CABARET THEATER REVIEWS

In a follow-up to their 2013 presentation Sin Twisters, on Wednesday night at Feinstein's/54 Below, show biz veterans Anita Gillette and Penny Fuller offered stories from the Broadway trenches, songs from their musical history, and affectionate one-upmanship, again deftly directed by Barry Kleinbort...

It took 30 years for Shawn Moninger, a Unity minister and longtime technical director with four MAC awards, to move out of the booth and onto the stage. His show Because I Can (which has been running monthly at the Metropolitan Room since last November) is more a one-man Off-Broadway comedy show tha...

There are milestones in everyone's life--events that are so strongly embedded in your memory that you can actually recall the date, the time, the place, and the feelings you had when they occurred. Events like a joyful marriage, the birth of a child, or the loss of a loved one all help to define us ...

Multiple Grammy-winning drummer, composer, producer, and bandleader Terri Lyne Carrington and her group play dense, intense jazz with elusive melody. Ornette Coleman's 'Chronology' arrives like a wall of sound. An adamant and up-tempo 'Body and Soul' (Edward Heyman/Robert Sour/Frank Eyton/Johnny Gre...

Some years ago when Tony Award-winning actress (for For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf (Ntozake Shange) and playwright Trezanna Beverley's voice coach suggested she listen to Mabel Mercer, the artist had not heard of the nightclub and cabaret singing icon. A trip ...

In their continuing effort to broaden its musical scope, Lincoln Center's American Songbook series at The Appel Room Saturday night presented two-time Tony Award nominee Andy Karl (Rocky, On the Twentieth Century) and his Tony-Award nominee wife Orfeh (Legally Blonde) performing together in concert ...

The brainchild of Metropolitan Room managing partner Bernie Furshpan, his General Manager Joseph Macchia, and Cabaret Scenes Magazine Publisher Peter Leavy, New York's first International Cabaret Festival (February 17-21) debuted Wednesday night at the Met Room with performances and inductions into ...

Jeff Macauley loves Dinah Shore. That's usually the case when a cabaret performer devotes an entire show to a star's body of work. But there's affection and admiration, and then there's all-encompassing passion and adoration that informs the performer's every note, lyric, and anecdote, and thereby i...

Hosted by famously deadpan Julie Halston (You Can't Take It With You), the melange of actors presented in Monday night's comedy show at Feinstein's/54 Below drove home the fact that humor is simply not universal. Additionally, lack of continuity made it seem as if artists chose material no one revie...

When vocalist Todd Murray discovered several of the musicians for his excellent show Croon were unavailable for their scheduled Valentine's Day appearance last Sunday afternoon at the Metropolitan Room, he asked Sean Harkness (the guitarist in the show) to join him for a two-hander. The fortuitous a...

Last Sunday, New York's Birdland Jazz Club welcomed the third and fourth shows in Ann Hampton Callaway's This is Cabaret series that is subsequently aired on National Public Radio (check local listings for dates and times). As increased exposure is vital to the health of the art form, one can only a...

The indomitable Liliane Montevecchi revived her 25-year-old cabaret show Thursday night at Feinstein's/54 Below with verve, style, and the expansive flirting of a lifelong femme fatale. This time it's aptly titled Be My Valentine. Few can ad lib with so much beguiling heat. As the Cliff Notes of he...

Performing at the Cafe Carlyle for his fourth time, John Lloyd Young sashayed to the stage on his Tuesday opening night wearing leather and aviator glasses, and with the swagger one would expect from the performer who originated the role of Frankie Valli in Jersey Boys in 2005 (Young became the only...

Closing January 2016 with a bang, Broadway veteran and singer-songwriter Brian Gallagher shook Birdland Jazz Club with BRIAN GALLAGHER AND FRIENDS. He has been crafting new songs, writing a musical about a serial killer haunted by her victims, and even crafting a song cycle about rats. Utilizing his...

Attending a Ben Vereen show these days is like worshipping at the altar of Happy. As he displayed once again on Monday's opening night of his latest run at Feinstein's/ 54 Below, the veteran entertainer exudes palpable pleasure at being on stage while repeatedly expressing gratitude to his audience....

With her new CD release Photographs, veteran New York jazz and cabaret singer Mary Foster Conklin puts her own stamp on the material, which is part interpretation and part the limited range of her often smoky alto. Accompanying musicians—led by John diMartino on piano--are top notch with especiall...

Strut & Fret's latest offering BLANC DE BLANC invites the audience to be immersed in the bright shiny world of bubbles, bare flesh and breathtaking acrobatics....

The inspiration for Alexandre Dumas' novel 'La Dame Aux Camelias' and later Verdi's La Traviata, Marie DuPlessis shares her story with SYDNEY FESTIVAL in SONGS FOR THE FALLEN....

How much do most of us know about Brooklyn's own Mary Jane 'Mae' West (1893-1980) other than that she was an iconic sex symbol who had a wicked sense of humor? It's common knowledge she acted and sang, but are you aware she was a playwright and screenwriter? Did you know she didn't make her first fi...

Karen Oberlin's original performance of Heart & Soul: The Songs of Frank Loesser in 2010 (Loesser's Centennial celebration year) at The Algonquin Hotel's legendary Oak Room earned her a MAC Award nomination for “Best Major Artist” (as well as an award for the Live CD) and sterling reviews. Hence...

Weimar inspired cabaret star Meow Meow (Melissa Madden Gray) brings her poignant philosophical ponderings of love to the SYDNEY FESTIVAL with her interpretation of the Hans Christian Andersen's LITTLE MERMAID....

Last week, Broadway veteran Benjamin Eakeley delighted audiences with his charming solo cabaret Broadway Swinger at Feinstein's/54 Below. The 60s themed show featured a book by Tim Murray and Eakeley, which was filled with interesting factoids about the decade. It was also masterfully directed by JV...

Thursday night at Feinstein's/54 Below, Scott Siegel--the busiest cabaret show producer in town--hosted a tribute to Cole Porter's classic musical, Kiss Me Kate, as part of the 2015 BroadwayWorld Award-nominated 54 Below Sings . . . series. With Siegel at the lectern filling in plot, Musical Directo...

Lo and behold, The Plaza Hotel once again has music. Located up a flight of stairs where once the legendary Persian Room stood, The Rose Club is a comfortable two tiered bar and lounge with a varied menu and specialty cocktails. Service is excellent. This all but unknown refuge is a good place to me...

Actor/singer John Lloyd Young, best known for his Tony-winning portrayal of Frankie Valli in the original Broadway musical Jersey Boys and for his performance in the 2014 film, has performed eight record-breaking sell-out headlining engagements at Sterling's Upstairs at the Federal since October ...