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BWW Review: Iconic Cabaret Singer Baby Jane Dexter Keeps Raising The Bar With Her Compelling New Show IT'S PERSONAL at the Metropolitan Room
In her current show at the Metropolitan Room, It's Personal, Baby Jane Dexter once again reaches beyond the footlights and embraces her idolaters as only she can. In doing so, she makes them cry, laugh out loud, and view life with a different slant. After all these years, she's still packing them in...
BWW Review: Steve Ross and His Orchestra Bring Stylish RHYTHM AND ROMANCE to Birdland and Steal Hearts
Attending a Steve Ross show is often akin to time travel. The audience is transported back to eras when urbanity and dash were watchwords, when interpretation meant being as true to the period as the meaning of lyrics. The classy Mr. Ross, known primarily for iconoclastic solo performance, appeared ...
BWW Review: At Metropolitan Room, Singing Raconteur Eric Yves Garcia Gets Down and Revealing While Pouring Out Spirits and Stories From His Piano Bar Days
Eric Yves Garcia has stepped away from the piano. I repeat, stepped away from the piano. The performer strides into the center stage light, his dark eyes twinkling, his jaw defined by just the right amount of stubble. This guy could be a movie star. I was excited. For the Metropolitan Room audience,...
BWW Review: The Fabulous BACON STRIP SHOW in Las Vegas Presented by the Makers of Hormel Black Label Bacon
The 'Bacon Strip Show' was presented in Las Vegas by the makers of Hormel Black Label Bacon on Friday night, November 6th at The Cosmpolitan's exclusive Marquee Nightclub and Dayclub. The one-night-only performance was an extravaganza celebrating 'all things bacon.'...
BWW Review: Rumer Willis and Tye Blue Blow Audiences Away with HOMAGE
Fresh from her stint as Roxie Hart in the Broadway production of Chicago, Rumer Willis and her "nonsexual life partner" Tye Blue took Feinstein's/54 Below by storm with Homage, their soulful and decidedly jazzy cabaret show. Thoroughly enjoying their New York City cabaret debuts, the talented duo ha...
BWW Review: Six Years After Its Debut, Maxine Linehan's Stunning Petula Clark Tribute Show Retroactively Becomes One of New York Cabaret's Greatest Hits
For the third installment of his New York Cabaret's Greatest Hits--a wonderful new monthly series at the Metropolitan Room celebrating award winning and critically acclaimed cabaret shows of the past--Producer Stephen Hanks (and his Cabaret Life Productions) wisely chose Maxine Linehan's What Would ...
BWW Review: Tony Award Nominated Nightingale Sings with 'High Standards' at The Metropolitan Room NYC!
Corinna Sowers Adler took us all soaring to High Standards at The Metropolitan Room in NYC. This beautiful soprano was nominated for 2 Tony Awards in the category of Best Musical Theatre Educator of the year. Together with Pianist & Musical Director Alex Rybeck at the keys, Ms. Adler glided her voca...
BWW Review: Barb Jungr & John McDaniel 'Come Together' To Perform Iconic Beatles Songs With Eloquence, Sincerity, and Freshness at Feinstein's/54 Below
Barb Jungr has us in the first 60 seconds, literally reaching out, locking eyes with her audience as she agitates across the stage at Feinstein's/54 Below. Locomotion seems organic, spontaneous. The arm without the microphone shoots up because it must; fingers snap, hips shift--it's a Frug! I was al...
BWW Review: Performing With Solid Partners--Tracy Stark and Maria Ottavia--in Separate Shows, Marcus Simeone Displays His Vocal Depth and Range
Fourteen years since his debut at Don't Tell Mama, Marcus Simeone has evolved into a fearless singer who is able to climb inside any song and deliver it home with ease. Aside from eclectic solo work, he has also partnered with others over the years with mixed results. Currently, he has joined forces...
BWW Review: AARON AKINS Goes Smoothly INTO THE COLE at E Spot Lounge
On Friday October 23 at the E-Spot Lounge upstairs at Vitello's, jazz, soul, R&B singer Aaron Akins delivered his striking Into the Cole show in honor of the music of legendary Nat King Cole. It is so rich to hear someone that can replicate with such class the smooth, distinctive, unforgettable ...
BWW Review: Married Broadway Stars Jarrod Spector & Kelli Barrett Rock the Roof Off Feinstein's/54 Below with Celebration of MUSIC's GREATEST MARRIAGES
The first thought one has when powerhouse performers Jarrod Spector and Kelli Barrett unleash their voices is that they should be married. Style, control, and range are unusually balanced for a duet show; the artists feel palpably simpatico. They even look like a “set.” In fact, still flush with...
BWW Review: Kim David Smith Takes Alt-Cabaret to a Fantasia Level With His Electro-Show At Joe's Pub
Some performers push the envelope. In the case of Kim David Smith, no avant-garde, gender-bending, or mainstream artist dancing in the cabaret arena today takes more risks. Never was this more in evidence than in his brand new show, Stargazing at Joe's Pub on October 8. Few artists work harder to ex...
BWW Review: The Mabel Mercer Foundation's 26th Annual Cabaret Convention Comes Home to Town Hall, Night Four, October 16
The final night of this year's estimable Cabaret Convention, What I Did for Love/Taking a Chance on Love, hosted by Klea Blackhurst, saluted composer/songwriter Vernon Duke in Act I and composer/conductor Marvin Hamlisch during Act II. It was a curious pairing, indeed....
