Club Review: Amanda McBroom’s “Crimes of the Heart,” with Michele Brourman

“The Portrait” is one of Amanda McBroom’s most beautiful and beloved creations. I was reminded of it during her delightful new show, Crimes of the Heart, at Birdland, not because she sang it, but because I was amazed that she looked the same as when I had seen her decades ago at the old Ballroom […]

CD Review: “Gary Brumburgh’s “Full Circle”

Gary Brumburgh was content to be a teacher until he happened to be cast in an amateur production of a Broadway musical; he was immediately smitten and left his former career to spend the next two decades studying acting and singing and appearing in myriad local productions, touring companies, and any musical he could find. […]

Up Close and (Very) Personal: Three Cabaret Singers Discuss Their Musical Memoirs

For most any cabaret show, performers will want to share something about themselves. They’ll note, for instance, what a particular song in their setlist means to them personally and why they decided to include it. But certain shows go well beyond that. Such presentations are essentially spoken-word memoirs—deeply personal and sometimes cathartic monologues punctuated with […]

Club Review: Ann Talman’s “The Shadow of Her Smile”

Unique is the best word—maybe the only word—to describe the song-stacked narrative that Ann Talman has created for her cabaret act at Feinstein’s/54Below. She calls the show The Shadow of Her Smile, after the haunting, Oscar-winning song that Johnny Mandel and Paul Francis Webster wrote for Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton to emote to in 1965’s The Sandpiper—but that’s […]

Ricky Ritzel Uncut!

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 […]

André De Shields: A Video Glimpse of an Artiste Extraordinaire

 The Bistro Award team created a video montage for the multi-award-winning artiste extraordinaire, André De Shields, when he was honored with its 2018 Bob Harrington Lifetime Achievement Award. However, as things can happen during a live performance, we never got the chance to show it!  So, here it is now, a two-and-a-half minute glimpse of […]

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 […]