BROADWAY THEATER REVIEWS

The title character in Puccini's TOSCA is the quintessential diva--a grand performer ('goddess' in Italian) who thinks the world revolves around her, particularly when it comers to her lover, painter Mario Cavaradossi. The same might be said for soprano Angela Gheorghiu, who used to be a top attract...

Two new exhibitions summon two painters of grand, perhaps flawed ambitions, yet of undeniable power....

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 ...

With a fearsomely coherent exhibition, the Neue Galerie transports its visitors to the streets, theaters, and artists' studios of 1918-1933 Berlin....

The recital at Carnegie Hall's Zankel Hall on October 24 by the winners of the XV International Tchaikovsky Competition was like an “amuse bouche”--a gift from the chef at the start of a meal at a fine French restaurant to tickle your tongue. It was absolutely delicious, but left you hungering f...

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...

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...

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...

Visit Rocco Steakhouse in the NoMad neighborhood of New York City. This outstanding restaurant is sure to please....

Broadwayworld.com attended an exclusive screening of SIR IVAN: IA AM PEACEMAN at the Angelika Theater in SoHo....

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...

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...

Visit Church Street Tavern in the Tribeca neighborhood of New York City for an incredible food and drink experience....

MoMA's must see exhibit of the year is definitely the Picasso Sculpture show up until February 7th 2016. We all know Picasso as that painter that put some odd eyes on faces, gave us multiple views of a sitting figure at once and the great thief that Giacometti would not let in his studio....

Two splendid holiday CDs with her acclaimed vocal ensemble...

Visit Paname in New York City for fine French cuisine in a subtly elegant atmosphere....

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....

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...

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...

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...

It is rare that an exhibition can take an artist you have known for most of your museum-going life and make him live anew. PICASSO SCULPTURE is one such glorious rarity....

The glowing fountains at Josie Robertson Plaza, plumed with a dazzling vibrancy, welcoming a throng of silvery faces. Among them sauntered an impressionable following, the young and economically diverse New Yorkers who only know the now-infamous House Un-American Activities Committee by rote....

In terms of the origins of contemporary American culture as Americans know, breathe and live it today, authentic is a word rarely seen with such exacting definition than in the presence of David Amram. If America had a monarch, he would not only be Sir David Amram, he would be the palace seer, a mag...

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...

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...