By Roy Sander

"Operation Adelmo"

At the top of the musical circus that is "Operation Adelmo," baritone Adelmo Guidarelli tells us that he is "aware of the fact that everyone hates opera." He then proclaims, without pause, irony, or apology, that he is going to sing opera. Which he does—in a way. It would have been more accurate for him to say that he's going to use opera as a hook on which to hang a mélange of jests, hi-jinx, and general merriment. It also would have been accurate to tell the audience that while they're not about to hear a lot of grand opera, they are about to have a grand time.

By Elizabeth Ahlfors

"What a Wonderful World"

Set Johnny Rodgers near a piano and Pow!, it's a concert, a vigorous, touching, enthusiastic musical mélange of Americana. From Memphis to St. Jo, with the snap of Chicago, easy Southern charm, New York energy and St. Louis rhythms—there's that crazy mixed-up American spirit and the multifaceted Johnny Rodgers to deliver it. With a smokin' band behind him, Rodgers is as home-grown as a pot roast dinner, adding some red-hot sauce just to spice things up.

By Elizabeth Ahlfors

"All of Me" 

For several years, this Minnesota country girl could have made the case that she possesses vocal confidence and horsepower second to none. In her recent engagement at Feinstein's at Loews Regency, Linda Eder proved her case once again. Added to her impressive pipes, she has a dramatic flair, building a song with tension and holding notes with the ease of an athlete. Accompanied by a robust quintet, Eder delivered some intriguing arrangements with little touches that turned the song subtly on its side. For example, the racing delivery of "Charade" (Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer), with Peter Calo's versatile guitar, gave Eder's natural country/pop reading a unique mid-West/mid-European aura.

By Roy Sander

"Calendar Girl"

For some time now, Colleen McHugh has been appearing monthly at the Duplex, each time with a different show and a different theme. How's that for a daunting self-assignment? The umbrella title for the series is "Calendar Girl"—for obvious reasons. The edition I saw on March 25 was called "Being Green," and though I went with a bit of trepidation, I was delighted to see that green had nothing whatsoever to do with alternative energy, recycling, inadequate-flush toilets, or any of the other associations the color has had since it was appropriated for a political agenda. Rather, its references were of the old-fashioned variety: things Irish, money, jealousy, plants, frogs, etc. Some of the connections with green were a stretch, but McHugh is such fun, and the show was so jolly, what the hay?

By David Finkle

"Uptown, Downtown" 

Lone Scherfig's Oscar-nominated 2009 flick, An Education, has plenty to tell us about where we really acquire our significant learning. Leslie Uggams knows all about it. In her first Manhattan cabaret stint (at the Café Carlyle), the now-sexagenarian singer does a fine job of letting us know which college of musical knowledge was the one where she matriculated for her degree.

 When she was 9, she signed up for the weekly competition at the Apollo, walked away with it and continued to win for so long that not only did she appear on that revered stage until she was 16, but she went on the road as prodigy and protégé to established greats Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald and Dinah Washington.

By Roy Sander

Unless you're a shut-in, you've probably seen guitarist Sean Harkness backing up any number of fortunate singers around town—which means that you are already familiar with how gifted and multi-faceted a musician he is and you've seen the enthusiasm, joy, and commitment he brings to performing. In his recent solo gig, we saw that he is also an impressive—and expressive—composer, an engaging narrator/raconteur, and a singer with a most agreeable baritone that is as natural and unaffected as the man, himself.

By Elizabeth Ahlfors

Joyce Breach has an affinity for old movies and good songs, and she has the taste to choose the prime and avoid the second-rate. In most of her shows she includes tunes that you've probably heard once or twice but never had the chance to get to know. They were the film tunes popped in to flavor a plot when it was time for a secondary character to lean against the piano for a special number or when the hero sings to the ingénue. It usually takes an artist with perception and a warm, caressing vocal tone to illuminate the real charm of these songs. Someone like Joyce Breach.

By Elizabeth Ahlfors

When you have an insightful actress/singer with a point of view, an astute director to help frame her message, and musical accompaniment that adds color and style, you'll get more than your penny's worth. Penny Fuller, nominated for Tony Awards for both straight play (The Dinner Party) and musical (Applause), finds the story and sings it, confident and nuanced. While we expect as much from cabaret performers, we don't always get it. What boosts Fuller into a loftier category are taste and talent. The talent has been demonstrated over four decades of busy theater, film, television, cabaret work. And taste? Fuller, with director Barry Kleinbort's help, has imaginatively chosen just the right songs for "The War Between My States," the theme of her current show.

By Elizabeth Ahlfors

KT Sullivan and Mark Nadler treat audiences to a magical, theatrical whirl—in, out and around the Oak Room. Gershwin...Here to Stay is non-stop musical revue/theatre with comedy, duets, solos, a little soft-shoe, tap, costume changes, patter, joy and some tears. Once again, Sullivan and Nadler prove that the music of the renowned brothers, George and Ira, is here to stay.

By Roy Sander

"Midnight Masquerade: The Music of Bernie Bierman and Jack Manus"

Before I discuss Joe Bachana's glowing celebration of the songs of Bernie Bierman and Jack Manus, I would like to put it in cultural perspective. More than a half-century after the phenomenon, the terms Tin Pan Alley and Big Band still have a magic about them. Remarkably rich, they conjure up more than simply a period in our musical history and they convey more than just a particular musical genre—though of course they do these as well. More significantly, they reflect an underlying view of life, which itself rests on a set of beliefs and assumptions—and things don't get more fundamental or comprehensive than that.

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.