Saadi Zain News

Only two nights removed from the last of my three solo debut shows at the Metropolitan Room celebrating the Don McLean Songbook, I was already experiencing the post-performance depression I'd heard tell about from cabaret veterans. I needed someone to lift me up where I belonged, so my instincts took me to Birdland for another trip through memory lane with Nostalgic Natalie Douglas. The last time I had heard the dynamic Ms. Douglas was 14 months before when she powered her way through her historically and politically passionate Freedom Songs. This time, Natalie's nostalgic trip was a much more personal adventure she called Scrapbook 2.0, which traversed everything from the musical influences of her late parents to the tunes she loved while growing up in Southern California. By the time Douglas was finished flipping the pages of her musical scrapbook--and delivering some adorably homey stories along with them--my gloom had been transformed into gladness.

You probably don't have to feel sorry for a mature, experienced female singer who decides to tackle the gritty music of Tom Waits and calls her show 1978 NYC Underground, but it was still tough not to feel for Billie Roe as she performed this week at the Metropolitan Room. Roe, who in 2011 offered the highly-praised Dangerous Women: Life In Film Noir, admittedly has yearned to present a Waits songbook for 35 years, but just a couple of months before her four-show run which ends tonight at 9:30 pm (her prize for winning the 2012 MetroStar Challenge Competition at the Met Room), rising cabaret star Marissa Mulder staged a Tom Waits-themed show that was close to perfect in every way and earned rave reviews from the New York Times and BroadwayWorld.com.

Step lively! For four nights in May, Billie Roe, the 2012 MetroStar Talent Challenge winner, takes us back to a New York many of us remember with a mixture of fear and affection. The world premiere of “1978 NYC Underground,” with direction by Lennie Watts, uses the music of Tom Waits to journey back to an urban twilight when artists and eccentrics of all stripes colluded to make art, news, and headlines. Music director Tracy Stark on piano leads a 5-person combo that includes Peter Calo on guitar, Saadi Zain on bass, David Silliman on drums and Roxy Coss on sax.

Emmy Award-winner William Black brings his writing and directing talents to the New York stage with Theater for the New City's American Star!!! the Musical.

When Dana Lorge's run as a Variety Show hosted ended at the Iguana Restaurant last July-and after winning two 2012 MAC Awards for 'Best Variety Show' and 'Best Variety Show Host'-who knew she'd be reduced to being a cabaret audience member searching for a new showcase? But a Metropolitan Room Mentch has come to the rescue in the form of Bernie Furshpan (the Met Room's General Partner and Manager), who has provided Dana with a monthly forum for her unique brand of cabaret shtick beginning Friday, April 5 at 7-8:15 pm. While the new show won't be the two-hour plus extravaganza of yore featuring more than a dozen performers, Dana's new 'Variety Show' promises to feature a solid group of experienced and well-known cabaret and musical theater pros. For the April 5 opener, the Lorge Lineup features Richard Skipper, her former Award-winning Co-host from the Iguana days; film and stage actor Jim Brochu (of Zero Mostel One-Man Show fame), singers LaTanya Hall (from the CBS show 'Blue Bloods) and Peggy Herman Klat, Rick Crom (Creator of Newsical the Musical), and Mr. Furshpan, who will show off his stand-up comedy chops. But the real star of the show will always be the hilarious, unpredictable, darling Dana, who will both crack you up with her infectious humor and surprise you with her engaging singing performances.

Emmy Award-winner William Black brings his writing and directing talents to the New York stage with Theater for the New City's American Star!!! the Musical.

JAZZ at the Turning Point Café in Piermont, N.Y., within minutes of NYC, NJ, Westchester, CT, Orange in Rockland, has announced its December 2012 shows.

Frank Dain returned to the cabaret stage this month with his first solo show in 13 years, The Magic of Mathis. In four performances at New York City's Metropolitan Room, Dain brought fresh interpretations to such Johnny Mathis signature tunes as "Chances Are," "It's Not for Me to Say," "Wild Is the Wind," "Misty" and "The Twelfth of Never. " BroadwayWorld brings you photos from the concert below!

Frank Dain returns to the cabaret stage this month with his first solo show in 13 years, in The Magic of Mathis.

Frank Dain returns to the cabaret stage in September with his first solo show in 13 years, in The Magic of Mathis.

If any New York cabaret performers staging shows last Wednesday evening (July 11) found their audiences a bit sparse, it's probably Dana Lorge's fault. The endearing and ditzy entertainment diva's final weekly talent showcase at Iguana NYC Restaurant on West 54th Street (just east of the new 54 Below) didn't bring out every cabaret connected person in the city, but it sure seemed that way. And if MAC had a vote for 'Variety Show of the Year,' Lorge's last Iguana presentation would win in a landslide.

In her timely and meaningful new show at Birdland, 'Freedom Songs,' MAC Award-winning singer Natalie Douglas provided a stirring reminder that the fight for political equality, personal rights, and economic fairness in America is never over.

Cover charges vary by performer. Most shows range from $15 to $35, with some exceptions. Each show's cover charge is listed in the show information on the calendar page. Feel free to call the Metropolitan Room with any questions regarding cover charges.

On Monday, October 24, award-winning NYC cabaret favorite (and Second City alum) Colleen McHugh brought a hilarious and heartbreaking collection of songs for the terminally hopeful/truly hopeless to the Broadway at Birdland concert series stage.

Cover charges vary by performer. Most shows range from $15 to $35, with some exceptions. Each show's cover charge is listed in the show information on the calendar page. Feel free to call the Metropolitan Room with any questions regarding cover charges.

Frank Dain, known to many in New York City as the Editor-in-Chief of Cabaret Scenes Magazine since 2003, makes his return to cabaret performance in February with A Tribute to Johnny Mathis at The Metropolitan Room.

Frank Dain, known to many in New York City as the Editor-in-Chief of Cabaret Scenes Magazine since 2003, makes his return to cabaret performance in February with A Tribute to Johnny Mathis at The Metropolitan Room.

Frank Dain, known to many in New York City as the Editor-in-Chief of Cabaret Scenes Magazine since 2003, makes his return to cabaret performance in February with A Tribute to Johnny Mathis at The Metropolitan Room.

Frank Dain, known to many in New York City as the Editor-in-Chief of Cabaret Scenes Magazine since 2003, makes his return to cabaret performance in February with A Tribute to Johnny Mathis at The Metropolitan Room.

Frank Dain, known to many in New York City as the Editor-in-Chief of Cabaret Scenes Magazine since 2003, makes his return to cabaret performance in February with A Tribute to Johnny Mathis at The Metropolitan Room.