Russ Weatherford News

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.'

Stacy Sullivan tells the audience she became interested in Marian McPartland when she was asked to sing at her memorial in 2013. With her show last Saturday night at Don't Tell Mama, On The Air: Songs for Marian McPartland (which enjoyed a late September run of four shows at the York Theatre), the multi MAC-award winning Sullivan has created a beautifully crafted, biographically-driven show featuring the original music, the history, and the life of a jazz icon, who was best known for hosting Piano Jazz on National Public Radio from 1978-2011. Now Stacy Sullivan has made us all interested in the amazing Marian McPartland.

'On Kentucky Avenue -- The Atlantic City Club Harlem Revue' has been presented three or four times a month periodically since February at Stage 72/The Triad, with Cheryl Freeman, Andricka Hall and Ty Stephens co-starring, Because Freeman and Hall both had previous commitments in December and were unable to perform when Stage 72 scheduled three additional performances of 'On Kentucky Avenue' on December 2, 3 and 9 at 7 PM, the producers feel fortunate that they have been able to replace them for these added performances with Tony nominee Brenda Braxton and recording artist Jenny Douglas.

Bobbie Horowitz has been at the top of the cabaret game for nearly 30 years--as composer, producer, performer and fan--and the recent variety show tribute to her at the Metropolitan Room proved why and was richly deserved.

According to mythology, the 'Phoenix' was a bird of great beauty, said to have lived 1,000 years in the Arabian wilderness. The Phoenix burns itself to ashes on an ancient funeral pyre, only to rise again from those ashes with the renewed exuberance of youth. Its renewed life cycle symbolizes the immortality of the spirit, the rebirth of idealism, the essence of creativity, and the aura of eternal hope. With her new show at the Laurie Beechman, Visible Phoenix (which opened October 17 and returned last Friday night), multi-award winner Carolyn Montgomery-Forant has returned to the cabaret stage (after a 14-year hiatus to raise her son and run a cafe business) as the very personification of that rare beautiful bird.

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 on Thursday, December 18th, at 9:30 PM at the Metropolitan Room (34 West 22nd Street, New York, NY 10010).

ON KENTUCKY AVENUE lives on at STAGE 72/THE TRIAD! The newly revised musical revue, a fictional story about the people and performers who took the stage and filled the tables at the majestic Club Harlem 'on Kentucky Avenue' in the north section of Atlantic City from the 1930s until the late 1980s, has been extended for three Sunday performances on Sept. 7 (3 PM), 14 (3 PM) and 21 (7 PM). Created by Jeree Wade, who performed at the legendary nightclub and who appears in this production as one of its most popular singers Damita Jo, the production focuses on a fictional love triangle, based loosely on fact, between the club's emcee and two of its leading ladies.

Due to popular demand, ON KENTUCKY AVENUE, a newly revised musical revue based loosely on fact (and mostly fiction) about the people and performers who took the stage and filled the tables at the majestic Club Harlem 'on Kentucky Avenue' in the north section of Atlantic City from the 1930s until the late 1980s, will return to STAGE 72/THE TRIAD, 158 West 72nd Street, for five performances in August. The additional performances will take place on Sundays, August 3, 10, 17 and 24 at 3 PM, and Monday, August 4, at 7 PM.

The current Stephen Sondheim tribute show, Our Time, starring KT Sullivan and Jeff Harnar at the Laurie Beechman (which I attended on July 9 and 16; there are two more Wednesday performances at 6pm on August 6, 13), is a charming, classy, and entertaining affair. But it also includes enough flaws in execution that prevent it from being truly great. For one thing, it doesn't really feel like a duo show. It's more like two solo performances within one show, where the performers fit in a couple of numbers together to justify the concept. A critique of the Sullivan/Harnar Sondheim set provides an interesting opportunity to analyze the anatomy of a duo show and the choices that can make it work—or not.

'On Kentucky Avenue,' the musical revue about the fabled Atlantic City nightclub Club Harlem which reigned supreme in Atlantic City in the years before the casinos came into vogue, has announced that it will be presented for five performances in August at Stage 72/The Triad in preparation for a tour and Broadway production in 2015.

