Ricky Ritzel News

Urban Stages (Frances Hill, Founding Artistic Director, Peter Napolitano, Producer/Director of Musical Programming) today announced the line-up for this year's Award-Winning Musical event WINTER RHYTHMS 2015, which will begin Wednesday, December 2 and will feature some of New York's best musical performances through December 13, 2015 at Urban Stages Theatre. WINTER RHYTHMS 2015 marks the seventh year that Urban Stages has brought noted musical artists to its stage during the holiday period. The mission of Winter Rhythms is to bring the talents of known and unknown singers, musicians, lyricists and composers to the attention of the New York theater community while performing at Urban Stages Theater. Winner of the 2015 Ruth Kurtzman Benefit Series MAC Award, WINTER RHYTHMS benefits Urban Stages' acclaimed Outreach Program, which brings more than 200 free "arts in education" presentations to libraries and schools throughout the five boroughs. This year's event features 20 shows and more than 100 artists.

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.

'The Barry Z Show,' which has been covering the New York theater scene on cable TV for more than 20 years, will salute ASCAP award-winning playwright/director Chip Deffaa's theatrical productions, on a show being taped for future broadcast 10 pm, October 1st at the midtown club Don't Tell Mama. Host Barry Z, who's often saluted Deffaa's productions over the past 20 years, will be celebrating the release of Deffaa's 12th cast album, 'The Irving Berlin Ragtime Revue.' And he will present an array of performers doing numbers from an assortment of Deffaa's shows.

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.

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!

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.

Back to Bacharach opens July 12 at the Metropolitan Room for two shows only!

Dawn Ward Lau returns to the cabaret stage in 'F@#$in' 50!  at Don't Tell Mama tonight, May 29 at 7:30pm and Sunday, May 31 at 3:00pm. Sharing the stage will be multiple-time MAC Award-winning musical director Ricky Ritzel.

'Mama's Next BIG Act!' a 12-week talent competition that mixes styles and genres, is announcing its celebrity judges panel today. Featuring a mother lode of entertainers, critics and notable personalities, the jury pool is also reflective of the contest's diversity, pitting -- in direct competition -- solo, duo and group acts in music, magic, drag, burlesque and variety.

Help Is On The Way Today will hold its annual fundraising Gala on Sunday, May 17th, at Metropolitan Room.  

Help Is On The Way Today will hold its annual fundraising Gala on Sunday, May 17th, at Metropolitan Room.  Help Is On The Way Today is a 501c3 non-profit organization founded in 2005 by MAC AWARD winning producer, Joseph Macchia, to assist children and youth living with HIV and AIDS. The full lineup of incredible talent has been confirmed. Solo performers include:

Dawn Ward Lau returns to the cabaret stage in 'F@#$in' 50!  at Don't Tell Mama on Friday, May 29 at 7:30pm and Sunday, May 31 at 3:00pm. Sharing the stage will be multiple-time MAC Award-winning musical director Ricky Ritzel.

Four recent shows at Don't Tell Mama featured performers either making their debuts on the New York cabaret scene (Evelyn Sullivan and Erin McCracken) or who returned this spring in hopeful anticipation of sharing their artistic vision with audiences (Rob Sutton and Eve Eaton). They no doubt experienced the usual anxiety, trials and tribulations before ultimately taking the stage. And they've come out on the other side relatively unscathed. 

Any seasoned entertainment pro will tell you that the key to success on a stage is keeping your audience happy. It also helps to throw in a bevy of show-stopping songs, parodies, and raucous tongue-in-cheek laughter along the way. Those make up only a few of the ingredients offered in the ongoing Judy and Liza: Together Again show at Don't Tell Mama (now in its fourth year) starring Tommy Femia and Rick Skye.

Cabaret Cares/Help Is On The Way Today will hold its annual fundraising Gala on Sunday, May 17th, at Metropolitan Room in the fashionable Flatiron District at 34 West 22nd Street (between 5th and 6th Avenues). Help Is On The Way Today is a 501c3 non-profit organization founded in 2005 by MAC AWARD winning producer, Joseph Macchia, to assist children and youth living with HIV and AIDS.

Songwriter, performer, producer, and now activist, Bobby Horowitz, has put yet another spin on the series/variety show, with her refreshing take on the subject of 'ageism' in America. Called It's Just a Number (starting with six dates running from April to October at The Metropolitan Room), Horowitz's show theme champions the notion that age truly is just a number. Featuring a different group of cabaret's best performers for each show, the series honors a person who after the age of 50 either began a new career, resumed a career, is attempting to attain knowledge in a new field, or established a new organization with the purpose of helping people. This past Saturday afternoon, Alice Fisher, who presently serves as Director of Community Outreach in the Office of NYS Senator, Liz Krueger, was the first honoree.

It's not exactly a secret that cabaret has for decades been a world dominated by female entertainers. Sylvia Syms, Julie Wilson, Margaret Whiting, Karen Akers, KT Sullivan, Karen Mason and myriad others have assumed the top notches of the art form. But, perhaps, men might be taking their place among the front lines and a perfect example this past week were the shows from cabaret veterans Kevin Dozier and Frank Torren.

At a ceremony held Thursday night in New York, the Manhattan Association of Cabarets & Clubs announced the winners of the 2015 MAC Awards. The show was hosted by Karen Mason, with musical direction by Barry Levitt, and was produced by Julie Miller and directed by Lennie Watts. BroadwayWorld brings you photos of the evening below!

The Manhattan Association of Cabarets & Clubs has announced the presenters that are scheduled to appear at the 29th Annual MAC Awards on Thursday, March 26th at B.B King Blues Club & Grill in New York City.

When Cole Porter wrote, 'Anything Goes,' he could have easily been referring to New York cabaret circa the 2000-sies. One of the joys of attending and reviewing cabaret shows in the Big Apple these days is that every performing style, show theme, cultural perspective, political point of view, race, gender, and sexual preference is represented on a stage. Some cabaret purists may not agree, but the genre seems to have no boundaries in terms of what is acceptable and what is not. And as long as a show is entertaining, who cares about boundaries and strict definitions of what works in the art form? Here are reviews of three recent shows from Barbara Malley, Robin Kradles, and Donna Hayes that reflect the delicious diversity that is cabaret.