Russ Weatherford News

The Manhattan Association of Cabarets (MAC) has made its initial announcement of the upcoming 34th Annual MAC Awards. The awards presentation and show will take place on Monday, March 30, 2020 at 7:00 pm, at SONY Hall on 46th Street in New York City.

MUSIC AND ART FOR CITY GREENS concludes their 9th Season of Concerts to benefit Tudor City Greens, on September 14th (rain date the very next day, 9/15) at Tudor City Greens at 6:30 pm.

Award-winning vocalist, Stacy Sullivan brought her tribute to Peggy Lee to the Metropolitan Room last night and BroadwayWorld was there.

Attending a Steve Ross show is often akin to time travel. The audience is transported back to eras when urbanity and dash were watchwords, when interpretation meant being as true to the period as the meaning of lyrics. The classy Mr. Ross, known primarily for iconoclastic solo performance, appeared at Birdland Monday night with a zealous 11-piece band helmed by long time confederate Brian Cassier. The joint was jumpin'.

The Mabel Mercer  Foundation returned to The Town Hall last night for the first of 4 different concerts and BroadwayWorld will be there for all. Here are some photos from the opening night. 2015 is the twenty-sixth annual New York Cabaret Convention.

Russ Weatherford's 'Blacker,' a new play exploring Oscar Wilde's little-known brush with the Dreyfus Affair, begins an exclusive two-week engagement on Wednesday August 26 at Urban Stages, 259 West 30th Street. Directed by David Austin, and produced by Sandi Durell, the premiere of 'Blacker' plays through Thursday September 3. The official opening is also tonight, August 26, at 8pm.

The critically acclaimed musical revue On Kentucky Avenue: A Celebration of Atlantic City's Club Harlem, starring Tony nominee Brenda Braxton and recording artists Ty Stephens and Rosalind Brown, will return to its original theatrical home, Stage 72/The Triad (158 West 72nd Street), for one performance only on Sunday, August 23, at 7 PM.

'Blacker' by Russ Weatherford will be at Urban Stages for an exclusive engagement from Wednesday, August 26th through Thursday September 3rd.

Russ Weatherford's “Blacker,” a new play exploring Oscar Wilde's little-known brush with the Dreyfus Affair, begins an exclusive two-week engagement on Wednesday August 26 at Urban Stages, 259 West 30th Street.  Directed by David Austin, and produced by Sandi Durell, the premiere of “Blacker” plays through Thursday September 3.  The official opening is also on Wednesday August 26 at 8pm.  For tickets call SmartTix.com at 212/868-4444 or visit www.smarttix.com

With her new show His Aim Is True: The Singular Songs of Elvis Costello at Stage 72 (second show last night), you'll meet the new Karen Oberlin. Gone are the controlled vibrato, upper range, emotional translucence, femininity, and the playfulness of a purveyor of American Songbook/pop. Prepare for a terse, tensile, alto-voiced, punk chick (including shag hairdo) with a foot in rudderless jazz. There's nothing tentative in this raw, almost tone poem-like performance. Oberlin commits herself to her choices.

Having garnered acclaim for performances on stage and screen, Megan Hilty makes her return to Cafe Carlyle in a two-week engagement, May 19-30. Hilty will perform selections from the Great American Songbook as well as fan favorites from NBC's hit musical drama, Smash. Of her previous engagement at the Cafe, Stephen Holden of The New York Times exclaimed, "Ms. Hilty projected the attitude of a frisky, fun-loving gal… she reveled in the pleasure of as big and loud a sound as she could muster." Hilty will be joined by Music Director Matt Cusson on piano, Brian Gallagher on guitar, Ryan Hoagland on percussion and Dennis Keefe on bass.

