to a 70-80 minute nightclub show and the result was operatic film noir--cabaret style.

Manhattan Musical Theatre Lab's Co-Producing Artistic Directors Frank Evans and Stephen Hanks are proud to announce that the final production of the 2013-14 season from the not-for-profit musical theater development is CURIOUS & RARE, written by Broadway, film, and TV actress and playwright Tracy Sallows (who has also appeared in previous MMTL productions). The presentation will be on Thursday, February 20 at 6:30 PM at The Snapple Theatre Center on Broadway and 50th Street. 3rd Floor, Jerry Orbach Theatre. Reservations at 212-989-6706 or MusicalMondays@aol.com. Regular Admission: $18. Students/Seniors $13.

It may be one of the greatest combinations of classical music with jazz and pop ever created by an American-born composer, and this February 12 it will be 90 years since the immortal George Gershwin first played his 'Rhapsody in Blue' for an audience. Bandleader Vince Giordano and Conductor Maurice Peress, who share a love for American music, have joined forces to honor Paul Whiteman's historic Aeolian Hall concert on the same day and the same block where Gershwin's amazing piece was introduced nine decades ago. This concert will be on Wednesday, February 12th, at The Town Hall, 123 West 43rd Street, NYC, at 8:00pm for a one-time-only performance. Tickets are modestly priced ranging from $25 to $40 and will be available at www.ticketmaster.com or at The Town Hall box office.

The not-for-profit musical theater development group Manhattan Musical Theatre Lab (formerly Musical Mondays Theatre Lab) has announced that the third presentation of its 2013-2014 season is the new musical, WATER FROM THE MOON, written by MAC Award Winning Cabaret Performer Rosemary Loar and her husband Robert W. Atwood. In fall 2011, MMTL presented the Loar/Atwood musical Spoolie Girl, which was subsequently nominated for 11 'Best of the Fest' awards at the 2012 Midtown International Theatre Festival, including winning the award for 'Outstanding Music and Lyrics' and a nomination for 'Best Production of a Musical.'

As a cabaret reviewer, my role is to observe, muse, opine, critique, judge, and otherwise hobnob with all the thoughts in my fevered brain during and after a show. I don't believe it's appropriate for reviewers to promote specific shows—especially before they've reviewed them—so I don't write a “Pick of the Week or Month” column or advise readers on what or whom they should see. But here I'll break my own policy and urge you to go to the Metropolitan Room on Wednesday night, January 15 to see the shows of Steve Schalchlin (7pm) and Jim Brochu (9pm). Believe me, you'll thank me.

It's finally official. After more than a month of voting--following a month-long nomination process--approximately 7,000 voters have selected the winners of the BroadwayWorld.com New York Cabaret Awards for 2013. Self-proclaimed cabaret “Diva” Ann Hampton Callaway and her Broadway baby sister Liz Callaway are either the principals or connected to four awards out of this year's 18 categories, including “Best Duo or Group Show” for the return after 18 years of their critically-acclaimed sister act Sibling Revelry, and “Best Tribute Show” to Ann for her exciting homage to Sarah Vaughan, From Sassy to Divine. Ann's musicians for her Sarah Vaughan show at Dizzy's Jazz Club at Lincoln Center took the Award for “Best Band or Orchestra,” and Alex Rybeck received the most votes as “Best Musical Director” for Sibling Revelry, which was staged in August at 54 Below.

It seemed only natural that the bodacious British cabaret chanteuse Barb Jungr would bring a new show to New York that could be staged in the small theater environment of 59E59 (December 22-29). While Ms. Jungr's forays definitely are in the cabaret mold, they are also part theater-style performance art. In fact, Jungr is a crossover artist and genre hybrid on a number of levels. She's a jazzy and sultry-voice singer with a healthy dose of a pop sound. She's not a comedian but can be a cheeky raconteur bordering on stream of consciousness. She's a creative interpreter of song lyrics who can also honor the original intent of the songwriter at the same time. Barb Jungr has become an internationally-known performer who is also the quintessential cabaret artist.

