CABARET THEATER REVIEWS

Halfway through her opening night at 54 Below on Monday, Laura Benanti unveiled the evening's showstopper, a multi pop-song mix titled 'Inappropriate Medley.' No, Benanti didn't faux strip her way through the songs as if she was replaying her past role as Gypsy Rose Lee, but she frantically ripped t...

Come to the Cabaret…The Absinthe Cabaret, that is. Saturday night was the inaugural event of the newly formed Absinthe Cabaret in Franklin, TN. Executive Producer, Carolan Trbovich lined up a fantastic first event, with Broadway star Eden Espinosa headlining, and theatre and stage musician Johnny ...

You probably don't have to feel sorry for a mature, experienced female singer who decides to tackle the gritty music of Tom Waits and calls her show 1978 NYC Underground, but it was still tough not to feel for Billie Roe as she performed this week at the Metropolitan Room. Roe, who in 2011 offered t...

Two years ago, in my generally favorable review of Pamela Lewis' quirky, if flawed, cabaret show Dog Walking Diva, I went a little bit out on the limb with . . . “She has the potential to be a major cabaret star.” Well, as Lewis (who given her bubbly and bold personality performs under the total...

Paul Hope's Bayou City Concert Musicals (BCCM) is proudly continuing their mission of bringing to Houston the best of the best from show business' yesteryears. Sometimes it is in the form of a forgotten or neglected musical, like their concert stagings of ONE TOUCH OF VENUS, THE SECRET GARDEN, and F...

On Sunday April 28 at Sterling's Upstairs at the Federal, Matt Zarley debuted his new show Broadway to Billboard, celebrating his latest album Change Begins With Me. It won the 2012 OutMusic Award as Best Single and Album of the Year. This guy with his powerhouse voice and delicious, down-to-earth c...

When you're a cabaret reviewer on the evening show prowl between Monday night and Saturday evening (although not every night, thank goodness), you'd like to think that the God of Cabaret would make Sunday a day of rest. No such luck, since the weekend allows clubs to book shows as early as brunch ti...

On Sunday evening April 21 singer/actor Ramin Karimloo best known to UK audiences for his stellar performances as the Phantom in both The Phantom of the Opera and its sequel Love Never Dies, made his Los Angeles cabaret debut at Sterling's Upstairs at the Federal in Broadway to Bluegrass. Since this...

Texas born and bred singer William Blake--who came to New York six years ago at age 24--has lately taken the town by storm with his terrific tribute show to the legendary Etta James. In the process, Blake has also managed to transform some of the town's most prestigious nightclub/cabaret venues into...

Billed as Barbara Cook's Special 85th Birthday Concert, the Tony Award-winning soprano's one-woman concert of musical theatre songs, rare selections, and jazz standards at the Renee and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall in Costa Mesa was met with well-earned---and well-deserved---adoring cheers througho...

Cabaret and physics? Who would have thought? Yet, Gia Mora makes it all work....

Well, it took me almost a year and a half and a long car ride deep into New Jersey to do it, but when last Saturday night (March 23) I finally got a chance to see and hear Lauren Fox's Joni Mitchell/Leonard Cohen Tribute Show ('The painter and the poet who mesmerized the world with their songs,' as ...

Observing the evolution of young Marissa Mulder's cabaret career is like watching a high jumper going for the gold at the Olympic Games. With every show or performance, she and the creative teams around her set the bar just a little bit higher and she keeps clearing the dang thing. But with her new ...

Broadway was the theme for Wednesday night's Amateur Night at the Apollo. Bill and Jennie Harney were guest co-hosts and graciously introduced the many talented vocal competitors....

Leslie Uggams one-woman,autobiographical, musical show, 'Uptown/Downtown' was a hit with The Apollo audience on Monday, March 18th....

Wednesday night was the second of Marilyn Maye's first 54 Below run (which will continue until March 16) and she sashayed around the stage in front of an almost full house like a woman of 35. Like most of her shows, Maye's performance was a 'live' cabaret Master Class for budding cabaret performers ...

The cabaret gods must be smiling on this reviewer because this past Saturday evening my wife and I celebrated her birthday with an intimate dinner in between a couple of totally engaging shows from two lovely ladies of cabaret; the beautiful Jillian Laurain paying homage to classic Broadway show tun...

Armed with twice the vocal power and awash with plenty of real, fiery chemistry, Broadway vets -- and real-life married couple -- Marin Mazzie and Jason Danieley's romantically-themed cabaret showcase titled 'He Said/She Said' played to packed audiences at the Samueli Theater in Costa Mesa over Vale...

At last year's Manhattan Association of Cabarets and Clubs (MAC) Awards, two of the big winners were T. Oliver Reid (photo left) for Male Debut and Eric Michael Gillett for Major Artist, Male (and both could very likely be MAC nominees again this year). Almost a year later, two of New York cabaret's...

If you couldn't get to the Ziegfeld Theatre at the end of January to attend the year-late 40th Anniversary Blu-Ray DVD Screening of the 1972 film “Cabaret,” here's how you can do the next best thing. Head over to Stage 72 (formerly The Triad, on 158 W. 72nd Street) and watch KT Sullivan and Kare...

Bayou City Concert Musicals has a track record of enjoyable and wholly entertaining performances. They burst onto the Houston Theatre scene with a concert production of FOLLIES. Since FOLLIES, Paul Hope has astounded audiences with productions of FALSETTOS, SHE LOVES ME, 70, GIRLS, 70, ASSASSINS, FI...

It's hard to believe that Amanda McBroom--who many consider to be one of the country's leading cabaret performers--had never played the elegant Cafe Carlyle before the current run of her new show A Valentine Rose. But better late than never because few things could warm the cockles of a romance-crav...

A review of Orlando's Theatre Downtown cabaret benefiting local stage manager, Carla Young....

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...

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 perform...