Last night Julie Budd gave her first performance as  the latest Artist In Residence at The Metropolitan Room and broadwayworld was there.  While enjoying a multi-faceted musical career, Julie's credits range from television to film, the New York stage, and symphonies all over the country, along with the most lavish casinos and showrooms everywhere.  She began her professional career at the tender age of twelve, after meeting record producer/orchestrator Herb Bernstein. He immediately took Julie under his wing and introduced her to Merv Griffin at a recording session in New York City. After hearing Julie sing, she was invited to appear on more than 100 of Merv's Shows.  

New York Cabaret Community Honors Actor/Director/Photographer RUSS WEATHERFORD With All-Star Show at Metropolitan Room.

Veteran cabaret performer Raissa Katona Bennett and Musical Director Kenneth Gartman are very good friends who for the past few years have been performing together in what might be called the cabaret equivalent of movie shorts. But with 3Decades in the Dark: Raissa and Kenneth Go to the Movies (a five-show run that ended Feb. 21 at the Laurie Beechman Theater), Bennett and Gartman have finally presented their first feature length duo cabaret show. Both performers have garnered praise as individual performers in musical theater and cabaret. Bennett, who is the charming producer and host of the Award-winning Concerts for City Greens at Tudor City, once played Christine in Phantom of the Opera, and has performed solo shows at venues such as the old Feinstein's. Gartman, who recently musically directed The White City in concert at 54 Below, presented a highly praised solo show in 2011. Sounds like a match made in cabaret heaven, right?

KAREN WYMAN - the celebrated pop/jazz vocalist currently celebrating a renaissance since her days performing on 'The Ed Sullivan Show' and 'The Dean Martin Show' - returned to The Metropolitan Room on Saturday, January 31 at 7:00 PM. BroadwayWorld brings you photos of her performance below!

Corinna Sowers Adler is a top Cabaret singer, director and host in New York City and was named one of the top 15 acts in the city during her 2010 debut year. She was nominated for 'Best Female Vocalist' in the 2012 and 2014 BroadwayWorld Cabaret Awards. Corinna has performed at Jazz at Lincoln Center, 54 BELOW and Metropolitan Room in New York. Critic Russ Weatherford stated, 'One thing is certain, Ms. Adler not only makes herself happy, she also fills her audience with absolute joy, as well.'

If you've been a regular reader of this particular reviewer's musings, you know that every year there are long stretches of time where I just haven't been able to critique all the shows I've seen that deserve commentary. So I end up playing what they call in sports, 'Catch-up ball,' and post a mash up of belated reviews from past shows. It's kind of like a critic's version of the song 'Six Months Out of Every Year,' from Damn Yankees. Give or take a month or two, that's usually the time period during which I store unpublished reviews in my fevered brain and then unload them all in one seemingly endless column-like this one is going to be. If my cabaret-show reviewing days will be over (as chronicled here), I might as well go out with a bang-and relieve my procrastination guilt during holiday season. Now I can scratch one New Year's resolution off the list.

At The Laurie Beechman Theatre last Thursday night, the new dynamic duo of Carole J. Bufford and Eric Yves Garcia performed their fun holiday show, A Christmas Carole & New Year's Yves, to a full house of adoring family, friends, and fans. They were the very picture of the perfect holiday host and hostess.

A celebration of Dame Shirley Bassey's illustrious career, THE BOY WHO LOVED BASSEY, is an unforgettable musical tribute written by Ben Cameron and Alan Winner, with musical direction by Andy Roninson, under the direction by Cameron and starring Winner. THE BOY WHO LOVED BASSEY, returns for a one night only special engagement tonight, December 18th, at 9:30 PM at the Metropolitan Room (34 West 22nd Street, New York, NY 10010).

The month of December has always been an emotional time of the year, especially for our military families; a period to deeply reflect on family and country. Over the past few months in New York cabaret, a few performers have offered up musical testimony on wars, patriotism, and US military veterans. Recently, two singers fairly new to the cabaret scene--Anna Marie Sell and Kim Sutton--staged shows saluting the brave men and women who serve our country now and in the past.