Lennie Watts News

Urban Stages announces the line-up for this year's Award Winning Musical event WINTER RHYTHMS 2015, which will begin Wednesday, December 2and will feature some of New York's best musical performances through December 13, 2015 at Urban Stages Theatre (259 West 30thStreet, just East of 8th Avenue). Tickets are $25 per show and may be purchased by visiting urbanstages.org or by calling (866) 811-4111. For complete schedule information, visit urbanstages.org.

Fourteen years since his debut at Don't Tell Mama, Marcus Simeone has evolved into a fearless singer who is able to climb inside any song and deliver it home with ease. Aside from eclectic solo work, he has also partnered with others over the years with mixed results. Currently, he has joined forces with two cabaret artists in two totally unrelated songwriter showcases running simultaneously in two different clubs. One salutes a controversial folk pioneer and the other pays homage to three Broadway icons.

Monday night was the third performance of a four-show Don't Tell Mama run of Watts' new show Shameless (the next one is on 10/19), directed by Richard Sabellico, who hired Watts for his first theater role after seeing him perform in cabaret. How, I wondered, would Lennie Watts follow his ballsy, 2013 MAC award-winning show, Bloody Bloody Lennie Watts!? Apparently by offering another rambunctious, personal evening, this one straddling the worlds of cabaret and theater. Self-described as "the most shameless, self aggrandizing show cabaret has ever seen" (a moot point) and "an extended audition" (not moot), the piece is custom tailored and beautifully put together, but ultimately achieves mixed results. 

Ricky Ritzel's Broadway returns to Don't Tell Mama on Sunday, Oct. 4th at 8PM with music and laughs from 'Ben Franklin in Paris,' 'Damn Yankees' and 'Gypsy.' The series, running since summer, is fashioned after Sylvia Fine Kaye's 'Musical Comedy Tonight' PBS programs from the 1970s. Each installment of Ricky Ritzel's Broadway, lauded as 'extraordinary' by Theater Pizzazz, highlights songs and stories from Broadway musicals with a star studded revolving cast. Ritzel, a widely admired performer and denizen of New York piano bars and the Cabaret world, gives wry commentary as well as accompanying the performers on piano.

Actor/vocalist Kristoffer Lowe has recently racked up an impressive array of awards, including the Metropolitan Room's 2014 MetroStar, the 2015 Bistro Award for Special Achievement, and the 2015 Male Debut MAC Award for his 2014 show, Waiting For the Light to Shine. Even after such kudos, however, he's been flying somewhat under the radar. His new show, You're Getting to Be a Habit With Me, which opened at the Metropolitan Room Tuesday night (a four-show run was his reward for winning the MetroStar), spotlighted the songs of composer Harry Warren, who was often called "the invisible man." With his stellar performance, Lowe should by all rights achieve his own well-deserved notoriety. The beautifully put together show displays versatile interpretive gifts, emotional translucence, and well-calibrated vocals.

The Metropolitan Room hosted two simultaneous events last night. The 10th year of the MAC Award Winning Benefit Series Cabaret Cares, and the 3rd 40th Birthday of the charities creator Joseph Macchia. The non profit Joseph started 10 years ago has raised over $100,000 to help children living with HIV and AIDS. It was a cabaret spectacular and Broadwayworld was there to catch all the action. Check it out below!

 There was an explosion last night at the finale of 'Mama's Next BIG Act!' at Don't Tell Mama. In a giant win, Amorika Amoroso came out on top of a remarkably gifted and well-matched group of performers who treated the standing-room only audience to an evening of sustained artistry and passion.  Amoroso, a deliriously funny R&B and blues singer/bad-ass who slices and dices with stories of growing up unique, sang 'Moving on Up,' which not only blew the roof off the joint, but also served notice that a major star was marching onto the scene in New York cabaret.

It seemed appropriate that a cabaret show titled Confessions of a Native New Yorker would begin with the quintessential “call to all dreamers” song “Let The River Run” by native New Yorker Carly Simon. Wearing an elegant black and gold brocade dress--the very personification of class--Helen Glassman took the Don't Tell Mama stage by storm in performing her debut show on June 28. Glassman, a native New Yorker, chronicles her life in music to the beat of “the city that never sleeps.” Beginning by pointing out the ironic love/hate challenges of existing in the Big Apple, Glassman croons the wonderfully hip Portia Nelson classic “Confessions of a Native New Yorker,” showing us a delightfully flippant comic side that serves her well throughout the evening.

