Sue Matsuki News

It was the cabaret debut for which everyone was waiting, and it was worth the wait.

A little chat and a little music is just the thing for a Wednesday morning, as the cabaret journalists of Manhattan meet the stars who will bring their gifts to the 54 Below stage this holiday season.

That's three performances down for Maria Corsaro, and one to go on December 9th. She and The Gregory Toroian Trio have really jazzed up Pangea.

Chicago turns twenty-five this year and OG cast member David Sabella has created a celebration show that has sold so well that fans are flocking to the internet to score tickets to the live stream simulcast.

Returning to the cabaret stage after an absence of three years, smooth-voiced and suave Dorian Woodruff masters intricate and emotional storytelling with his tribute to legendary singer-songwriter Barry Manilow.

Maria Corsaro has teamed up with the wonderful Sue Matsuki, who in her directing debut has fashioned a tight and clever new show that showcases Maria Corsaro’s dark, rich voice in a series of songs that started life as jazz instrumentals and had lyrics added to them later, sometimes decades later. The show, YOU TAUGHT MY HEART TO SING, had its premiere last Saturday at Pangea. I was lucky enough to be in the audience. Corsaro has a lovely voice and chose a very ambitious set of tunes that for the most part show her off to great advantage. Besides being a fine jazz artist, Corsaro is a woman with a very big heart that she loves to share with her audience.

David Sabella, original co-star in CHICAGO, the Musical, will celebrate the 25th Anniversary of Broadway’s longest running American musical with the music of Kander & Ebb and a special behind-the-scenes look at the show’s creation and his long history with it.

Broadway dreams die hard. In her new show THIS BROAD’S WAY,  which opened last evening at Pangea, she gets to sing all the Broadway tunes she ever wanted to sing, perform all the roles she would never be cast in, and do it all her own way. The songs are completely out of context and applied to her own experiences. She infuses each tune with her own wry wit and her lovely and warm jazz stylings. She is one part chanteuse, one part monologuist, one part den mother, and one part suggestive vixen. And she is 100 percent fun. Her show is a treasure trove of swinging tunes and she has gathered a smoking trio of musicians in drummer, David Silliman, bassists Skip Ward and her longtime partner in art, musical director Gregory Toroian.

Bistro Award recipient Sue Matsuki returns to Pangea, alongside her co-Bistro-recipient, Gregory Toroian to treat some Broadway the jazz way.

As Chicago, the longest-running revival in the history of Broadway (indeed, the longest-running American Musical ever), celebrates 25 years on The Great White Way, OG cast member David Sabella has some memories to share, and some Kander & Ebb music.

A new show celebrating the musical legacy of the Carpenters has been announced, with songs written by Richard Carpenter and John Bettis, Hal David and Burt Bacharach, Paul Williams and Roger Nichols, Leon Russell and more!

Cabaret is the most elusive of art forms. Even those who are regular cabaret performers are unable to give you a unified definition. It frequently crosses paths with musical theatre in material and personnel, and yet it is not technically theatre. And although it resembles concertizing, it's not strictly music either. It can encompass, songs, poetry, prose, dance, standup, monologues, sketches, and performance art. Although it is frequently regarded as the repository of The Great American Songbook, it can also feature any style of music one can imagine from opera to country to hip-hop. And while solo performances are most common, cabaret can also feature groups, both small and large. Anyone who sets out to write a guidebook on the art of cabaret is taking on a handful.

The Hostess with the Hudson has had another great week of guests at her artistic home away from home.

This past Monday’s Cast Party – the weekly open mic/variety show that has been in residence at Birdland every Monday for eighteen years was yet another celebration of fantastic talent!  Host Jim Caruso, along with Billy Stritch on piano, Steve Doyle on bass and Daniel Glass on the drums introduced dozens of singers – young and old, up-and-comers and established – to the packed house.

David Sabella may not be singing any songs from the musical Jekyll and Hyde, but that doesn't mean this isn't his moment... because it is. And he's going to make the most of it, while reclaiming his joy.

Early in her career Deborah Stone used her body as a dancer in demand and left her voice to its own devices. Now, the singing actress from The Snarks has found that her voice works just as well when set to music as it does when reciting dialogue, and the cabaret community has taken to that voice like a toddler to an ice cream cake.

 “Allons Enfants,” a Bastille Day celebration masterminded by Steve Ross and Jean Brassard, with special guests Karen Akers and Stephanie Biddle, which premieres on Wednesday July 14 at 8:30pm, is being forced to extend due to popular demand. 

After fifteen months of arduous online work on behalf of the cabaret industry, David Sabella is going back to his first love, singing for his supper.

The beloved East Village supper club Pangea, 178 Second Avenue, is filling its summer schedule with a number of new, on-going series in addition to its regular line-up of alt-cabaret stars. 

The beloved East Village supper club Pangea, which came perilously close to closing during COVID, is announcing a mixture of ticketed and no-cover entertainment during the summer.  The announcement comes as Pangea earns the prestigious Village Award, presented by Village Preservation at their 31st annual meeting on Wednesday June 16.