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It's surely no secret that we live in an age where broadcasting oneself online can lead, in some cases, to instantaneous and spectacular success. Recent cornerstones of this phenomenon include twelve-year-old pop singer and pianist Greyson Michael Chance, whose performance of Lady GaGa's "Paparazzi" in a school talent show, had within days, landed him on Ellen DeGeneres' program, in a highly-lauded appearance (and an opportunity to converse with the pop diva live on the air).
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The all-female vocal group Bad Attitudes took the cabaret community by storm in the mid-1980s, and kept the momentum going for well over a decade. Even in light of such other “girl groups” on the scene, including High-Heeled Women at the outset, Four Bitchin’ Babes at the same time and BETTY much later on, the troupe always provided their own unique spin on the art form by always remaining fiercely loyal to their feminist roots, while at the same time providing a breathtaking blend of tonal harmony along with abject truth and more than quite a few laughs along the way.
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It's almost impossible to think, that after so many years of cabaret serving as a home to LGBT icons of both singing and comedy (immediate examples might include Klea Blackhurst, Funny Gay Males, Reno, Tommy Femia, Rainie Cole, Michael Marotta, Lynn Lavner and Steven Brinberg among so many), they actually have a new heir apparent. But this has wholeheartedly been delivered in the personage of Scott Nevins, who in his latest one-night-only appearance at the Laurie Beechman Theatre made it very clear that his talents are not only here to stay, but that he will be leaving most of us in the wake of his glorious and glittery dust.Tweet this article !
Gather 'round, children, here's a wonderful bedtime story. Once upon a time, in the Land of Cabaret, there was a wonderful club called Broadway Baby, which was located in the kingdom of the Upper West Side, on Amsterdam Avenue and 79th Street, long, long ago, from the mid-1980s through the early-1990s. All sorts of enchanted lords and ladies could be found there in the piano bar and the showroom stage, with wondrous names like Annie Hughes, John DiCarlo, Natalie Douglas, Linda Wallem, James Luzar, Steve Potfora, Patrick Dragonette, Tammy Quinn, Leah Menken, Valentine Ryder, and so many more.Tweet this article !
I'm normally not given to writing an article in the first person. My first professor of journalism once told me, "The very essence of reportage, is making sure that you never actually appear in the article yourself if at all possible. There's a vast difference between saying, 'I felt...,' or I feel...,' or 'It's my opinion that...,' as opposed to saying, 'One might feel...,' or 'One might be of the opinion that...,'" and I've always stuck to that. However, since the MAC Award nominations for this season were just announced, and seeing as I'm once again, the new kid on the cabaret press block for the eighth time in two decades,Tweet this article !
For one brief shining moment that was known as cabaret's Camelot in the late 1980s through the early 1990s, the vocal group Black Tie reigned supreme and unequaled. Comprised of vocalists Nellson Moore and Natalie Robinson along with singer-instrumentalist Ardie Walser, and their rich harmonies notwithstanding, the trio had an interesting angle in that they were as brilliant as delivering such standards as "In The Mood" with self-written Afrocentric songs as "Hold Up The Light" and "Africa," and always to the delight of all who attended.Tweet this article !
Just when it seemed as though cabaret legend and Broadway star Sharon McNight couldn't possibly come up with a show to top all of her previous efforts, true to form the lady hits another home run out of the ballpark with Sharon McNight: The First Thirty Years, running on selected nights and times at the Metropolitan Room through March 24th. Clearly, in a career as prolific as McNight's has been for over three decades (including multiple MAC Awards and other prizes, several recordings, a Tony nomination for Starmites and a slew of concerts that have taken her everywhere
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If the glorious gods that govern cabaret were to take the coloratura vocal stylings and elegance of Barbara Cook, merge them with the earthiness and humor of Baby Jane Dexter, and wrap the whole package in a unique bundle of sparkle, the end result would without question be Sarah Rice. A Broadway legend perhaps best known for creating the role of Johanna in the original production of Sondheim's Sweeney Todd, the revival of her acclaimed act Screen Gems: Songs Of Old Hollywood (which re-launched in early February and will run at the Laurie Beechman Theatre at the West Bank Cafe, 407 West 42nd Street through the end of April, on selected nights and times), is, quite simply, one of those evenings where one feels Beechman herself is looking down upon the room from the heavens and applauding with reckless abandon.Tweet this article !
For nearly two decades, and whether at its previous location near Lincoln Center or its current home on Broadway and 51st next door to the Winter Garden Theater, Iridium Jazz Club has endured as one of the finest jewels in the crown of Manhattan nightlife. Not merely a mecca for jazz fanatics to catch such soon-to-be legends of their day as Diana Krall, or more recently when the Stanley Jordan Quartet took the stage, proprietress Ellen Hart Sturm (the brains behind Ellen's Stardust Diner) has launched a venue which people will most fondly remember as the room where legendary guitarist Les Paul held court every Monday night for years until his lamented passing.
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A lightly-packed house can go one of two ways for a cabaret artist; at best it can either cause a groundswell of enthusiastic support from the small crowd gathered, or it can become a virtual snoozefest for all. Given the ghastly and snowy weather pounded forth upon New York several days prior to this writing, it was unsurprising that vocalist Wendy Lane Bailey did, in fact, have an audience that was far below capacity, at the Metropolitan Room on February 27th. However, both she and her self-titled show, though not completely without scant shortcomings, proved that the lady is nothing if not a consummate crowd-pleaser.Page 2 of 3
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Pick of the week
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This week, our Cabaret Pick is Elizabeth Sullivan on Sunday. She’s a lady who celebrates her birthday during this week, too (May 22). She’s a graceful, dignified, full-of-heart performer and a thoughtful, artful songwriter who does not shy away from real feelings. Whenever I see her perform, it’s a tenderly tendered mix of smile-inducers and tear duct activation.
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