Laurie Beechman News

On October 17th, Christopher Sieber performed 'To Excess' at Broadway Sessions. Watch him sing below!

BROADWAY SESSIONS is described as an evening of musical performances, games and open mic featuring a new Broadway guest each week. The show is created and hosted by Ben Cameron (Bway Wicked, Aida and Footloose) and features musical director Joshua Stephen Kartes on piano. This Thursday, October 31th, Broadway Sessions celebrates Halloween with an All Open Mic celebration!

By overwhelming popular demand, what began as a one-night-only engagement has ballooned into a full-fledged 64-performance Off-Broadway run! Now, RuPaul's Drag Race favorite Jinkx Monsoon announces a sixth and final extension of her New York theater debut in THE VAUDEVILLIANS, a musical comedy co-starring composer and musician Major Scales. Performances will now run through November 19 at The Laurie Beechman Theater (inside West Bank Cafe at 407 West 42nd Street -- at Ninth Avenue, accessible from the A,C,E,N,R,V,F,1,2,3 trains at 42nd Street). Performance times vary. Tickets are $25 (plus a $15 food/drink minimum.) A $50 VIP ticket including priority seating and meet-and-greet is also available. To purchase tickets, call 212-352-3101 or visit www.SpinCycleNYC.com.

"Champagne Pam" (Pamela Lewis) brings her new show to THE LAURIE BEECHMAN THEATRE. She offers an entertaining inventory of song and story as she checks off the list of a life well lived and loved. Bubbling with a spectrum of sound from contemporary music to jazz, this show is intended to pop with music lovers everywhere and of course, the cabaret devotee. Under the direction of the award-winning Susan Winter, Pamela's sultry, silky voice will be accompanied by a full band including guitarist husband, John Hurley.

Paper Mill Playhouse will continue its 75th Anniversary Season with the classic Charles Dickens musical Oliver!, with a holiday 'twist' for the entire family. With a book, music and lyrics by Lionel Bart, Oliver! will be directed by Paper Mill Playhouse Producing Artistic Director Mark S. Hoebee with original choreography by JoAnn M. Hunter. Oliver! will feature David Garrison (Fagin), best known for his role as Steve Rhoades on the hit television series Married...with Children, Betsy Morgan (Nancy), John Treacy Egan (Mr. Bumble), Jose Llana (Bill Sikes), David Hess (Mr. Brownlow), Ethan Haberfield (Artful Dodger) and introducing Tyler Moran as Oliver. Oliver! will also feature 16 local boys from across the state of New Jersey who auditioned from a pool of over 200. Oliver! will play the Millburn, New Jersey theater from November 21 through December 29. The official press opening night is Sunday, December 1, 2013, at 7:00pm.

Some people, especially some cabaret reviewers and cabaret fans, might think it's lazy or a copout or both for a performer to keep recycling previous shows. But when the Café Carlyle comes a'callin' you: A) May not have enough time to create a totally new show or B) Want to pitch the big game with your best stuff or C) All of the above. Since I only started reviewing cabaret in late 2010, I missed the Laurie Beechman Theatre debut of Jennifer Sheehan's 2009 show You Made Me Love You: Celebrating 100 Years of the Great American Songbook, and missed it again when she brought it to the Metropolitan Room in 2010. So I, for one, am not complaining that she dusted off the critically praised set again (with the new slug 'Timeless Classics and New Treasures' from said Songbook show) for her debut last Saturday night at the prestigious Café Carlyle. Sheehan may have been booked for the room's new 10:45 late night series and not the prime time slot, but at least the Carlyle is giving opportunities to exciting young cabaret performers like Sheehan (and Marissa Mulder, who will make her debut at the room on November 7). With You Made Me Love You, Sheehan made everything old new again-at least for me.

BROADWAY SESSIONS is described as an evening of musical performances, games and open mic featuring a new Broadway guest each week. The show is created and hosted by Ben Cameron (Bway Wicked, Aida and Footloose) and features musical director Joshua Stephen Kartes on piano. Tonight, October 24th, Broadway Sessions welcomes cast members from Motown The Musical and more.

Two years ago I heard the relatively new “Marquee Five” perform a show at the Laurie Beechman Theatre called “8-Track Throwback,” which was a five part harmony homage to the music of the 1960s and '70s. They hadn't gotten even halfway through their set when I realized that in Marquee Five I'd heard my Manhattan Transfer for the new millennium. Marquee Five's style is less jazzy and more pop than the Transfer, and their sound is infused with the tones of a co-ed barbershop quintet, Broadway belting, and holiday season caroling. Marquee Five's new show last Saturday night at 54 Below did nothing to push me off their bandwagon. In Broadway By the Letter: Act One (a set of songs representing the first half of the alphabet), this fabulous five-some once again delivered delicious harmonies on a variety of song styles, standout individual performances, and intricate yet accessible vocal arrangements.

