Eric Yves Garcia News

On Monday, March 16, the Broadway at Birdland concert series was proud to present singer Maxine Linehan, who hosted an all-star cast performing an ALL-U2 concert. BroadwayWorld has photos from the concert below!

Ari Silverstein Hosts The Encore Series at Cafe Noctombulo in Pangea Restaurant 178 Second Ave. Between 11 and 12th Street.

For more than 70 years, composer and lyricist Ervin Drake had a remarkably varied career but we will remember him for his music.With hits like 'Tico Tico', The Rickety Rickshaw Man', 'It Was A Very Good Year', 'Good Morning Heartache' and 'I Believe', Ervin Drake had man 'very good' years. Join us Today, March 6, 2015 at 7pm with an all- star cast including KT Sullivan, Stacy Sullivan, Klea Blackhurst, Tom Moore, Carole J. Bufford, Carol Woods, Jeff Harnar, Eric Yves Garcia, Tony Award winner DeeDee Bridgewater and many more. Featuring Jon Weber on piano and Ray Kilday on bass.

Just like the breakfast specials in the sunshine state which cost you half as much as those offered around Columbus Circle, Lynn University audiences are now getting the best of Cabaret at a similar discount. Artistic Director KT Sullivan has connected The Mabel Mercer Foundation's Live at Lincoln Center to producer Jan McArt's Live at Lynn Cabaret Series. I don't have a photo of the Florida Hat KT wore when she opened the new series with her performance in January, but I do have plenty of photos of the Broadway and Cabaret star Sally Mayes in last nights wonderful performance at the Keith C. and Elaine Johnson Wold Performing Arts Center. Jan and KT chose wisely in having a singer/actor of Sally's caliber take the stage of "Live at Lynn" to represent the excellence from Cabaret at Lincoln Center. Sally's theatrical voice and jazz vocals thrilled the salt & pepper haired Boca audience. It was wonderful to see the Florida crowd tapping their feet to a jazz waltz. I don't think it was because Sally sang a great tune about Viagra in the water that made the Lynn audience rise to their feet, she gave them a fun filled superb musical evening. Talking about jazz waltzes, Boca is in for a real treat when Marilyn Maye is "Live at Lynn" on June 7th, but first audiences will be treated to Eric Yves Garcia April 1, and Carol Woods on May 20th, two quality performers from the Mabel Mercer reservoir of talent.

Coming up this week, 54 BELOW, Broadway's Supper Club, presents some of the brightest stars from Broadway, cabaret, jazz and beyond. To purchase tickets or for more information, visit www.54Below.com or call (646) 476-3551.

This March, 54 BELOW presents an exciting lineup of the brightest talent from Broadway and beyond. Located just below the legendary Studio 54 at 254 West 54th Street. Below, find the schedule for upcoming events over the next month.

For more than 70 years, composer and lyricist Ervin Drake had a remarkably varied career but we will remember him for his music.With hits like 'Tico Tico', The Rickety Rickshaw Man', 'It Was A Very Good Year', 'Good Morning Heartache' and 'I Believe', Ervin Drake had man 'very good' years. Join us Friday, March 6, 2015 at 7pm with an all- star cast including KT Sullivan, Stacy Sullivan, Klea Blackhurst, Tom Moore, Carole J. Bufford, Carol Woods, Jeff Harnar, Eric Yves Garcia, Tony Award winner DeeDee Bridgewater and many more. Featuring Jon Weber on piano and Ray Kilday on bass.

As the days dwindled down to a precious few in 2014, a few cabaret goers and performers in what is affectionately but also self-mockingly called the “cabaret community” would sidle up and ask if I was planning my annual end-of-the year “Best Of” column, similar to the “Top 20 Bests and Favorites” piece over the first half of the year I posted back in early July. I would respond in the negative with very reasonable and believable excuses, but the truth is I didn't want to reveal my “Bests” of the year until the voting for the 2014 BroadwayWorld New York Cabaret Awards had ended. There's enough baggage and backstage whispering that comes with administering the BWW Awards, so I wasn't about to publish any opinions that might influence the vote while it was in process. I may be crazy but I'm not masochistic. But now all bets are off. You want lists? I'll give you lists.

For 60 continuous hours, from 7pm on Thursday January 1 to 7am on Sunday January 4, New York's Metropolitan Room is staging what it is billing as "The Longest Variety Show Ever." Featuring approximately 160 performers and 15 emcees, the entertainment will span music, burlesque, comedy, drag, theatre/opera, magic and puppetry.

If you've been a regular reader of this particular reviewer's musings, you know that every year there are long stretches of time where I just haven't been able to critique all the shows I've seen that deserve commentary. So I end up playing what they call in sports, 'Catch-up ball,' and post a mash up of belated reviews from past shows. It's kind of like a critic's version of the song 'Six Months Out of Every Year,' from Damn Yankees. Give or take a month or two, that's usually the time period during which I store unpublished reviews in my fevered brain and then unload them all in one seemingly endless column-like this one is going to be. If my cabaret-show reviewing days will be over (as chronicled here), I might as well go out with a bang-and relieve my procrastination guilt during holiday season. Now I can scratch one New Year's resolution off the list.

