Alan Jay Lerner’s 100th Birthday Celebration Rocks the 2018 Cabaret Convention Finale       by Myra Chanin   Alan Jay Lerner supplied rhymes for one unfinished and 17 produced Broadway Musicals as well as librettos for several of them. He wrote the words for the...

    by Ron Fassler   Of the legendary musical theatre actors who made their New York stage debuts as far back as nearly sixty years ago, we must be grateful that Anita Gillette is not only one of the most enduring, but still going as strong as ever. Beginning as a replacement...

    by Steve Nardoni   On March 19that the Scandinavian House in Murry Hill, we were introduced to a new TV series,  After Forever, about relationships, families, aging, and death. Particularly this series focuses on, with both pathos and guffaw-inducing humor, a married New...

  By Sandi Durell     The love fest was in full bloom at the big party on April 10 at Feinstein’s/54 Below as the celebrated Marilyn Maye took the stage on opening night, her birthday, truly thrilled to be present, front and center on her 90th.  Like she says “I’m happy to be anywhere. ....

    By Martha Wade Steketee   It feels as if Anita Gillette has been part of our lives forever. On Broadway and Off-Broadway stages, and on television and movie screens, we’ve seen her play the funny sister or the off-beat cousin or the distracted mom or the deliciously goofy...

   By Sandi Durell    Now’s the time to check out some of the tried and true cabaret rooms brimming with talent, and some new spaces that are making a name for themselves. Talent, talent everywhere! And lots of Woman Power! Always check the club calendars for complete listings and for...

    by Lisa Joy Reitman-Dobi   Monday night January 29 was anything but dark at Don’t Tell Mama.  The big room was teeming with talent and camaraderie.  One would expect nothing less when Bobbie Horowitz is the emcee and the show is It’s Just a Number.   Bobbie is in...

  By Sandi Durell   Song and dance man, Lee Roy Reams brought the house down at 54 Below Celebrating 42nd Street. Originating the role of Billy Lawlor in the Tony Award winning musical (1981), the man referred to as Broadway royalty showed us how it’s done. With backstage stories...

        by Michael Bracken   Celia Keenan-Bolger has grown up. The girl who played Laura in The Glass Menagerie is no ingenue in Bruce Norris’s A Parallelogram, produced by Second Stage Theater. She’s a woman, and she deftly carries the very engaging if not completely...

    by Sandi Durell     The Broadhurst Theatre will celebrate its 100th Birthday this year and 54 Below will hold a fabulous centennial evening of songs and stories on August 16 at 7 and 9:30 pm, performed by many who graced the stage, hosted by Jennifer Ashley Tepper and...

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     by Alix Cohen                                                                                                  On the last night of its 27th annual celebration, the New York Cabaret Convention pays homage to theater icons Sheldon Harnick and Charles Strouse, both in...

  By Brian Scott Lipton     It’s been over 20 years since My Fair Lady has had a Broadway run, and if any question remained that the show’s brilliant score by Frederick Loewe and Alan Jay Lerner deserves to be heard nightly, 54 Sings My Fair Lady delivered a resounding answer...

        by Jordan Cohen   The 72nd annual Theatre World Awards, presented to twelve outstanding performers making their Broadway and off-Broadway debuts this season, took place on May 23rd at Circle in the Square Theatre. The evening was filled with laughter and tears...

    by Joe Regan Jr.     Anita Gillette and Penny Fuller returned to the room where they did “Sin Twisters” in 2014, a show title a spooner on “twin sisters” on February 24 to a sold out house full of Broadway celebrities. Once again “Sin Twisters, Too” was superbly...

        by Marilyn Lester Part cabaret and part awards show, the first annual International Cabaret Festival (ICF) kicked off at The Metropolitan Room with a gala featuring performances and inductions into the newly-formed Cabaret Hall of Fame (CHOF). Cabaret Scenes...

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                      The ZIegfield Society presented a variety show called Ziegfeld Cavalcade of Stars at Lang Recital Hall at Hunter College on September 26th. This is a monthly concert and coming up October 24 is Whoopee – the...

      Review by Marilyn Lester Toward the end of “Merman’s Apprentice,” David Merrick appraises Ethel Merman and says he realizes a person can be hard and soft at the same time. In much the same way, this Stephen Cole-David Evans musical can be two things at once: a hilarious...

          by: Sandi Durell   There will never be another you . . . Julie Wilson!  And so the celebrations continue again/still at 54 Below where, on May 9th, many of cabaret’s best sang their hearts out for the lady known as the Queen of Cabaret . . . the...

  Making the Rounds with Russ             by: Russ Weatherford This lady, and I’m talking about the fabulous Anita Gillette, captures the room at Birdland on March 30th with her vocal talents and her magical stage presence. Her director is the glorious...

                NY Cabaret Review by Marilyn Lester   It was fitting that on Johnny Mercer’s 115th birthday – he was born on November 18, 1909 – his memory was lovingly honored by a talented cast of singers and dancers to benefit the 20th anniversary of...

    Review by Joe Regan Jr.     For some years, Cheryl Raymond has presented Steve Ross in programs at Lincoln Center’s Bruno Walter Auditorium. Admission is free and they are always packed with celebrities. October 30 was no exception: “Tap Too and Hallowe’en..Boo!” was...

            by: Sandi Durell   Finding a musical revue, with many obscure songs written by the master Porter, is certainly exciting news. It was Paris, 1928 when “La Revue des Ambassadeurs” was first presented in a chic nightclub and it was not until 2012...