La MaMa continues its season-long celebration of the life and work of Sam Shepard with WEEKEND WITH SAM, two days of readings and excerpts from Sam Shepard's plays, prose and poetry, directed by Neil La Bute, Lois Weaver, Scott Wittman and Joel Zwick. WEEKEND WITH SAM will be held in The Ellen Stewart Theatre (66 E. 4 St.) February 3 4, 2018. All readings are free and open to the public, but not open for review by critics.
The holiday season is not complete without the perfect music to accompany it. 'Broadway's Carols for a Cure' is the latest compilation album that embodies the spirit of the season like nothing else can. A project born completely out of love, 'Broadway's Carols for a Cure' pairs the casts from famous Broadway musicals with songs that are both classic and new. The result is pure gold that will make you reach for the 'repeat' button over and over again.
The Cafe Carlyle is one of most renowned venues for cabaret in the country, seeped in history so rich it could fill a PBS special. In no way, though, does its historical significance relegate a show to seriousness.
Take, for example, two-time Tony Award winner Christine Ebersole (42ND STREET, GREY GARDENS), who returned to the Cafe Carlyle for the start of what is her impressive sixth engagement at the supper club on October 11. Buoyant and self-effacing, Ebersole made it quite clear to her audience, through both her song selections and banter, that silliness and poignancy can walk hand in hand, often times to a more moving effect than either component on its own.
Additionally, the very title of Ebersole's show, AFTER THE BALL, encapsulates a duality of its own, of both the specific relief and now-what sadness which accompanies the turning of life's pages. That page for Ebersole currently refers to her now-empty nest, having recently sent the last of her three children off to college. Fittingly, Ebersole kicked off her set with the song from which she got her show's moniker, "After the Ball," by Charles K. Harris. Melancholic and lilt, the song was prescient in underlining the evening's intent to investigate---with humor, introspection, and splendid tunes---this new chapter of Ebersole's life.
Back in early 2013, veteran cabaret performer and actress Barbara Porteus presented a show at Don't Tell Mama called Up On The Roof, a celebratory recollection of her youth through adulthood, while spanning 40 years of pop music including Carol King and Joni Mitchell to John Mayer and Adelle. Three years later, Porteus is bringing back Up On The Roof to the Metropolitan Room as the June 2016 installment of Producer Stephen Hanks' monthly series, New York Cabaret's Greatest Hits (Associate Producer, Fr. Jeffrey Hamblin, MD). Porteus' all-strings band features Award-winning Jack Cavari as Musical Director, arranger, and lead guitarist, with Larry Saltzman on guitar and Zev Katz on bass.
Royal Road Productions has announced the new cabaret show 'A Hanns Eisler Cabaret' of 'Eric Bentley's Brecht-Eisler Song Book,' a stunning collection of rarely performed songs by Austro-German composer Hanns Eisler today, March 31, 2016 at 9 pm at the Cabaret at Cafe Sabarsky in the Neue Galerie, 1048 Fifth Avenue, New York.
Royal Road Productions has announced the new cabaret show 'A Hanns Eisler Cabaret' of 'Eric Bentley's Brecht-Eisler Song Book,' a stunning collection of rarely performed songs by Austro-German composer Hanns Eisler on Thursday, March 31, 2016 at 9 pm at the Cabaret at Cafe Sabarsky in the Neue Galerie, 1048 Fifth Avenue, New York.
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.
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.
The Development Wing, a non-profit organization whose mission is to support the creation of new American musicals, will present its fourth annual Broadway Under the Stars benefit concert on Saturday, June 6, 2015 at 6:30 p.m.
Last December, after I posted my list of the Best Cabaret Performers of 2012, I followed up my original 'listmania' with a column that served as a way to include some 'honorable mentions,' basically a recognition of other memorable shows and performances of songs that were striking, unique, and/or original that year. The column received a positive response so I thought I'd wheel it out again this year. So as the hours tick away on 2013 and we anticipate the coming of a new year, here is an addendum to the 2013 New York Cabaret Performers of the Year--a totally random list of 30 Honorable Mentions of the 'Best' and 'Most' in Cabaret for 2013 . . . mainly because I can and it's fun. Enjoy and Happy New Year!
If you're wondering whether or not 2013 was a fantastic year for the cabaret art form in New York, all you have to do is scan the amazing list of nominees for this year's BroadwayWorld New York Cabaret Awards and you'll know it was one of the best ever. So now it's time for all you cabaret performers and fans to vote for the best singers, musicians, songs, and shows of the year. Voting will continue until Sunday night January 5 and the winners will be announced later that week. We hope that all the winners will be able to perform in the Award show on Sunday night February 23 at Joe's Pub.
