Urban Stages (Frances Hill, Founding Artistic Director), in association with producer/director/lyricist Peter Napolitano announces a series of musical evenings entitled WINTER RHYTHMS 2013, beginning on Tuesday, December 3 and running through Sunday, December 15, 2013 at Urban Stages Theatre (259 West 30th Street). Tickets are $30 per show (unless otherwise noted).Tickets may be purchased on www.smarttix.com or 212 868-4444.
The Broadway Ballyhoo, now in its fourth month at The Laurie Beechman Theater, will celebrate the Cabaret Convention by featuring, among its stars, nightlife Icon SIDNEY MYER and the legendary STEVE ROSS. Also joining the bill, Central Park Guitar Man DAVID IPPOLITO who is currently starring in his own show downtown, Possibility Junkie. More stars will soon be announced, as well. They will all appear in the next performance of this popular weekly musical revue on Wednesday, October 9th at 10:45 PM.
Ten years ago, as a reaction to over-amplification of musicals, Scott Siegel had the crazy idea that there might be an audience for a concert of Broadway show tunes performed the way they used to be sung: without microphones. And Scott had the perfect place to try out his theory, the acoustically wonderful Town Hall on West 43rd St. With no money, but the support of a great many singers who wanted, literally, to be heard in a way that was no longer possible on Broadway, he launched the first Broadway Unplugged, boasting 'Sound Design by God.' BroadwayWorld brings you photos from the special concert below!
Ten years ago, as a reaction to over-amplification of musicals, Scott Siegel had the crazy idea that there might be an audience for a concert of Broadway show tunes performed the way they used to be sung: without microphones. And Scott had the perfect place to try out his theory, the acoustically wonderful Town Hall on West 43rd St. With no money, but the support of a great many singers who wanted, literally, to be heard in a way that was no longer possible on Broadway, he launched the first Broadway Unplugged, boasting 'Sound Design by God.'
A special Broadway Ballyhoo, celebrating the 99th birthday of the show's producer/host, Scott Siegel ('Because that's how old I feel') will be a star-studded affair at the show's new home at The Laurie Beechman Theater.
BARITONES UNBOUND, featuring MARC KUDISCH, BEN DAVIS & JEFF MATTSEY have joined the 10th Annual Concert at Town Hall lineup on Monday, Sept. 30th at 8 PM.
A special Broadway Ballyhoo, celebrating the 99th birthday of the show's producer/host, Scott Siegel ('Because that's how old I feel') will be a star-studded affair at the show's new home at The Laurie Beechman Theater.
In cabaret, there are variety shows and there are VARIETY shows. Going on close to three years as a reviewer and attending a myriad of these affairs that can range in feel from Ed Sullivan to the Gong Show, I no longer have much patience for the lower case version. But every once in a while there's a multi-performer extravaganza that screams capital letters. It turns out that MAC-Award winning singer Lauren Fox has acquired the knack for staging 'Big V' variety shows because they are all about the themes, the stories, and the music, and not about the performers. And wouldn't you know it? With the egos being upstaged by everyone's joy and passion for the project, everybody wins . . . especially the audience. That was the case last night at 54 Below with the Fox produced 'One Night of Peace & Music: A Tribute to Woodstock.'
Nightlife Award winner Carole J. Bufford, Tony Bennett's favorite singer Allan Harris, musical theater comet Jillian Louis (winning performance citations the last two years in a row at NYMF), cabaret star Frank Dain and Broadway Rising star Michelle Cameron will star in the next edition of Scott Siegel's BROADWAY BALLYHOO! tonight, August 14 at 10:30 p.m. at the Laurie Beechman Theatre.
Nightlife Award winner Carole J. Bufford, Tony Bennett's favorite singer Allan Harris, musical theater comet Jillian Louis (winning performance citations the last two years in a row at NYMF), cabaret star Frank Dain and Broadway Rising star Michelle Cameron will star in the next edition of Scott Siegel's BROADWAY BALLYHOO! on Wednesday, August 14 at 10:30 p.m. at the Laurie Beechman Theatre.
Ten years ago, as a reaction to over-amplification of musicals, Scott Siegel had the crazy idea that there might be an audience for a concert of Broadway show tunes performed the way they used to be sung: without microphones. And Scott had the perfect place to try out his theory, the acoustically wonderful Town Hall on West 43rd St. With no money, but the support of a great many singers who wanted, literally, to be heard in a way that was no longer possible on Broadway, he launched the first Broadway Unplugged, boasting 'Sound Design by God.'
