By Bart Greenberg***With style, wit, great singing and enough sequins (on and off the stage) to supply an entire season of RuPaul’s Drag Race, the 36th New York Cabaret Convention opened with a very special evening, The Best Is Yet to Come – A Celebration of Cy Coleman. 
The traditional hosts for the first night, Jeff Harnar and Andrea Marcovicci, curated a highly varied and star-filled evening (even though Harnar complained about whomever placed him after the electric Donna McKechnie – before acknowledging it was him). Plaudits all around.
The evening kicked off with an electric prologue as Carole J. Bufford sidled on to the stage to welcome all the “Big Spenders)” (all music by Cy Coleman, lyrics by Dorothy Fields) in the audience. With a voice like Shirley Bassey’s and the movements of Chita Rivera, she stopped the show before it even began. The hosts then appeared to gleefully perform “(Doop Doo-De-Oop) A Doodlin’ Song” (Carolyn Leigh) with abundant giggles, plus one of the composer’s own favorite songs, “Some Kind of Music” (Coleman’s lyrics). The eccentric one-man band known as Bryce Edwards then 
took the stage for a raucous “Hey There, Good Times” (Michael Stewart) with Jon Weber making one of several dazzling appearances on the piano.
Next, one of New York cabaret’s happiest married couples came on stage for a duet and two solos, all with lyrics by Leigh. Eric Comstock and Barbara Fasano kicked off with a gleeful and jazzy excuse for adultery with “When in Rome,” followed by his Coleman rarity “Little What If” and her “I Wanna Be Yours.” The energetic Richard Skipper made his Cabaret Convention debut, dedicating his “It’s Not Where You Start” (Fields) to Tommy Tune, who originally introduced the number. Nicole Zuraitis then gave her bluesy jazz interpretation of “I Walk a Little Faster” (Leigh), complete with several extended piano sections.
Two fine balladeers next took the stage: the charismatic Craig Rubano propelled the ultimate “I Want” song, The Other Side of the Track” (Leigh), while Jonathan Karrant brought his 
strong personality to “Why Try to Change Me Now?” (Joseph McCarthy). Eden Casteel channeled Madeleine Kahn as she created a whole musical theater scene (with an assist from Harnar), complete with costume change for a raucous “Veronique” (Betty Comden and Adolph Green) from On the Twentieth Century. Expert crooner Frank Dain, channeling his inner Tony Bennett, moved the audience with “Come Summer” (Leigh).
Caroline Montgomery, making her Convention debut, tapped into her Rosemary Clooney for a terrific arrangement of “The Rules of the Road” (Leigh), complete with veteran trumpeter Warren Vache. The glamorous Karen Akers moved the audience with Barnum’s “The Colors of My Life” (Stewart). Following a touching tribute to the late Danny Bacher, Marta Sanders brought the first act to a close with a fiery and defiant “Here’s to 
Us” (Leigh).
The second half began with Ari Axlerod delivering a typically passionate version of a Coleman obscurity, “You There in the Back Row” (Barbara Fried). The hosts then shared a lovely note from the composer’s widow Shelby Coleman thanking the Mabel Mercer Foundation for the evening, before they introduced the first of two lengthy tributes to a pair of Broadway musicals. First up was City of Angels, with its terrific lyrics by David Zippel, starting off with the vocalised overture performed by the Angel City 4 (original cast members Peter Davis, Amy London, Steve Weisbart and his daughter Rachel). Leanne Borghesi stopped the show with a brilliantly comic “You Can Always Count on Me” and Ann Kittredge proved unquestionably that lyric sopranos can torch with the best of them on “With Every Breath.”
Moving onward, Harnar introduced 
what was referred to as the “Sweet Charity Suite” (all lyrics by Fields). Original cast member Lee Roy Reams took the stage as only he can with a medley of numbers from the show including suggestions of the Bob Fosse choreography. Before leaving the stage, the entertainer was presented with The Mabel Mercer Award—a surprise he seemed genuinely moved by. A scintillating Karen Mack had great fun with “Baby, Dream That Dream” before being joined by the other members of Those Girls (Eve Easton, Rachel Hanser, Wendy Russell) for an intricate version of “The Rhythm of Life.” Then two great ladies of Broadway took over with the divine Tovah Feldshuh inhabiting the cut “Pink Taffeta 
Sample Size 12” and the iconic Donna McKecknie, a stage Charity, broke everyone’s heart with an urgent “Where Am I Going?”
Coming to the end of the evening, Harnar returned with a mesmerizing “Witchcraft” (Leigh) while Marcovicci performed two of Mabel Mercer’s favorite Coleman works that fit so well together, “Isn’t He Adorable” (Joseph McCarthy) and “It Amazes Me” (Leigh), creating a complete story. An invitation by the two to “Hey, Look Me Over” (Leigh), led them into introducing the final diva of the evening, Ann Hampton Callaway. Shimmering in white, she promised “The Best Is Yet to Come” (Leigh), perhaps promising the next two nights of the Convention.
The house musicians for the entire festival were music director-pianist Nicolas Perez, bassist Steve Doyle and drummer Sherrie Maricle. Other notable music makers appearing during the evening included Christopher Denny, Yaron Gershovsky, Kathleen Landis, Alex Rybeck and Steven Ray Watkins.
All photos by Richard Termine
