Jacob Hoffman News

The 9th season of New York Theatre Barn's New Works Series launches on Tuesday, March 1, 2016 at The Cell. The evening features pre-premieres of two new musicals: Luna and the Gold River Docks and Sapien Sapien Sapien, and also includes a sneak peek of the musical Tink. Kirsten Scott (Follies) will replace Jenn Colella in the presentation of the new musical Luna and the Gold River Docks.

The 9th season of New York Theatre Barn's New Works Series launches on March 1, 2016 at The Cell with Pre-Premieres of two new musicals: Luna and the Gold River Docks and Sapien Sapien Sapien. The evening will also include a sneak peek of the musical Tink.

A celebrated New York event since 2010, the BroadwayWorld and Bistro Award-winning series Sondheim Unplugged features some of Broadway and cabaret's most dynamic voices, accompanied by piano only, delving into the musical world of Broadway's master composer.

This week FEINSTEIN'S/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, visitwww.54Below.com/Feinsteins or call (646) 476-3551.

Geva Theatre Center welcomes Tony Award Nominee Hunter Foster in the role of King Arthur, and his wife, Rochester-born Jennifer Cody, as Arthur's sidekick Patsy in the opening production of the theatre's 43rd Season - the Tony Award-winning hit musical, Monty Python's Spamalot by Eric Idle and John Du Prez, in the Wilson Stage, tonight, September 9, through October 11.

Geva Theatre Center announces that Tony Award Nominee Hunter Foster will play the role of King Arthur, and his wife, Rochester-born Jennifer Cody, will play Arthur's sidekick Patsy in the opening production of the theatre's 43rd Season - the Tony Award-winning hit musical, Monty Python's Spamalot by Eric Idle and John Du Prez, in the Wilson Stage September 9 - October 11.

A musical journey of survival New York: DEEP Arts in association with The New York Musical Theatre Festival presents the NY Premiere of Moses Man with book & lyrics by Deborah Haber and music by Casey Filiaci, directed by Michael Bush. The show will be feature choreography by Wendy Seyb with musical direction by Don Kot. Moses Man will play from July 8-13, 2015 at the Alice Griffin Jewel Box Theatre at The Pershing Square Signature Center (480 West 42nd Street).

54 Below, Broadway's Supper Club, celebrates the July 4th weekend with '54 Sings 1776,' a celebration of the music from Broadway's Tony Award-winning Independence Day musical by Sherman Edwards. '54 Sings 1776' returns to 54 Below, for its second smash year, for four performances only: Sat. July 4 at 7PM and 9:30PM, and Sun. July 5 at 7PM and 9:30PM.  To make a reservation, visit www.54below.com. Cover charge is $40-50. $25 food & beverage minimum. 

This July and August, 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. For a detailed schedule of upcoming performances at 54 Below and to purchase tickets, visit www.54Below.com.

This week at 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.

Broadway's 40 theatres aren't the only places to catch performances from your favorite stars! Well after Broadway orchestras begin their overtures, ensemble members take their dance breaks, and performers belt out their eleven o'clock numbers, the party continues at various cabaret venues throughout New York City. Below, BroadwayWorld brings you some cabaret highlights for this week as picked by our theatre editors, including: Steve Washington at the Metropolitan Room; Songbird in Concert by Lauren Pritchard & Michael Kimmel, Love Don't Need a Reason: A Benefit for Callen-Lorde; Ryan Scott Oliver and Lindsay Mendez's Actor Therapy; and 54 Sings 1776.

54 Below, Broadway's Supper Club, celebrates the July 4th weekend with '54 Sings 1776,' a celebration of the music from Broadway's Tony Award-winning Independence Day musical by Sherman Edwards. '54 Sings 1776' returns to 54 Below, for its second smash year, for four performances only: Sat. July 4 at 7PM and 9:30PM, and Sun. July 5 at 7PM and 9:30PM.  To make a reservation, visit www.54below.com. Cover charge is $40-50. $25 food & beverage minimum. 

Sondheim Unplugged, New York's long-running hit revue (currently in residence at Manhattan's 54 Below), will make a special, one night only appearance in Putnam County tonight, May 30th at 8pm at the Philipstown Depot Theatre, located on Garrison's Landing in Garrison, NY.

It's 1975 and The Brady Bunch and The Partridge Family are brought together on one cabaret stage by an accidental double booking… In a competition fiercer than when The Jackson 5 took on the Osmonds, the two television families will compete for your vote to win one precious prize. Check out photos from the evening below!

 Sondheim Unplugged, New York's long-running hit revue (currently in residence at Manhattan's 54 Below), will make a special, one night only appearance in Putnam County on Saturday, May 30th at 8pm at the Philipstown Depot Theatre, located on Garrison's Landing in Garrison, NY. Tickets, $30, may be obtained by visiting http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/1167073 or by calling 1.800.838.3006. A smash, sold-out success when it was presented at the Depot in 2011 & 2013, the show makes its' triumphant return this Spring - get your tickets fast!

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.

In my recent very extended assessment of cabaret shows I never reviewed during the second half of 2014, there were two significant omissions. I didn't leave these out of my critical mix because they weren't strikingly significant. In fact, it was just the opposite. The new variety game show, Tune In Time, which dubs itself the “Musical Theater Olympics,” and the musical theater piece/song cycle, New World Waking, were among the most original and entertaining productions I witnessed this year and deserved more of a feature treatment than a quickie review. My take on Tune In Time (which will begin a new monthly run at the York Theatre on January 5) should beat the clock before the next show. So by simple process of elimination, this commentary will be on New World Waking, which when performed on December 6 was one of the highlights of the recent annual 12-day, 20-show Winter Rhythms Festival at Urban Stages.

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.

The new production of THE 25TH ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE at Pioneer Theatre Company knows how to spell H-I-T. If the longer-than-usual title isn't familiar to you, you owe yourself a visit to Putnam County. And if it is, you already know why a return trip is in order.