by Alix Cohen   “How was your summer?” “How was the trip/flight in?” “Where are you performing?” “I hear you have a new CD.” “You look great.”Buzz, Buzz, Buzz. It’s the 29th Annual New York Cabaret Convention. The crowd is primed to immerse itself in this beloved if beleaguered...

    By Steve Nardoni   “When we, too, can see ourselves as human, we’ll no longer look at life as a battlefield, but as a classroom where everyone is both teacher and student.” Amy E. Dean   Pangea is a wonderfully intimate “classroom” to enjoy music, cabaret, and soul.  On...

  by Linda Amiel Burns     The Mabel Mercer Foundation’s 28th Cabaret Convention had its gala opening at Rose Hall on Oct. 16, 2017 emceed by Award Winning Artistic Director, KT Sullivan. The evening could not have had a better opening performer than the legendary Marilyn Maye...

  Dedicated to Barry Levitt 1947-2017         by Alix Cohen   Occasionally I have the pleasure of attending a really good cabaret show. More rare than these are evenings whose components hum like Swiss clockwork. Dawn Derow’s current piece is one of the latter,...

  By Sandi Durell   Music runs through every inch of Walter Willison, a man filled with great soul-filled interpretations of songs that make his heart sing. It’s joyful, uplifting and pinpoints what great entertainment is about. Willison is an extraordinary Broadway performer – an...

  By Marilyn Lester   Jillian Laurain bills herself as a concert artist, but she’s so very much more. She is a consummate performer in the style of which it can be said, “they don’t make ‘em like that anymore.” Laurain is a diva in the purest sense of the word – a singer of...

    by Alix Cohen   Francesca Capetta is a young, attractive Italian woman with a pronounced accent and big, pop voice. The combination lends itself well to the schmaltzy side of Dean Martin’s material. Numbers like “That’s Amore” with which she flirts, Martin’s best-selling...

    by Lisa Joy Reitman-Dobi     Janis Joplin. Leslie Gore. Dusty Springfield. Nina Simone. The 1960s was the breakout decade for scores of now-legendary women vocalists, composers, lyricists, and performers. Their astounding talent, originality and passion lit up the...

    by Marilyn Lester   Gay Marshal is a petite fille de grandes capacities – a diminutive performer who has a lot of energy, enthusiasm and vocal prowess. Her Gay’s Paree! is a bonbon aigre-doux, a wry love-hate ode to the City of Lights, long on the love, short on the “hate,”...

      By Marcina Zaccaria   Francesca Capetta interprets songs with zest, bringing Old World classics to Feinstein’s/ 54 Below in An Italian in New York.   With a red dress and an updo, she looks like the belle of the ball, with plenty of friends and a lot of love for the...

    by: Linda Amiel Burns   Scott Siegel’s Broadway Originals! series gives audiences the opportunity to hear and see performers who created the roles in past musical theater productions or revivals.     For more than half a dozen years, Scott Siegel held his...

  Changes  – Always With A Song In Her Heart       by Lisa Reitman-Dobi     Arlene Wolff didn’t do a show. She didn’t do a performance of musical interpretations. Everyone in the audience felt it: that familiar cabaret act was missing.   What a...

  by Michael Stever  With a dynamic presence The New York Times has heralded as “A singularly sensational mix of high-sheen professionalism and raw vulnerability,”   Broadway veteran and theatrical royalty Donna McKechnie is back at Feinstein’s/54Below in New York City, and...

    by Elizabeth Ahlfors   At Feinstein’s/54 Below charismatic Liliane Montevecchi opened her show slyly emerging from the back of the house. With a flirtatious air, she strolled among the tables, singing Charles Aznavour’s, “Je Cherche Un Billionaire.”...

You voted for them folks! The fourth annual BroadwayWorld New York Cabaret Awards results are in and official, and for 2015 some bold-faced Broadway names, long-time cabaret stars, and some exciting newcomers were the people’s choices this year. More than 32,000 votes were cast for...

    by: Sandi Durell     Singing fills the soul. When the passion calls and you’ve got the itch, just scratch! It’s like a mini theater piece listening to and watching this woman of a certain age strut her stuff on the small stage at the Triad (Stage 72) Theater. She’s got...

        by Joe Regan Jr.     When there was a sudden cancellation, the management of the Metropolitan Room reached out to Scott Siegel for the November 11 7 PM spot. Siegel jumped at the opportunity to present some of his favorite people who have appeared at his...

  She is the history of New York. As an assistant to the Mayor, she invented the Street Fair, starting with the 9th Avenue Food Festival and all major events in the city. She was integral to the arrival of The Tall Ships in New York Harbor for the Bicentennial. She met countless Kings,...

      Review by Paulanne Simmons   When a show is titled Heart of Gold: A Portrait of the Oldest Profession, one has the right to expect an evening of jazz, blues, perhaps even a bit of country and rock. But Carole J. Bufford’s show, which she brought back to...

    Review by Joe Regan Jr.     Tudor City Greens Concerts in the Park produced by Raissa Katona-Bennett and her husband Dr. Garrett Bennett is a free event presented on certain Wednesdays in the summer. The last of the series was presented September 2 to a large crowd and...

    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...

      by: Paulanne Simmons   At the top of her show at The Duplex, singer Sharon McNight informs the audience that she remembers performing at the club when it was at still at 55 Grove. “I’ve been on both sides of the street,” she concludes with a knowing smile. The...

            by: Paulanne Simmons   Carole J. Bufford calls Birdland Jazz Party “an evening of Jazz and Blues standards with a killer quartet.” The only way to improve on this description would be to add that it’s hosted by a petite powerhouse with the energy...

                    by Marilyn Lester   Season eight of Concerts to benefit Tudor City Greens, a free, outdoor series, had its 2015 debut under sunny skies and dropping temperatures, made tolerable by the heat generated in sizzling...

      CD Review by Marilyn Lester       Pianist Ian Herman and guitarist Sean Harkness are both seasoned, highly-regarded freelance musicians: leaders, players and composers who evidently had the great idea to combine their multitudinous talents. The result is a...