Sexually active men may live longer. But talented, indefatigable, crowd-pleasing divas sing longer. Marilyn Maye, 83, is making every minute count. One of her favorite lines is “I’m singing as fast as I can.” And her tumultuous legion of fans is always there, applauding every lyric. On the packed opening night of her new show Read More
Darling cabaret diva KT Sullivan is probably tired of being called bubbly, pixilated and effervescent, but in her splendid new show at the Algonquin (through May 28), if fizzy fits, then wear it. It didn’t hurt Blossom Dearie. Besides, fizz is better than fizzle.
In a jam-packed musical extravaganza she calls “Rhyme, Women and Read More
Two high-powered talents in a pair of ill-conceived acts top the cabaret scene this week.
When Nathan Gunn, the crown prince of grand opera, shed his clothes at the Met in An American Tragedy, one serious critic suggested a clause in all future contracts requiring that the hunky baritone sing at least one aria shirtless. Read More
What’s new on the cabaret circuit? Enough to get you out at night. A rare appearance by cult singer-songwriter and jazz pianist Dave Frishberg, the long-awaited comeback of legendary big-band vocalist Jane Harvey and the American cabaret debut of Douglas Hodge, the British performer who won a Tony award as the outrageous drag queen in Read More
The cabaret world is full of puzzles. The current one is Maude Maggart, the newest, tiniest and most overpraised porcelain doll in the overcrowded toy shop; she is now enjoying a four-week run in the Oak Room of the Algonquin Hotel at a time when better singers and more deserving talents can’t even get a Read More
It seems like yesterday when Brooke Shields lit our lashes as pedophile bait in Louis Malle’s Pretty Baby. From adolescent prostitute to hip-swiveling Rizzo in Grease and killer babe with a heart of pure platinum in Broadway’s Chicago, America’s personality-packed sweetheart has lived more lives than a cat on roller skates. She calls her stint Read More
Perfection is not an overused word in the cabaret world, but I use it without reservation when making even a feeble effort to describe Christine Ebersole’s dynamic, touching, beautifully conceived new act at the Café Carlyle. Unencumbered by the phony titles and pointless concepts that plague other “theme” shows, she simply steps to the postage-stamp Read More
In the musical husband-wife tradition of Jackie Cain and Roy Kral, and John Pizzarelli and Jessica Molaskey, we now have ace pianist Eric Comstock and his wife, Barbara Fasano, who pop the cork on the 2011 cabaret season with a new act at the Algonquin called “Helluva Town,” a compilation of carefully picked tunes about Read More
Nobody I know is ready for synthetic snow and popcorn balls, but the Rockefeller tree is already lit up like the front of the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo, so there must be a reindeer on the way. Michael Feinstein certainly delivers some early Yuletide cheer in his annual holiday show at Loew’s Regency. This one, Read More
Joan Collins has devoted her life to illusion, so in the third act of her career, why hold back now? Watching her New York nightclub debut at Feinstein’s at Loew’s Regency, it was reassuring to discover she has lost none of the beauty, self-effacing humor or erotic appeal that turned her into the kind of Read More