Last December, after I posted my list of the Best Cabaret Performers of 2012, I followed up my original 'listmania' with a column that served as a way to include some 'honorable mentions,' basically a recognition of other memorable shows and performances of songs that were striking, unique, and/or original that year. The column received a positive response so I thought I'd wheel it out again this year. So as the hours tick away on 2013 and we anticipate the coming of a new year, here is an addendum to the 2013 New York Cabaret Performers of the Year--a totally random list of 30 Honorable Mentions of the 'Best' and 'Most' in Cabaret for 2013 . . . mainly because I can and it's fun. Enjoy and Happy New Year!

n this space back in mid-July, BroadwayWorld.com New York cabaret reviewer Stephen Hanks offered up his list of the Best New York Cabaret Performances for the first half of 2013. Now, here is his list of the performers he feels were the best and most exciting in cabaret this year.

In 1969, at age 16, Bronx-born Karen Wyman became a singing sensation appearing on TV with Dean Martin, The Ed Sullivan Show, and The Tonight Show, and cutting two albums. A few years later she suddenly quit singing professionally to raise a family. Now, she's back and as she proved with her new show at the Metropolitan Room, she's as good as ever.

Our intrepid cabaret columnist/reviewer Stephen Hanks catches up on some reviews of fall 2013 shows, including Mary Foster Conklin's BroadwayWorld.com Award nominated tribute to Fran Landesman, solo shows from Bernard Dotson, Gary Crawford, and Lauren Glazer, and a duo show from Alison Nusbaum and Jackie Kristel.

Having written a plethora of words about Marissa Mulder over the past couple of years, I had planned on relegating a review of her mid-November, two-show run at the Cafe Carlyle to a relatively short critique in my seasonal compilation column (due to post a day or two or three before Santa arrives, for those keeping score at home). But once I got started I went way over my self-imposed word count for such things and decided it should be broken out into this stand-alone review. Speaking of 'breakout,' although the first known use of the phrase 'breakout year' came 35 years ago, it has become the standard expression in sports or entertainment when referring to someone who has become a sudden or smashing success, especially in comparison to past efforts. If anyone in the world of New York cabaret could be said to have had a 'breakout year' in 2013, it would have to be Marissa Mulder. And this angelic young woman-in voice, looks, and personality-hasn't even hit 30 yet.

The not-for-profit musical theater development group Manhattan Musical Theatre Lab (formerly Musical Mondays Theatre Lab) has announced that the third presentation of its 2013-2014 season is the new musical, WATER FROM THE MOON, written by MAC Award Winning Cabaret Performer Rosemary Loar and her husband Robert W. Atwood. In fall 2011, MMTL presented the Loar/Atwood musical Spoolie Girl, which was subsequently nominated for 11 'Best of the Fest' awards at the 2012 Midtown International Theatre Festival, including winning the award for 'Outstanding Music and Lyrics' and a nomination for 'Best Production of a Musical.'

The not-for-profit musical theater development group Manhattan Musical Theatre Lab (formerly Musical Mondays Theatre Lab) has announced that the second show of its 2013-2014 season is the musical comedy, THE CURSE OF BATVIA. This original and seriously silly musical comedy concerns a missing dog, a missing book of spells from a far-off, vaguely Eastern European country, and four characters on the loose in an English manor house, two of whom need to find the counter spell before an ancient, lycanthropic curse comes true forever.

Ann Hampton Callaway's latest show in late November at 54 Below—her new home away from home—was another one of those slam dunk entertainments she's produced in the past year or so that clearly have put her near the top, if not at the very top, of the female cabaret performer depth chart. Listen, not counting the Broadway stars like Patti LuPone (who are now doing cabaret, mainly at 54 Below), or the top-notch jazz singers like Jane Monheit, you be hard-pressed to think of any major veteran cabaret singer in the country—and that includes Barbara Cook, Marilyn Maye, Andrea Marcovicci, and Amanda McBroom—who are plying the trade better these days than Ann Hampton Callaway.

If you're wondering whether or not 2013 was a fantastic year for the cabaret art form in New York, all you have to do is scan the amazing list of nominees for this year's BroadwayWorld New York Cabaret Awards and you'll know it was one of the best ever. So now it's time for all you cabaret performers and fans to vote for the best singers, musicians, songs, and shows of the year. Voting will continue until Sunday night January 5 and the winners will be announced later that week. We hope that all the winners will be able to perform in the Award show on Sunday night February 23 at Joe's Pub.