By Scott Barbarino***At NiteLifeExchange we never stop celebrating Pride and the immeasurable benefits our Piano Bar and Cabaret communities have brought to the LGBTQIA+ cause, creating a world in which equality and diversity is the accepted norm.
The Piano Bars and Cabaret Rooms have always been the safe spaces where we were protected and found our chosen families. It’s the reason why they have been—and continue to be—targets of the bigots and bullies who fear giving everyone real equality. The iconic movie Cabaret was based on real life events. The enforced wearing of pink triangles and the discrimination and horrors that followed in that period perpetrated against humanity was not that very long ago. In this age the attacks have continued, most vehemently against the trans part of our community. Even though Pride month 2023 has passed, let’s remember to celebrate who we are every day forward and forever.
While the month was chock full of amazing entertainment and performances, here are two shows that I found most poignant.
Sean Patrick Murtagh’s well-constructed and pithy show Beautiful Girls, which played to sold out audiences at The Laurie Beechman Theater, included the songs introduced by the female characters created by 
Stephen Sondheim over his decades-long career. As you’d expect they were all powerful “Diva” songs that had life blown into them on the respective stages by real life Divas… you know the list. You also know how much joy, passion and, yes, verve these songs brought to our lives and how much they bolstered our spirits and resolve. One just needs to see Marilyn Maye singing “I’m Still Here” to be totally invigorated. Sean’s show was exquisite as he was… all bedecked, bedazzled and on point to the nines. His homage to these songs and Divas and why they are so important to us was tightly wrapped up and clearly stated at the end of the show:
“These divas are our fairy godmothers. They bring magic into our lives and guide us on 
our way as we discover our most fierce, fabulous, resilient, Gay-Queer-Homosexual selves… and because of this beautiful bond that occurs from generation to generation, we have become so fierce, so fabulous, so resilient, such survivors, that now we are called upon to be the divas. It is our turn to bring magic into someone’s life and guide the way for anyone who may need us. So especially as we celebrate Pride this month, I ask you, whenever you get the chance, to be someone’s diva.”
And so I echo his statement “… be someone’s diva.” and keep an eye out for what this gem of a man presents next.
The second stand-out performance of the month was by a performer new to me. He’s Dominick Pupa and he nailed it—his show pl
ayed to a packed house at The Cutting Room. This comedian-singer and storyteller absolutely captivated an audience made up of many friends and family and now a new fan. His cohort on the keys for this exercise in genius was JD Smurthwaite, who’s been playing in all the piano bars about town this last year.
This autobiographical show was like riding the Cyclone roller coaster at Coney Island. There was the exhilaration of those ups, those downs, those curves and all the time with bolts flying off everywhere. I use this local Brooklynese reference because his humor, while not colloquial at all, definitely hit the Long Island, Greenwich Village and Italian part of my ear with a perfect ping. His life’s stories were hysterical and his parody songs kept the action going.
A product of The Duplex and The Monster Bar Schools of Performance, I don’t know how I’ve missed him, but boy am I glad I’m on his mailing list now—and you should get on it too. His reverence for the generations before him whom he met sitting on bar stools through his youth, as well as all of those lost to the AIDS pandemic and violence against the community, was well-said and from the heart. The imagery he painted of someone in trouble, looking for help and knowing that where the rainbow flag flies is the place to run to to find safety, acceptance and help was powerful indeed.
I’d like to give a quick mention before I wrap this up to Ray DeForest aka Doris Dear. I wasn’t able to attend the Provincetown Cabaret Fest this year, but from what I saw on social media and heard through the grapevine he was a standout. Ray has always been a 
worthy star spreading the word of acceptance and diversity and always with compassion, intelligence and great poise. My Jewish side knows the prayer “next year in Jerusalem” and I now have added “next year in Provincetown.” It’s truly a shrine for us and a magical place which we should all support and escape to.
I say to those of you who I know from the piano bars and cabarets for the last 50 years… we were a bulwark; we created and protected safe spaces; we nurtured the movement that this year blossomed so profusely in every crack in the world that exists. As always we must march gaily forward with the same determination passed from one generation to the next.
Onward and Upward.
Scott Barbarino, Publisher NiteLifeExchange
Photos of Sean Patrick Murtagh by Conor Weiss