New Light Theater Project will present a special two-night engagement at the Laurie Beechman Theatre on 42nd Street for 2 nights only: November 2 and 6 at 7:00PM.

BROADWAY SESSIONS is described as an evening of musical performances, games and open mic featuring a new Broadway guest each week. The show is created and hosted by Ben Cameron (Bway Wicked, Aida and Footloose) and features musical director Joshua Stephen Kartes on piano. This Thursday, October 24th, Broadway Sessions welcomes cast members from Motown The Musical and more.

On Thursday, October 10th, Broadway Sessions welcomed the cast members from Tony award winning smash hit, Kinky Boots, as well as its lyricist, Cyndi Lauper. Below, Joey Taranto performs 'I'm the Greatest Star' from FUNNY GIRL!

The Show Goes On Productions (TSGO) has announced that THE ROCKING DEAD will give away a $500 cash prize to the winner of a Zombie Costume Contest this Saturday, October 26th at The Cutting Room (44 E. 32nd Street at Park Avenue). Doors open at 11:30pm. Broadway Sessions' BEN CAMERON will guest MC the after hours Halloween show, the latest in the ROCK TONIC Series, written and performed by The Deafening.

The Broadway Ballyhoo, now in its fourth month at The Laurie Beechman Theater, will feature one of Broadway's most versatile talents, Bob Stillman: he is both a Tony Nominee for his songwriting (Urban Cowboy) and for his acting (Dirty Blonde). He will be joined by one of Broadway's hardest working -- and always working - musical theater actors, William Ryall, who has appeared in thirteen Broadway shows (so far). In addition, one of the most awarded cabaret singers in New York City (including a Nightlife Award), Lennie Watts, will be performing. And that's not all. There are always surprises at the Broadway Ballyhoo!

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, November 23rd at 8pm at the Philipstown Depot Theatre, located on Garrison's Landing in Garrison, NY. Tickets, $25, may be obtained by visiting www.brownpapertckets.com or by calling 1.800.838.3006. A smash, sold-out success when it was presented at the Depot in 2011, the show makes its' triumphant return this Fall - get your tickets fast!

Obie Award-winning playwright/performer David Drake, who most recently headlined an all-star ensemble benefit of his landmark show The Night Larry Kramer Kissed Me for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS last spring, returns to the New York stage with TAWNY, TELL ME TRUE. Written by and starring Drake, this drag tragicomedy with music will be directed by Robert La Fosse (Tony Award nominee for Jerome Robbins' Broadway) featuring musical direction by Lance Cruce (Joan River's longtime pianist, Karen Finley's Make Love), original music by Trevor Kuprel, and video by Ned Stresen Reuter. Performances begin October 19th at The Laurie Beechman Theatre.

If Opera be the Food of Love, Eat On, starring Chef Matthew Passaclacqua of Lure Grill & Wendy Taucher Dance Opera Theater. The Opera Dinner will be presented tonight, October 19th, 2013 at the Winnetu Oceanside Resort - Lure Grill (31 Dunes Road Edgartown, MA 02539). The evening combines opera classics, great food, in a lovely setting for this unique cabaret-style event. This special event is a part of the annual Martha's Vineyard Food & Wine Festival - a celebration of sea, farm and vine (October 17-20, 2013).

American Lyric Theater presents the first public libretto reading for the 2013-2014 season as part of its popular series, The Living Libretto, at the National Opera Center today, October 16th, 2013. Featuring guest actors from the Broadway and off-Broadway stage, each event is the culminating reading of an extensive libretto workshop conducted for new operas being written by ALT Resident Artists under the auspices of the company's Composer Librettist Development Program.

This Thursday, October 17th, Broadway Sessions reunites cast members from multiple Tony winning smash SPAMALOT, featuring Hank Azaria, Michael McGrath, Christopher Sieber and more!

The Broadway Ballyhoo, now in its fourth month at The Laurie Beechman Theater, will feature a singer who very much in the news.

On Thursday, October 10th, Broadway Sessions welcomed the cast members from Tony award winning smash hit, Kinky Boots, as well as its lyricist, Cyndi Lauper. Below, check out the cast's performance of 'Thank You For Being A Friend,' featuring Jordan Wolfe and Ben Cameron!