The 37th Annual Bistro Awards and our Honorees!
NEWS, INTERVIEWS, COMMENTARY
Club Review: Deborah Stone’s “Take Me Back—Joan, Joni, Dylan, and Others”
Back in the day, you couldn’t walk around the West Village without finding a folk club on every block; the sound of guitars and voices wafted into the streets wherever you went. I remember catching the NY debut of a brand new singer at The Bitter End, a singer who “grew up” to become Jackson […]
Club Review: Linda Purl’s “This Could Be the Start”
Linda Purl is a true working actor: whether you’ve seen her on Happy Days or The Office, on or Off Broadway, in regional theatre, in straight plays or musicals, or in Japan, where she spent her early years—you’ve definitely already enjoyed her work. It’s this level of performance experience that backs up her craft as […]
Cabaret Setlist: “Let’s Not Talk About Love” – Music and Lyrics by Cole Porter
Repertoire for the Once and Future American Songbook Article #24 in this ongoing series. In 23 installments of Cabaret Setlist, how have we not yet looked at a song by Cole Porter? One of musical theatre’s most respected composer-lyricist hyphenates—along with Irving Berlin, Stephen Sondheim, and Jerry Herman—Porter was exceedingly prolific. A 1983 collection, The […]
Club Review: “Ann Hampton Callaway Sings Peggy Lee and the Songs of the ’70s”
Ann Hampton Callaway is a seasoned jazz artist, songwriter, an interpreter of the American Songbook, and an entertainer who knows how to work a crowd—especially when her ex-husband is bravely sitting in the front row. Her show at 54 Below on Sunday, January 15 was a half-and-half evening of Peggy Lee and 1970s pop, which […]
VIDEOS
Watch Jimmy Webb Perform at the 2022 Bistro Awards
This past May, three-time Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Jimmy Webb received the Bistro Awards‘ highest honor, the ASCAP-Bob Harrington Lifetime Achievement Award, for his musical and storytelling accomplishments over a career of five-plus decades. Here he is at the 37th annual Bistro Awards gala as he accepts his award and performs one of his songs, mostly associated […]
Multi-Bistro Award-winning cabaret artist, Ricky Ritzel, shares with a friend his best memories of the Bistro Awards evenings.
How About an Apéritif Before the Show?
Whet your appetite for April 30th’s Bistro event with a taste from our 30th anniversary awards show. A buffet of performers at their best including Dee Dee Bridgewater, Carol Fredette, Jason Graae, Karen Mason, Marilyn Maye, and others. (Jason Graae’s opening number written by Rick Jensen and Sally Mayes; video created by Evan Seplow/StageBuddy Pro. […]
Darlene Love: From “Rebel” to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame
Pop icon and Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee Darlene Love was honored at the 32nd Annual Bistro Awards on Monday, March 13, 2017, receiving the ASCAP-Bob Harrington Lifetime Achievement Award for her five decades of musical accomplishments. Rolling Stone has called Love “one of the greatest singers of all time,” and The New […]
CABARET ARTIST'S HANDBOOK
How Important Is It to Have a Director? Here Are What a Few Directors and Artists Have to Say
Article #12 in The New Cabaret Artist’s Handbook. Part Two of Shellen’s Lubin’s discussion on the importance of directors in cabaret. I hope you’ve figured out from the “shopping list” of directorial tools and qualities that I noted in Part One of this article that each director brings their own skill set and perspectives to the […]
Just How Valuable Is a Director to Your Cabaret Act?
The New Cabaret Artist’s Handbook Article #11 in this continuing series. Most likely there have been times when you’ve asked yourself this question: “Do I really need a director for my cabaret show? After all, I have a theme and ideas, plus I’m working with my longtime musical director who is smart and savvy and […]
The Musical Marriage Continues: Your Musical Director and You (Part Two)
Article #10 in this running series. For this half of our focus on musical directors (just in case you missed Part One: read it here), I posed some challenging questions to a number of them along with a few singers. We’ll begin with Daryl Kojak, who has been the musical director for most of the Bistro Awards […]
The Musical Marriage: Your Musical Director and You (Part One)
Article #9 in this running series. Your musical director is probably your first and most primary connection as a cabaret artist. In fact, if you don’t have a director and/or writers with whom you’re working (both of which we will be addressing in future pieces), they may very well be your only collaborator in the […]
