Jacob Hoffman News

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 Give or take a month or two, that's usually the time period during which I store unpublished reviews in my fevered brain and then unload them all in one seemingly endless column-like this one is going to be.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.

Pioneer Theatre Company presents the musical The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, tonight, September 12 through 27, 2014.

Pioneer Theatre Company presents the musical The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, September 12 through 27, 2014.

54 Below, Broadway's Supper Club, celebrates the July 4th weekend with '54 Below Sings 1776,' a celebration of the music from Broadway's Tony Award-winning Independence Day musical by Sherman Edwards. '54 Below Sings 1776' will play four performances only: Thurs. July 3 at 7PM and 9:30PM, and Sat. July 5 at 7PM and 9:30PM. To make a reservation, visit www.54below.com. Cover starts at $50. $25 food & beverage minimum.

Good morning, BroadwayWorld! Because we know all our readers eat, sleep and breathe Broadway, what could be better than waking up to it? Today's big news: FROM HERE TO ETERNITY goes from stage to screen in the UK, and 54 Below hosts some 'BITCHING & BELTING' and revives 1776 tonight!

54 Below, Broadway's Supper Club, celebrates the July 4th weekend with '54 Below Sings 1776,' a celebration of the music from Broadway's Tony Award-winning Independence Day musical by Sherman Edwards. '54 Below Sings 1776' will play four performances only: tonight, July 3 at 7PM and 9:30PM, and Sat. July 5 at 7PM and 9:30PM.

54 Below, Broadway's Supper Club, celebrates the July 4th weekend with '54 Below Sings 1776,' a celebration of the music from Broadway's Tony Award-winning Independence Day musical by Sherman Edwards. '54 Below Sings 1776' will play four performances only: TONIGHT, July 3 at 7PM and 9:30PM, and Sat. July 5 at 7PM and 9:30PM.

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.

Coming up this week, 54 BELOW, Broadway's Supper Club, presents some of the brightest stars from Broadway, cabaret, jazz and beyond.

54 Below, Broadway's Supper Club, celebrates the July 4th weekend with '54 Below Sings 1776,' a celebration of the music from Broadway's Tony Award-winning Independence Day musical by Sherman Edwards. '54 Below Sings 1776' will play four performances only: Thurs. July 3 at 7PM and 9:30PM, and Sat. July 5 at 7PM and 9:30PM. To make a reservation, visit www.54below.com. Cover starts at $50. $25 food & beverage minimum.

54 Below has announced the latest musical scores to be featured in its acclaimed '54 Sings' concert series this summer:

In honor of the 10th anniversary of Bailiwick Repertory's Jeff Award-winning production of PARADE, Bailiwick Chicago will present a special one night only staged concert of the musical on Monday, May 12, 2014 at 7:30 pm at The Mercury Theater, 3745 N. Southport Ave. in Chicago. Original Director David Zak and Music Director Alan Bukowiecki (both Jeff Award winners) return once again to helm the Tony Award-winning drama by Pulitzer Prize winner Alfred Uhry (Driving Miss Daisy, The Last Night of Ballyhoo), with music and lyrics by Jason Robert Brown (The Last Five Years, The Bridges of Madison County, Songs for a New World) and co-conceived (and directed on Broadway) by Harold Prince. Tickets for PARADE are available online at www.bailiwickchicago.com.

Due to popular demand, Florida Studio Theatre announces an additional extension of the Tony Award-winning musical Monty Python's Spamalot, book and lyrics by Eric Idle, music by Eric Idle and John Du Prez. This musical that put the comedy back into musical comedy will continue to run in FST'S Gompertz Theatre through January 25, 2014. Tickets can now be purchased online at FloridaStudioTheatre.org, by phone at (941) 366-9000 or by visiting the Box Office.

Yesterday's SIPs come from the national tour of THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, taking their paper faces on parade, Broadway's BIG FISH and CINDERELLA, plus, La Jolla Playhouse's SIDE SHOW, the national tour of EVITA, and more!

Florida Studio Theatre opens the first show of the 13-14 Mainstage Season, the Tony Award-Winning MONTY PYTHON'S SPAMALOT, with book by Eric Idle and score by Eric Idle and John Du Prez. It will open in Florida Studio Theatre's Gompertz Theatre (1241 N. Palm Avenue) tonight, November 15, 2013.

Florida Studio Theatre opens the first show of the 13-14 Mainstage Season, the Tony Award-Winning MONTY PYTHON'S SPAMALOT, with book by Eric Idle and score by Eric Idle and John Du Prez. It will open in Florida Studio Theatre's Gompertz Theatre (1241 N. Palm Avenue) on Friday, November 15, 2013.

Michael Thomas Holmes (The Producers, Oklahoma!) and Dominique Plaisant (The Nutty Professor, The Wild Party) have joined the cast of UnsungMusicalsCo.'s new Off-Broadway production of the 1950 musical revue Bless You All! with sketches by Emmy Award winner Arnold Auerbach ("The Phil Silvers Show," Call Me Mister) and a score by acclaimed songwriter Harold Rome (Fanny, Destry Rides Again).