Shana Farr brought her solo show 'In The Still Of The Night' to the Laurie Beechman Theatre last night. Taking the audience on a musical and poetic journey through the words and music of two of the 20th century's greatest and most prolific songwriters and poets - Noel Coward and Cole Porter, it was an evening of wit, flamboyance, chic and cheek, urbanity and elegance!

Due to excellent reviews and increased audience support, ON KENTUCKY AVENUE, the musical revue based loosely on fact and mostly fiction about the people and performers who took the stage and filled the tables at the majestic Club Harlem 'on Kentucky Avenue' in the north section of Atlantic City from the 1930s until the late 1980s, has added three performances to its schedule at STAGE 72/THE TRIAD, 158 West 72nd Street. The additional performances have been added on Tuesday, March 11, at 8 PM; Sunday, March 16, at 7pm and Thursday, March 27, at 7 PM.

There's still time to buy good tickets to see ON KENTUCKY AVENUE on Superbowl Sunday, Feb. 2, at 3 PM at Stage 72/Triad, 152 West 72nd Street in Manhattan and get home and watch the Superbowl on TV in the comfort of your home at 6 PM!

In order to avoid conflict with the Super Bowl on Sunday evening, February 2, the producers of ON KENTUCKY AVENUE, the musical revue based loosely on fact and mostly fiction about the people and performers who took the stage and filled the tables at the majestic Club Harlem 'on Kentucky Avenue' in the north section of Atlantic City from the 1930s until the late 1980s, has changed its three performance schedule at STAGE 72/THE TRIAD, 158 West 72nd Street. The new schedule is as follows: Sunday, Feb, 2, at 3PM, Monday, Feb, 3 at 7pm and Sunday, Feb. 16, at 3 PM. The shows are being presented as part of Black History Month celebration.

ON KENTUCKY AVENUE, a musical revue based loosely on fact and mostly fiction about the people and performers who took the stage and filled the tables at the majestic Club Harlem 'on Kentucky Avenue' in the north section of Atlantic City from the 1930s until the late 1980s, will make its NYC commercial stage debut at STAGE72/THE TRIAD, 158 West 72nd Street, on Sunday, February 2, with performances at 3pm and 7pm and Monday, February 3 at 7pm in honor of Black History Month.

Karen Wyman, who was a national sensation for a short time in the late '60s and early '70s before disappearing unexpectedly from the scene, has re-entered the earth's atmosphere. The rocket-voiced phenom, who electrified a packed Metropolitan Room just returned with her new show, 'The Second Time Around.' Check out photos from the concert below!

In 1969, at age 16, Bronx-born Karen Wyman became a singing sensation appearing on TV with Dean Martin, The Ed Sullivan Show, and The Tonight Show, and cutting two albums. A few years later she suddenly quit singing professionally to raise a family. Now, she's back and as she proved with her new show at the Metropolitan Room, she's as good as ever.

Over the last 20 or so years, there have been three nightclubs in New York that have been considered the venue Holy Grail for cabaret singers. Two of them--the Oak Room at the Algonquin Hotel and Feinstein's at the Loews Regency--have in the past year or so sadly died a corporate death, leaving the upper east side Cafe Carlyle as the Carnegie Hall of cabaret haunts. When she first came to New York from California 24 years ago, Natalie Douglas would save her pennies to see the legendary Bobby Short perform at the Carlyle and dream that she would some day star in a show from that stage. Last Thursday and Friday night, after almost a quarter century performing in every New York venue on the cabaret map and many prestigious clubs around the world, and after winning numerous MAC, Bistro and Nightlife Awards, Douglas finally soloed at the venerable venue and the audiences who saw her shows probably wondered why it took so long.

ScoBar Entertainment and Iridium NYC last night presented a one-night-only Tribute to Ervin Drake. The evening celebrated the life and music of legendary 94-year-old American songwriter whose works include Great American Songbook standards such as 'It Was A Very Good Year,' which was popularized by Frank Sinatra. Drake, who was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1983 also wrote the songs 'I Believe,' 'Good Morning Heartache,' 'Tico-Tico,' 'Perdido,' 'Now I Have Everything,' 'A Room without Windows,' 'AL DI LA,' & 'Quando Quando.' He is also the composer and lyricist of the 1964 Broadway show, What Makes Sammy Run.