BWW Review: The Mabel Mercer Foundation's 26th Annual Cabaret Convention Comes Home to Town Hall, Night Three, October 15
For the third night of this year's Cabaret Convention at Town Hall, the uber-enthusiastic Karen Mason hosted Life Is a Cabaret (Directed by Barry Kleinbort) in celebration of long time collaborators, composer John Kander and lyricist Fred Ebb. Introduced to each other by their mutual music publisher...
BWW Review: The Mabel Mercer Foundation's 26th Annual Cabaret Convention Comes Home to Town Hall, Night Two, October 14
On the second night of this year's 26th Annual Cabaret Convention, Jeff Harnar and Andrea Marcovicci hosted A Sentimental Journey: World War II Songs, inspired by Marcovicci's memorable Oak Room at The Algonquin show, I'll Be Seeing You--Love Songs of World War II. (The CD is highly recommended.) As...
BWW Review: The Mabel Mercer Foundation's 26th Annual Cabaret Convention Comes Home to Town Hall, Opening Night, October 13
In October 1989, four years after he founded The Mable Mercer Foundation, cabaret publicist and promoter Donald Smith launched the first Cabaret Convention at New York's Town Hall. The now four-day event eventually moved to Lincoln Center's Rose Hall, but due to renovations this year at the more upt...
BWW Review: In New Don't Tell Mama Show, Lennie Watts' SHAMELESS Auditioning For Musical Theater Roles Is Solid But Doesn't Completely Score
Monday night was the third performance of a four-show Don't Tell Mama run of Watts' new show Shameless (the next one is on 10/19), directed by Richard Sabellico, who hired Watts for his first theater role after seeing him perform in cabaret. How, I wondered, would Lennie Watts follow his ballsy, 201...
BWW Review: Well-Strung Pops with Effervescent CD Release Concert at Feinstein's/54 Below
Well-Strung, the popular string quartet that is also a boy band, launched their second album POPssical with a CD Release Concert at Feinstein's/54 Below. The show was a reworked version of their cabaret revue titled POPssical, and included new surprises mixed in with the familiar favorites. As alway...
BWW REVIEW: Michael Garin Knocks You Out With His Sprawling Solo Tour de Force A PUNCH IN THE MOUTH at the Metropolitan Room
"If I get my sh*t right, you're gonna move," Michael Garin declared from the Metropolitan Room piano, energy crackling through every fiber of his compact form as he leaned into the microphone. On September 28, Garin opened his new show, A Punch In The Mouth, banging out a muscular, unexpected boogie...
BWW CD Review: Well-Strung's POPSSICAL is Vibrantly Bodacious
The boys of Well-Strung are back with their thrilling sophomore album, POPssical. With a track listing inspired by their acclaimed cabaret show by the same title, this follow-up to their self-titled debut album avoids the treacherous waters of the dreaded sophomore slump and gifts fans and newcomers...
BWW Review: Singer/comedienne DIANE VINCENT Uproarious at Sterling's
On Monday October 5, zany comedienne/singer Diane Vincent brought her act: Diane and Lucy & Betty: A One Woman Show to an SRO room at Sterling's Upstairs at the Federal. The best way to describe Vincent is off.the.wall, wound up tightly like a coil that will spring loose at any second. Watch out...
BWW Review: UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL With the Quietly Dazzling Amanda McBroom at Feinstein's/54 Below
Writer/vocalist Amanda McBroom is something of a wonder. The artist manages to be both lyrical and plain spoken, urbane and universal, polished and genuine, vulnerable and gutsy. Her sharply etched songs illuminate our hearts and minds like artful x-ray. Performance is intimate.
McBroom's current s...
BWW Review: By Elegantly Examining Sexual Duality, David Vernon's Sensitive LOVE: THE CONCERT at the Metropolitan Room Is Singularly Enthralling
Strange, enchanted boy David Vernon swept through the Metropolitan Room last Thursday night, greeting guests on his way to the stage. He cut a dashing, old-world figure in his long, fitted coat and austere, angular posture. The man possesses style. Opening his show LOVE: The Concert with Eden Abhez'...
BWW Review: In Birdland Return, Anita Gillette's Songs & Anecdotes Are Charming & Delightful in SO, AS I WAS SAYING . . .
Ninety percent of the way into her ebullient show last night at Birdland, So, As I Was Saying, Anita Gillette quotes a 1977 review of her performance in Neil Simon's Chapter Two that stated the warmth she exudes could melt glaciers. (The artist wasn't bragging, but was referring to her then difficul...
BWW Review: The Revelatory Cy Walter Centennial Celebration Is Immensely Entertaining at The Cutting Room
Sunday night, Mark Walter topped off a year of Herculean accomplishment in preserving his father's legacy with a concert at the Cutting Room that went off like fireworks. Somewhere, composer /lyricist/arranger/pianist Cy Walter (right in Lloyd Diaz photo), was beaming. In 2015, Mark completed his fa...
Videos
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Finding Their Voice: Broadway Stars Unite to Support Israel's Youth The Jerry Orbach Theatre (6/15-6/15) |
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Christine Andreas: S’Wonderful… 54 Below (7/30-7/30) |
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Broadway Originals 54 Below (7/17-7/17) |
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Liberace & Liza: A Tribute 54 Below (7/07-7/07) |
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The Tammy Faymous Experience 54 Below (7/16-7/16) |
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Norm Lewis: Broadway & Beyond 54 Below (6/16-6/16) |
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Paulo Szot 54 Below (7/27-7/27) |
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54 Sings Broadway's Greatest Hits! 54 Below (6/27-6/27) |
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The Cast of MJ The Musical Presents: The Jam 54 Below (6/08-6/08) |
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The Golden Age of Broadway 54 Below (5/26-5/26) |
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