By Elizabeth Ahlfors

"John Standing Performing Noël Coward"

Sir Noël Coward has passed on to loftier venues, but Sir John Standing remains to sing his repertoire of witty, risqué ditties and some of the most beautiful sentimental ballads around.

Standing interweaves 16 Coward selections with personal anecdotes as well as some tidbits about Coward. A distinguished film and stage actor, Standing comes from a long thespian line reaching back to 1809. His mother, Kay Hammond, was an actress, and while she was playing Elvira on Broadway in Noël Coward's Blithe Spirit, ten-year-old John met Coward in Hammond's dressing room. He remembers, "Everything shone. Everything about him was shining." Years later, while Standing was serving in World War II, Coward acknowledged him at a Café de Paris engagement in London. Standing asked him to sing a specific song, providing a smooth segue here for "Don't Put Your Daughter on the Stage, Mrs. Worthington" that Standing delivers as a hilarious clenched-jaw warning.

By Roy Sander

"Stiing, Stang, Stung!"

In her show devoted to the songs of Sting, Rosemary Loar advances the view that Sting is the Cole Porter of our generation because, like Porter, he is not afraid to write intelligent lyrics—or lyrics that are simple, profound, and universal. For the rest of the show, she makes a persuasive case for her thesis: the songs are extremely well crafted and display the very qualities she alleges. She tells us further that she was attracted to Sting's music the first time she heard it because it was not just pop, but also had rock and jazz elements, and it was theatrical. True again. And the very good news is that thanks to Loar's considerable skill as a singer/actress, and in no small measure thanks also to a treasure-trove of creative, varied, frequently jazz-flavored arrangements, the evening pays Sting the lyricist and Sting the composer all due honor.

By Roy Sander

"This Thing Called Love"

Oak Room at the Algonquin  -  February 9 - March 6

For their latest show, Eric Comstock (piano, vocals) and Barbara Fasano (vocals, radiance) offer us an evening of songs about love. I know, I know: With the possible exception of list songs filled with geographical references or songs about household appliances, this could embrace just about every song ever written. I also know you might be thinking, "Terrific, another show about love." Well, in fact, it is terrific, and though it may, indeed, be another show about love, it is anything but just another show about love.

By Elizabeth Ahlfors

"Have you ever seen such a beautiful bunch of roses?" Christine Ebersole's mother asked her daughter. "How can a small bud unfurl into such a lovely flower?"

An effervescent blonde, amiable, kind of daffy, and totally compelling, Christine Ebersole unfurls her own bouquet of talents at the Cafe Carlyle. Her songs touch a range of subjects—"no holds barred"—and many of them go back to family life. Number one subject is home in Maplewood, New Jersey shared by her husband, three children, numerous pets, and her 92-year-old mother. Sort of like Father Knows Best except Mom is a dazzling, two-time Tony winner, accomplished television, film and cabaret performer.

By Roy Sander

I don't think many people would dispute the claim that Brazil has been the source of one of the world's great bodies of music. But it is not easy music—at least not for gringos: the rhythms can be complex and tricky, and the melodies subtle. I submit that many people who attempt to perform it fail to pull it off persuasively. Fortunately, vocalists who take the plunge typically stick just a toe in the water [say, are those metaphors oxymoronic?] and include only a single song in their program. Cornelius Bates, however, has dared to put together an entire evening of this material. I am delighted to report that the results are smashing.

By Elizabeth Ahlfors

"Puttin' On the Ritz: Steve Ross Sings Fred Astaire"

Steve Ross has panache to spare when he is "Puttin' On the Ritz." Twenty-nine years ago, he brought music back to the Oak Room at the Algonquin Hotel after its four-decade-long absence. He helped establish a standard of the best of the best, and he is currently performing the songs associated with Fred Astaire, an idol he has saluted before. Nobody does it better, so why not?

By David Finkle

"Martha Plimpton Sings?"

Shortly after Martha Plimpton took the Allen Room stage in a trench coat, eventually shed to reveal a form-fitting red dress cut up to here, she said, "I'm not known, you know, as a songbird." No, she isn't exactly known as a songbird, but she is known—at least to reviewers who've watched her accept vastly disparate assignments—as a performer who can do anything.

That includes singing. Plimpton was Tony-nominated last year for the Pal Joey role that called on her to deliver the once-racy "Zip. Did anyone think she failed to come up with less than a socko version? Okay, maybe a few people were surprised when she did nifty songbird duty throughout her one-night (two-show) stand, proving herself to be a songbird with steel wings, a soft heart, and mesmerizing hip-swiveling technique. The range of material she chose and the different voices she employed to present it—with super music man Dan Lipton at the piano, five other musicians and singers Bridget Everett and Abbey O'Brien backing her—were juicy as a tray of Nathan's frankfurters.

By Roy Sander

"The Second Time Around"

Something pretty marvelous is taking place at Feinstein's these days: Tyne Daly is back in a show directed by David Galligan, and she is, to sum things up, pretty marvelous. We've known that she's an accomplished actress and singer, but we may not have known that she is also an enchantress. With her very first number, Irving Berlin's "The Hostess with the Mostes' on the Ball" (with witty custom lyrics), she wins us over, and from song to song, patter to patter, she continues to entertain, charm, touch and delight us, so that by the end of the evening, she's captured our hearts—not to mention our admiration.

By Elizabeth Ahlfors

"Judy Garland Live!"

Some stars never die. They don't even fade away. They are revived in TV specials and little statues sold in the gift shops of their landmark birthplaces.

Then there are the superstars who once grabbed audience imagination and never faded away. We call them by their first names – Elvis, Marilyn, Judy. Costumed look-alikes appear at benefits, parties or casino lounges. They are usually second-rate. Other performers, however, are talented, dedicated impersonators who study the iconic stars. Obviously, they cannot bring them to life but they remind audiences of the elusive star quality that made the star legendary. Tommy Femia is this kind of impersonator, and for two decades now, his subject has been Judy Garland.

By David Finkle

Usually a pianist playing behind or alongside a featured singer is considered an accompanist. But not always. When Kenny Werner plays for Betty Buckley, what occurs is a collaboration between equal partners. This is often the case as well with Rick Jensen and whomever he's partnering. It's also true of jazz pianist Dan Tepfer and his recent pairing with adventurous singer Michael Winther, who usually likes to apply his liquid tenor to the work of top-drawer contemporary tunesmiths.

By Roy Sander

"Get Ready – Jackie Fornatale Sings Motown"

Jackie Fornatale opens her tribute to Motown walking through the house singing "Dancing in the Street" (William "Mickey" Stevenson, Marvin Gaye, Ivy Hunter). Immediately, the audience is swept up in a spirit of joyous ebullience, and for the next hour, Fornatale and Co. keep the crowd in a state of euphoria and charged enthusiasm. It's hard to say who's having more fun during that hour—the spectators or the people on stage. What a high!

By David Finkle

"Somebody Loves Me" 

For some time, Sandy Stewart and Bill Charlap have opened early in the year at the Algonquin's Oak Room and have thereby set the musicianship bar high for everyone coming after them here—or anywhere else. This January is no different. As 2010 unfolds, others may come along who do as well in their unique ways, but few will present a show as start-to-finish exquisite as this mother-son combo effortlessly manages to do.