Despite a torrential rainstorm midway through the performance, the 4th Annual Broadway Under the Stars played to an SRO crowd in an elegant tent on the historic Tewksbury, New Jersey property of Cherie King, The Development Wing and her husband composer, lyricist and book writer, Jonathan Brielle, Artistic Director of The Development Wing and Vice President, The Johnny Mercer Foundation. Scroll down for photos from the festivities!
The Development Wing which has dedicated itself to nurturing new musicals via partnerships with regional, not for profit theaters will hold its exclusive, intimate one-night-only benefit concert featuring Broadway stars singing songs from several new musicals at the historic Tewksbury, New Jersey home of Cherie King, President, The Development Wing and her husband composer, lyricist and book writer, Jonathan Brielle, Artistic Director of The Development Wing and Vice Chairman, The Johnny Mercer Foundation.
The Development Wing which has dedicated itself to nurturing new musicals via partnerships with regional, not for profit theaters will hold its exclusive, intimate one-night-only benefit concert featuring Broadway stars singing songs from several new musicals at the historic Tewksbury, New Jersey home of Cherie King, President, The Development Wing and her husband composer, lyricist and book writer, Jonathan Brielle, Artistic Director of The Development Wing and Vice Chairman, The Johnny Mercer Foundation.
Broadway divas lend their voices for the VOICELESS CD, released July 15, 2013, as an anthem song for the welfare of suffering animals. 'Voiceless' anthem song was written for animal protection by animal loving advocates Ann Crumb, Judy McLane and Olga Merediz.
It's April 1st. Do you know when your Spring is coming? During another longggggg New York winter, the good news is that there were a ton of warming cabaret shows. The bad news is that there were so many, even during this seemingly endless winter our intrepid reviewer Stephen Hanks didn't have enough time to review them all right after the performances. So in what is becoming a seasonal ritual, here he offers yet another compilation of 13 'catch-up' cabaret show reviews.
One of the newest ventures of Broadway Records is the release of a new series of CDs recorded live at 54 Below in New York City. The first singer to open the elegant new night club space was Broadway's extraordinary Patti Lupone last June, 2012. So it is only fitting that her Far Away Places be the first recording. Two-time Tony Award winning actor/singer Norbert Leo Butz played the room in August, 2012. His exciting Memories & Mayhem is the second live CD released.
THE JOHN MILLER QUARTET PLUS 2 will debut at The Cutting Room on Friday, February 1 for two shows after an unprecedented 21 week-run at the New York nightclub 54 Below. There will be performances at 10:00 PM and 11:30 PM. John Miller - the music and theater industry veteran best known as a bassist and music coordinator - brings together an all-star group of Broadway musicians who get together after the curtain falls to play their deep-groove favorites. In addition to Miller on bass, the show will feature Larry Saltzman on Guitar (Simon and Garfunkel, Carole King, Bette Midler, Chris Botti), John Korba on Piano (Hall & Oates, Phoebe Snow, Carly Simon, John Waite), Clint DeGanon on Drums (Stuff, Kid Rock, Elvis Costello, Saturday Night Live Band), David Mann on Tenor Sax (Tower of Power, James Taylor, Paul Simon, Stevie Wonder), and Joe Passaro on Percussion (Aretha Franklin, Manhattan Transfer, Nina Simone, Donald Fagen). The Cutting Room is located at 44 East 32nd Street between Madison and Park Avenues.
The Development Wing dedicated itself to nurturing new musicals via partnerships with regional, not for profit theaters held an intimate one-night-only benefit concert featuring Broadway stars singing songs from four new musicals and several tunes by great American songwriters like Johnny Mercer and Fats Waller. The event 'Broadway Under the Stars' took place at a sprawling, historic estate in the bucolic countryside of Tewksbury, New Jersey home of Cherie King and her husband composer, lyricist and book writer, Jonathan Brielle, Artistic Director of The Development Wing.
The Development Wing which has dedicated itself to nurturing new musicals via partnerships with regional, not for profit theaters will hold an exclusive, intimate one-night-only benefit concert featuring Broadway stars singing songs from three new musicals at the historic Tewksbury, New Jersey home of Cherie King and her husband composer, lyricist and book writer, Jonathan Brielle, Artistic Director of The Development Wing.
