Review by Marilyn Lester   The propensity of the Irish to tribal thinking may be sharply lessening over the generations, but Cavan-born playwright John McManus makes the most of the Cavan stereotype (backward and stingy) in The Quare Land. This uproarious two-hander...

    Review by Marilyn Lester   The place is none other than Studio 54, the legendary 1970s nightclub that opened around the same time the Pulitzer-Prize-winning musical “A Chorus Line” hit it big on Broadway. Standing on the stage of 54 Below, in what was the basement of that...

    Review by Marilyn Lester     Strangers in the night quickly bonded under the mesmerizing spell of five cool cats singing the music made famous by Francis Albert Sinatra. Producer/Host Scott Siegel’s second tribute to the Sinatra centennial featured an eclectic mix of...

    The Muses Behind the Legends of Rock n’ Roll       by: Marilyn Lester   If the term avante garde can be applied to the cabaret genre, Lauren Fox embodies it. Her original shows are not your mother, father, or grandparent’s cabaret. At a Fox show the old...

    Review by Marilyn Lester         Five-time Tony winner Cy Coleman was a child prodigy who, at the age of six, was giving piano recitals in venues such as Carnegie Hall, morphing later in life into a jazz pianist of note. In 1960, at age 31, Coleman switched...

    Review by Marilyn Lester       They’ve got a million of ‘em, and thank goodness they do: the Washington, D.C.-based comedy troupe, Capitol Steps, has been dispensing a welcome antidote to scandal and political folly with laugh-out-loud humor for well over 30...

      Review by Marilyn Lester     In U.S. legal parlance, proffer or “queen for a day” letters are written federal agreements granting certain immunities to those under criminal investigation. As the title suggests (and a bit more, it turns out), herein...

            Review by Marilyn Lester   From the outset, John McDermott’s bifurcated set is a tipoff. A gritty, grey area of brick wall and barbed wire, juxtaposed with a Rectory, embody the profane and the proper –the refuge of religion in contrast to the...

      Review by Marilyn Lester   Baritone saxophonist Joe Temperley is a man who nullifies the overuse of the term “legendary.” Temperley represents an unbroken chain of baritone sax excellence, from 1927 with Duke Ellington anchor, Harry Carney, to the present. Temperley...

    Review by Marilyn Lester       For eight months on Broadway, happy audiences left the hit show, “After Midnight” in a state of euphoria. That experience was repeated in the “After Midnight Reunion” with a perfect storm of song, dance and musical talents. Producer...

          Review by Marilyn Lester     The ancient tradition of the folk tale has long-provided fertile ground for adaptation. Stephen Sondheim’s notable example, “Into The Woods,” combines the stories of several well-known tales. In “Rapunzarella White,”...

                          Review by Marilyn Lester   Tap dance, the uniquely American staple of the dancers’ craft, is not only alive and well, but brilliantly thriving. In “On Tap,” a delightful song and dance show (third...

    Cabaret Review by Marilyn Lester   When three alumni of the Broadway hit “Sophisticated Ladies” – friends for over three decades – get together to do a show, you know the chemistry is going to be electric. And so it was with an evening of entertainment smartly crafted by...

      NY Cabaret Review by Marilyn Lester   Take a baker’s dozen of Broadway luminaries, combine them with three crackerjack musicians, and one insightful director, let them loose on the music of Irving Berlin, and watch what happens: you’ll find yourself in the middle of...

Cabaret Review by Marilyn Lester   When a show’s “overture” is heralded by the iconic 20th Century Fox studio theme played on toy trumpets, followed by a medley of tunes accompanied by more silly props, you know you’re in for an evening of fun. What transpired didn’t disappoint. Raissa...

    Review by Marilyn Lester                 “Da,” by the late Irish author, playwright and essayist Hugh Leonard, is more than a memory play about Freudian implications and the primal nature of father-son dynamics. It’s also a history lesson...

    NY Music/Theater Review by Marilyn Lester As the lights went down in The Town Hall it was playwright Hershey Felder who took the stage. “You’re a live audience”, he announced; “the performance is being broadcast live by WFMT radio, so laugh and applaud loudly...

  By: Marilyn Lester       On the first day that Tommy Tune rolled into New York City he auditioned for a Broadway show and got the part. He hasn’t stopped working since, picking up nine Tony awards along the way. More Taps, Tune and Tall Tales is a heartfelt telling of an...

      by Marilyn Lester   You’ve probably had the experience: a performer sings a song that knocks your socks off. The audience applauds so wildly it can hardly stop. It might be the song, the way it’s sung, or both. In any case, it literally stops the show. Three divas,...

              by: Marilyn Lester   Echoes in Harlem: A Tribute to Duke Ellington at NJPAC   Most serious jazz musicians today will agree with the late jazz great, Miles Davis, when he said: “At least one day out of the year all musicians should...

    by Marilyn Lester   Brazilians are legendary in their spontaneity, warmth and passion for two things: soccer and music. In this latter department, the Café Carlyle might well be in downtown Rio de Janeiro: with John Pizzarelli (vocals/guitar) and Daniel Jobim (vocals), the Café...

    by Marilyn Lester       There are individuals who come into this world larger than life and twice as wide. Jazz pioneer, virtuoso trumpet player, vocal innovator, actor, international celebrity, and force of nature, Louis Armstrong, was one of them. Universally...

  by Marilyn Lester     In the 1976 Oscar-winning film, Network, scripted by Paddy Chayefsky, “Howard Beale” (Peter Finch) famously leans out his apartment window, and urging others to do the same, shouts, “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it any more!” In 1955, when Middle of...

        by Marilyn Lester   The Lyrics & Lyricists series at the 92nd Street Y has celebrated the words and music of the Great American Songbook with a mix of live performance, education, and projected images over an astounding 45 seasons. In the latest offering of the...