At The Laurie Beechman Theatre last Thursday night, the new dynamic duo of Carole J. Bufford and Eric Yves Garcia performed their fun holiday show, A Christmas Carole & New Year's Yves, to a full house of adoring family, friends, and fans. They were the very picture of the perfect holiday host and hostess.

The day is finally here! After one month of voting on preliminary nominees in 17 categories, the results of more than 5,000 ballots were considered along with the selections of BroadwayWorld's cabaret section editors to determine the final nominees for the 2014 BroadwayWorld.com New York Cabaret Awards. Joining cabaret icon Marilyn Maye with four nominations is budding star Carole J. Bufford, who made the final ballot for two different shows during 2014 and as 'Best Female Vocalist' and 'Performer of the Year.' Among Maye's nominations were 'Performer of the Year,' two shows in the 'Best Celebrity Show' category, and a 'Best Director' nomination for her work with jazz singer Gabrielle Stravelli (who received two nominations). In addition to her usual nod for 'Best Jazz Vocalist,' jazz star Jane Monheit received two other nominations as 'Performer of the Year,' and as 'Best Host' for her new variety show at Birdland, Jane Monheit's Jazz Party (Monheit also co-starred with Clint Holmes in another nominated show, Frank Wildhorn and Friends in the 'Best Revue' category.) Eric Michael Gillett also earned three nominations for 'Best Show, Male,' 'Best Male Vocalist,' and 'Best Director.'

The Manhattan Association of Cabarets & Clubs has announced the 3rd Annual "MAC presents THEY WRITE THE SONGS." The show will be held Sunday, November 16th at 4pm in the Engelman Recital Hall at the Baruch Performing Arts Center (Lexington Avenue at 25th Street).

The 25th New York Cabaret Convention first night titled 'I Love A Piano' was held at Rose Hall at Jazz at Lincoln Center last night and BroadwayWorld was there backstage and out front!

After more than two decades of exciting contribution to the New York musical scene, The Mabel Mercer Foundation hits a new high this autumn by producing its 25th annual New York Cabaret Convention for four evenings, October 20th-23rd. All performances begin at 6 o'clock at the Rose Theater, Jazz at Lincoln Center, The Frederick P. Rose Hall at Broadway and 60th Street.

When Margaret Whiting died on January 10, 2011, the news was like a dagger into the heart of the New York cabaret community. Whiting was a beloved singer for almost seven decades, who seemingly delivered every American popular song ever written, conquered almost every musical art form--from Big Band to Country to Musicals to Cabaret, from radio to the recording studio. On top of all that, Whiting worked with and mentored many New York cabaret musical directors and performers, including the late Mary Cleere Haran and K.T. Sullivan, who along with Whiting's daughter Deborah, hosted a 90th birthday Whiting tribute show on Monday night at Carnegie Hall's elegant Weill Recital Hall. Presented by The Mabel Mercer Foundation, for which Sullivan is Artistic Director, It Might As Well Be Spring! A Celebration in Song of the Life of Margaret Whiting was an almost three-hour concert featuring two All-Star teams worth of cabaret stars spanning a few generations.

Margaret Whiting was one of America's favorite and most venerated singers for more than sixty years. She delivered stellar performances on record, radio, television, and the musical comedy, concert, and cabaret stages. She received twelve Gold Records. She offered a repertoire that ranged from Jerome Kern to Leon Russell, and from Rodgers & Hart to Michel Legrand and Alan & Marilyn Bergman.

NiCori Studios and Productions in association with the Oakeside Bloomfield Cultural Center announces a new installment of the monthly concert series, 'Music at the Mansion', on Sunday, June 22, at 3pm. Performers include Eric Yves Garcia, 4th Wall Theatre and Carole J. Bufford. The featured performer in the 'Young Musician Moment' will be Samy Cordero.

After a critically-lauded run in NYC, Holmdel Theatre Company alumnus Eric Yves Garcia brings his popular cabaret show, One Night Standards, to the Duncan Smith Theater for a special two-day only benefit performance on June 6 and 7 at 8pm.

If you are even a semi-regular reader of this column of reviews, you know that about every three or four months, I post a compilation of observations of shows from the previous quarter of the year. This cabaret critiquing mash up happens for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that I admittedly see too many cabaret shows for the amount of time I have to promptly review them (and then, of course, the usual writer's procrastination sets in). So I have to prioritize the timeliness of the reviews based on the prestige of the performer, the length of a show run, the strength (or lack thereof) of the performance, etc. The quality of the shows in these compilations—which can range from a half dozen to a dozen reviews in one shot—are usually a mixed bag of outright raves, qualified positives, and constructive pans (I'm not a fan of the word “negative” in the reviewer lexicon). With that in mind here are a collection of cabaret show reviews going back to the start of a very harsh winter.