John Cook News

Singing actress and storyteller Deborah Stone has a brand-new show opening this month at Pangea, and Broadway World Cabaret has Deborah for a few minutes of conversation.

Josephine Sanges, John M. Cook, and Jeff Harnar have outdone themselves with the new Fanny Brice tribute show playing the Beechman. Read our critic's review.

The one-time Funny Girl is looking back at her personal experience playing Fanny Brice, as well as the original Funny Lady herself.

MARGO BROWN and LISA DELLAROSSA make their duo DON'T TELL MAMA debut with YOU'RE NOTHING WITHOUT ME.  The show is a musical answer to the question, “Can two women of a certain age do a show together without driving each other crazy?”  

On the heels of two sold-out performances in Chicago, Cindy Firing is thrilled to bring her Barbara Cook tribute show home to her old stomping grounds - New York City! 'You & I' tells the story of Barbara Cook - the woman behind the legend – with songs she sang throughout her 70-year career.

An accomplished guitarist, producer, and equally prolific filmmaker, Jesse Cook has evolved his talents to create experiences that delight audiences both in concert and online. He composed his first album, Tempest, more than 25 years ago and never imagined that such a humble recording, in which he played all the instruments, would spark into a musical legacy with thousands of concerts performed around the world, more than two million albums sold, five PBS specials, and tens of millions of content views and streams across the internet.

The show is a musical answer to the question, “Can two women of a certain age do a show together without driving each other crazy?”  The ammunition is an eclectic song list from yesterday and today, from Kander and Ebb to Carole King, Stephen Sondheim to Billy Stritch, and from Tom Lehrer and Garth Brooks to Cy Coleman and David Zippel.  

Birdland, the world-famous jazz club, features two of these latter-day vaudeville offshoots. Jim Caruso's Cast Party has been a staple of Birdland for years, serving as Broadway's open mic experience. But every Tuesday evening, Susie Mosher presides over a somewhat more curated and far more ribald variety show in Birdland's downstairs theatre. THE LINEUP is not an open mic. Mosher puts together its guests each week. They are from every echelon of show business, from Tony winners to new up-and-coming artists. They often have nothing in common except for a wild amount of talent. Susie Mosher serves as the host of the evening. She is a combination of den mother, improv artist, and Tasmanian devil. Her wit is faster than lightning and she can turn on a dime into a fantastic chanteuse. I was lucky enough to catch the latest edition of THE LINEUP this evening.

Who will get YOUR vote this year?

Josephine Sanges talks pottery, parish, and projects with Stephen Mosher

On January 26th, Renee Katz paid tribute to Jule Styne through an evening of intimate, jazzy cabaret at Don't Tell Mama. It was a treat to hear a selection of Styne songs, ranging from very obscure to very popular, sung with Katz's full, clear voice.

Her cabaret star on the rise, Deborah Stone brings her latest show to The Beach Cafe and is greeting by a completely sold out house. No surprise.

BJ RYAN'S MAGNOLIA ROOM a?" Fairfield County's newest intimate cabaret venue a?" will present, direct from a successful NYC run, JOSEPHINE SANGES (2019 MAC Award winner, 2018 La Mott Friedman Award winner, and recipient of the 2017 Mabel Mercer Foundation's Margaret Whiting Award) in her critically acclaimed Harold Arlen tribute show, COME RAIN OR COME SHINE for one night only Friday, January 31 at 8:00 pm. John Cook will serve as Music Director with Jeff Harnar as Director.

After the debut of this highly acclaimed show in September, Deborah is pleased to bring it uptown, to the lovely Beach Café! Come join her while she draws you into her life upon the wicked stage, as a dancer, singer, show girl, drag queen, and more!

Urban Stages (Frances Hill, Founding Artistic Director and Tom Toce , Musical Director) announces the line-up for this year's award-winning series, WINTER RHYTHMS 2019, which will begin Wednesday, December 11 featuring some of New York's best musical performances through Saturday, December 21, 2019 at Urban Stages Theatre (259 West 30th St., East of 8th Ave.)

Eugene Ebner and friends like Natalie Douglas, Tim Cahill, Renee Katz, Hannah Jane Peterson, Sean Patrick Murtagh, and Bryon Sommers bring some holiday cheer to The Laurie Beechman with an all cabaret all Christmas concert.

New York: Urban Stages (Frances Hill, Founding Artistic Director and Tom Toce , Musical Director) announces the line-up for this year's award-winning series, WINTER RHYTHMS 2019, which will begin Wednesday, December 11 featuring some of New York's best musical performances through Saturday, December 21, 2019 at Urban Stages Theatre (259 West 30th St., East of 8th Ave.)

With her new cabaret show Deborah Stone brings the stories that make up the crazy quilt of her life and some classy, classic music to match.

The Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute presents choreographer and disability arts innovator Alice Sheppard, along with the Kinetic Light collaborative, in DESCENT, November 15 and 16. Performed on a custom-designed architectural ramp installation with hills, curves, and peaks, DESCENT explores the pleasures of wheeled movement and reckless abandon. Combining dance, architecture, design, and technology, this new evening-length duet takes audiences on a transformative ride and obliterates cultural assumptions of what disability, dance, and beauty can be.