The Major League Baseball All-Star break (the game is on Tuesday night) has always been considered the midpoint of the season and as a lifelong fan I've always enjoyed reading those analyses from writers that assess the best performances of the first half. Since July is also the middle of the calendar year, I thought it might be fun to present a cabaret equivalent of a baseball midseason report. So . . . (drum roll) . . . presenting the Best (and My Favorite) 20 New York Cabaret Shows and Performances of (the first half) of 2013.
A few weeks before BroadwayWorld.com Cabaret Reviewer and Columnist Stephen Hanks was about to stage the opening night of his debut solo cabaret show on May 31, a number of cabaret performers asked him if he was going to write about the experience in some way, with some even encouraging him to keep a diary. 'It might be really interesting to read how your perspective about cabaret performers and performing might have changed and how it might impact your reviews now that you're doing it yourself,' commented one singer. 'It was a fascinating notion and one that I had already thought about,' Hanks admits, 'but between a full time job, attending shows, writing reviews, taking vocal lessons, rehearsing, etc., finding the time and the energy to keep even a weekly diary was not in the cards.' Hanks certainly didn't think he'd forget even the little things that have gone into making his journey what he calls 'an amazing, fantasy-fulfilling, almost surreal experience.' On the eve of his last performance of his three-show run (over three weeks) at the Metropolitan Room of Beyond American Pie: The Don McLean Songbook, BroadwayWorld.com sat down with our lead cabaret reviewer to get his insights and perspective on what's it been like to be on the performer end of things.
After a critically acclaimed one-year run at Feinstein's at Loew's Regency, ending only because the Regency closed for renovations, Scott Siegel's BROADWAY BALLYHOO re-launches at The Laurie Beechman Theatre, downstairs at the West Bank Cafe on Wednesday, July 24th at 10:30 PM (doors open at 10 PM).
As a big fan of cabaret shows that incorporate horn sections (as does Terese Genecco's monthly 'Little Big Band' efforts at Iridium or Carole J. Bufford's 2012 show, speakeasy., which featured Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks), I was more than a little jazzed to hear that compelling Streisand sound-alike Marieann Meringolo would be doing a package of her 'greatest cabaret hits' from past shows, but supported by a 7-piece band (including three horns--Richie Vitale on trumpet, Jonathan Kantor on tenor sax, and Danny Hall on trombone) for a gig spanning three weekend nights (May 31-June 2) that she and her director Eric Michael Gillett called 'Orchestrated.' In this case, 'orchestrated' unfortunately came across more like 'engineered' or 'manufactured.'
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 time. I learned this again early this month when I felt compelled to attend three shows starring charming female singers-Corinna Sowers-Adler at Stage 72 (the Triad), Eva Kantor at the Laurie Beechman, and Lianne Marie Dobbs at the Metropolitan Room. I didn't break my personal Sunday record of four shows in one day set in late January (yes, I should be committed), but there was a two-hour break in this mix so it still turned out to be an 8-hour cabaret extravaganza. (Thank you, oh God of Cabaret, for press comps!) While it would have been sweet for the musical marathon to have been a clean sweep of excellent shows, as Meat Loaf might croon, 'Two Out Of Three Ain't Bad.'
On Monday, April 8, the Broadway at Birdland concert series presented an encore performance of 'Eleven O'Clock Numbers,' a musical review that ran at Feinstein's at the Regency Hotel for eight months. Scroll down for photos from the show!
The first-ever BroadwayWorld.com New York Cabaret Awards show was held at the Metropolitan Room on Thursday, February 21. The evening featured a star-studded lineup, including Marilyn Maye, Ben Vereen, Jim Caruso, composer Jason Robert Brown and cabaret stars Billy Stritch, KT Sullivan, Karen Kohler, Colleen McHugh, Jane Monheit and more. Watch BroadwayWorld's exclusive highlights from the awards show below!
"Carole J. Bufford: Body and Soul" is adding dates to its Metropolitan Room run, which was originally scheduled to end on Wednesday. Now running through March 15, "Body and Soul," plays three more times -- Wednesday February 27 at 7pm, Monday March 4 at 7pm, and Friday March 15 at 9:30pm.
If the Broadway revival of a few years back demonstrated the deadly results that can occur when overthinking and underplaying a quality farce, the new Paper Mill mounting is a fast a furious example of Ken Ludwig's madcap Lend Me A Tenor done right. Director Don Stephenson doesn't throw any fancy curveballs with the material, but he and his perfectly cast company of Broadway vets nail every door slam and verbal ping-pong volley with hilarious aplomb.
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