Kristoffer Lowe, winner of the 2014 MetroStar Talent Challenge, headlines the Metropolitan Room, 34 West 22nd Street, in a special prime-time engagement beginning September 22.  The world premiere of "You're Getting to be a Habit with Me: The Songs of Harry Warren" plays a four-show major engagement through December 29.

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.

54 Below is Broadway's Supper Club - and the hottest venue in town - but long before that it was home to nightlife legend. 54 Below invites you to remember the glory - and the decadence - that was STUDIO 54. In the legendary club's heyday the guest  list was a who's who from the world of entertainment - Andy Warhol, Liza Minnelli, Halston, Elizabeth Taylor, Mick Jagger, Diana Ross, Brooke Shields, John Travolta, Michael Jackson - and the music played kept them dancing all through the night. Come "Turn the Beat Around" as we "Celebrate Good Times" and salute Studio 54 from its opening night to the "Last Dance." This is one party you won't want to miss. 54 Below is even rolling out their dance floor for the occasion! Produced and directed by Scott Coulter.

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: Natalie Douglas in 'Hello Dolly...The Music of Dolly Parton;' Turn the Beat Around: 54 Below Celebrates Studio 54; Alice Ripley: All Sondheim; Evan Ruggiero, The One-Legged Song and Dance Man; and The Broadway Pricess Party Featuring Laura Osnes.

?Bistro Award winning and MAC Award nominated singer-songwriter Nathan Chang continues his run of NAILING IT! (SONGS AND STORIES OF NAILS AND FAILS) at the Laurie Beechman Theatre on Sunday, August 23rd at 7pm

After another night jam-packed with daring artistry and scintillating talent, "Mama's Next BIG Act!" the genre-bending talent contest, is slimming down dramatically today.

This August and September, 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, visitwww.54Below.com. 

Having appeared on many of New York City's cabaret stages, Gregory Nalbone returns to the Metropolitan Room with The Sounds of My Heart. Directed by Lennie Watts and music direction by Kenneth Gartman, this show showcases Nalbone's baritone register and Pop-Broadway instrument and allows him to bare his soul as he sings some of his and our favorite tunes.

The stakes and the excitement just keep getting bigger as the list of competitors grows shorter… On Tuesday night "Mama's Next BIG Act!" trimmed down to 16 competitors in front of a packed house filled with raucous fans.

From the moment she steps on stage and sings the entire first verse of Gloria Estefan's “Coming Out of the Dark”–-in the dark--you get the impression this is not going to be one of those usual personal journey “I've-been-everywhere-and-done-everything” kind of acts. In her debut show, Where Have I Been All My Life (June 18 and 27 at Don't Tell Mama), Wendy A. Russell vividly presents the personal metamorphosis of a post-modern woman. Quoting Woody Allen's “90% of life is just showing up,” Russell states she showed up 100% of the time and still found life lacking, which is understandable considering she was raised with the “good girl” mentality of the 1960s “Mad Men” era.

Bistro Award winning and MAC Award nominated singer-songwriter Nathan Chang returns to the cabaret scene with a brand new show, NAILING IT! (SONGS AND STORIES OF NAILS AND FAILS) which will premiere at the Laurie Beechman Theatre tonight, June 16th at 7pm.

Scott Coulter brought the music of Studio 54 to Below 54 last night as the club celebrated it's 3rd year on that famous NYC street. In the legendary club's heyday the guest  list was a who's who from the world of entertainment - Andy Warhol, Liza Minnelli, Halston, Elizabeth Taylor, Mick Jagger, Diana Ross, Brooke Shields, John Travolta, Michael Jackson - and the music played kept them dancing all through the night. It was dancing through the night at 54 Below yesterday and Max at the entry door was much more accommodating than those guards at the 1970 Studio 54. Happy Anniversary to 54 Below and also to Steven & Eda (Baruch)