CABARET THEATER REVIEWS

Watching a singer like Celia Berk, who brings a heartwarming balance, a subtle good humor, originality, and a lot of affection to everything she sings, makes one realize the crucial role good instincts play in the self-conscious, self-absorbed world of cabaret. Right at the top of her recent debut r...

54 BELOW kicked off the "Frank and Friends" portion of 54 BELOW Celebrates Frank Wildhorn concerts last night with Wildhorn at the piano as a handful of his friends, new and old, take the stage to sing his classic hits. Keeping true to the cabaret setting, many of the songs were re-orchestrated to b...

Clad in all black and wearing a Dia de los Muertos mask, the pianist takes his seat. The cellist follows. From the back of the theater, the Grim Reaper wearing his black cape, white mask, and carrying his trademark scythe, seems to float through the audience, reminiscent of the way a priest enters a...

For all of the Frank Wildhorn fans 54 BELOW is stuffing their stockings with a fantastic treat this December. The beloved venue launched their 54 BELOW Celebrates Frank Wildhorn concerts with a Bonnie & Clyde reunion where audiences got to experience the exciting score live. The high-octane concert ...

Harry Lillis 'Bing' Crosby, Jr., who died in 1977 at age 74, was one of the most popular American singers and actors of the first half of the 20th-century, garnering millions of fans with recordings, radio, film, and live performance. The artist used his microphone as a route to intimacy, rather tha...

In a show business world of frauds and air kisses, Baby Jane Dexter is the ultimate survivor . . . the real thing . . . a true New York cabaret legend. Accolades, awards, great press, and life-altering shows have been her calling card over the last 25 years since she returned to cabaret after a deca...

Actor-singer Ronnie Giles and jazz pianist Daryl Kojak took stage at Don't Tell Mama once again to take the REVENGE OF THE THIRD RATE LOUNGE SINGER...

Annaleigh Ashford opened her solo cabaret Lost In The Stars at 54 BELOW last night. With a deft sense of humor, a glowing smile, a big spoon, and indefatigable pizazz, Ashford brought the 70s back to life with her inspired takes on disco classics and other pop anthems that we all know by heart. Ashf...

Stacy Sullivan tells the audience she became interested in Marian McPartland when she was asked to sing at her memorial in 2013. With her show last Saturday night at Don't Tell Mama, On The Air: Songs for Marian McPartland (which enjoyed a late September run of four shows at the York Theatre), the m...

Anthony Nunziata is an attractive young man with a good vocal instrument. But what once seemed warm and natural has evolved into affectation. When I first started writing about him (and his twin brother, Will) almost five years ago, the Nunziata's featured family stories and several very personal so...

Bobbie Horowitz has been at the top of the cabaret game for nearly 30 years--as composer, producer, performer and fan--and the recent variety show tribute to her at the Metropolitan Room proved why and was richly deserved....

According to mythology, the 'Phoenix' was a bird of great beauty, said to have lived 1,000 years in the Arabian wilderness. The Phoenix burns itself to ashes on an ancient funeral pyre, only to rise again from those ashes with the renewed exuberance of youth. Its renewed life cycle symbolizes the im...

With another holiday season upon us, it's time to celebrate time honored traditions, and in keeping with what's become a New York tradition, Steve Tyrell is celebrating his 10th year as the holiday season entertainment at the swanky Café Caryle on the Upper East Side (through New Year's Eve). This ...

Last week, New York based jazz duo Magos & Limon took the stage at Joe's Pub. Jazz vocalist Magos Herrera hails from Mexico City and has garnered great attention for her singing abilities. Javier Limon, who plays minimalist Flamenco on guitar, is originally from Madrid. Together the duo bridges the ...

Last year at this time, Ann Hampton Callaway beamed love from the stage. This November, she's a newlywed. Though the musical life journey she shared last night at the opening of her new 54 Below show, Turning Points, contains a couple of dark numbers, on the whole it's celebratory. Callaway is incan...

Dorothy Bishop has been called everything in cabaret circles from 'singularly outstanding' to 'proof that women can be drag queens, too.' And she's proven every adjective in between when displaying her talents over the last few seasons with her Dozen Divas Show, at a variety of spaces not just on th...

Every year, despite a litany of warnings they come to the Big Apple with big dreams. Warnings like: “You have to pay your dues.” “It's a tough business, kid.” “How are you going to survive?” There's no such thing as an overnight success, yet still they come to be at “the top of the hea...

The multi-faceted musical director/arranger/accompanist/composer Alex Rybeck flexed his talent this past Sunday night, sharing songs of every ilk with an appreciatively packed 54 Below. 'Tonight is proof positive that dreams come true, just not how you imagine. I always thought you had to have a hit...

One single most-telling elements of multi-award-nominated cabaret chanteuse Kim Grogg, and her latest show Go Where the Love Is (which makes further appearances at Don't Tell Mama, 343 West 46th Street between Eighth and Ninth Avenues on Tuesday, November 18th and Friday, December 5th at 7:00 PM, as...

Based on the promotion of their new duo show, Revolution (a four-show run that ends at the Duplex tonight at 6:30), you might have gotten the impression that Dawn Derow and Kathleen France would be engaging in a zany bit of fluff poking fun at American military politics in a Bob Hope USO Show kinda ...

On Saturday November 8 at Upstairs at Vitello's in Studio City, international jazz vocalist Lyn Stanley presented a CD release party to celebrate her new recording Potions (from the 50s). Onstage with her were sensational musicians tenor-saxophonist Terry Harrington, pianist Mike Lang, bassist Mike ...

Mitchell Butel returns to the cabaret stage with KILLING TIME, first performed at the Adelaide Cabaret Festival in 2010. The award winning busy actor and singer is taking Sunday nights off from his role in EMERALD CITY and television and movie work to share this updated show with Sydney audiences. ...

The expression “Man About Town”--commonly defined as a socially active, sophisticated man devoted to the pursuit of pleasure by frequenting fashionable nightclubs, theaters, and restaurants--might perfectly describe the persona of Sir Noel Coward. Known for his acerbic wit, flamboyance, and savo...

On Sunday November 2, Kritzerland presented its 51st show Put on Your Sunday Clothes, The Songs of Jerry Herman at Sterling's Upstairs at the Federal with special guest star Karen Morrow. No surprise that this was an uplifting, thoroughly enjoyable evening of song, for as host Bruce Kimmel stated up...

It was the 1980's. The time of ray bans, head bands, and the start of cable television, where music videos on MTV would skyrocket to stardom future pop icons Madonna, Michael Jackson, and, of course, The Artist Formerly Known as . . . Prince. Celebrated early on for his sexually charged lyrics and f...