Gerry Geddes

Gerry Geddes, critic for BistroAwards.com, is an award-winning director, writer, teacher, performer, lyricist, and a contributor to the podcast Troubadours and Raconteurs. He conceived and directed the acclaimed musical revues Monday in the Dark with George (Bistro and MAC Award winner), Put on Your Saturday Suit—Words & Music by Jimmy Webb, and Gerry Geddes & Company (in its five-year residency at Pangea). He has directed singers André De Shields, Darius de Haas, Helen Baldassare, and Lisa Viggiano. He has been active in the cabaret world for over five decades and has produced numerous CDs; his lyrics have been performed and recorded here and in Europe. Gerry’s workshop, The Art of Vocal Performance, is regularly offered to singers of all levels. His memoir of life in NYC, Didn’t I Ever Tell You This?, was recently published and is available at barnesandnoble.com. He is currently at work on his first novel.

Club Review: Stacy Sullivan, Todd Murray in “I’m Glad There Is You—The Musical Romance of Frank Sinatra and Peggy Lee

Gerry Geddes
What could go wrong?  One of New York cabaret’s warmest, most intelligent, and talented vocalists paired with a solid crooner in the classic mode whose rich, smooth sound and smart phrasing sets him apart from other current practitioners of saloon singing paired to sing the songs of Peggy Lee and Frank Sinatra accompanied by two...

Remembering Jay Rogers

Gerry Geddes
On October 28, 2022, we lost Jay Rogers, one of the most hilarious, talented, endearing clowns in New York cabaret and theatre, to cancer.  It is a tragic reminder of the fragility of our lives, and that even a man whose art and being embodied a whole-hearted, joy-filled embrace of life and living it to...

Club Review: Dorian Woodruff’s “The Lyrics of Alan and Marilyn Bergman”

Gerry Geddes
In 1960, lyricists Alan and Marilyn Bergman secured their position in the Great American Songbook with Frank Sinatra’s recording of “Nice ‘n’ Easy” (Lew Spence) and, up until Marilyn’s death this year, they provided a lyrical backdrop to the passing decades with songs in film, theatre, television, and recordings while working with some of the...

Club Review: “Lisa Viggiano Sings the Jane Olivor Songbook”

Gerry Geddes
After she was discovered (and signed to Columbia Records) at her very first cabaret show, Jane Olivor released five albums between 1976 and 1982 that endeared her to many, particularly in the gay community.  As their superstar Barbra Streisand ascended to the stratosphere, Olivor took her place in many of their hearts.  As the AIDS...

Club Review: Philip Officer’s “Let Me Sing and I’m Happy”

Gerry Geddes
When I teach vocal performance, one of the first things I stress to students is that performing in a cabaret space is more akin to film acting than stage acting. Subtle gestures, like a raised eyebrow or a simple smile, can be much more effective than the grand gestures and histrionics of a theatrical performance. ...

CD Review: Eleri Ward’s “Keep a Tender Distance”

Gerry Geddes
Sondheim tribute recordings and CDs have become a cottage industry in the music world.  There have been many fine entries in the genre harkening back to Sir Richard Rodney Bennett, Dame Cleo Laine, Jackie & Roy, Herbie Hancock, and Betty Buckley to name a few, not to mention the myriad concert and studio tributes by...

Club Review: Scott F. Mason’s “One Dame Funny Night”

Gerry Geddes
Before I get to Scott F. Mason’s hilarious show at Don’t Tell Mama, One Dame Funny Night, return with me to those thrilling days of cabaret past, and to one of the best cabaret comedians in the late 20th century, Pudgy (the stage name of Beverly Wines).  Pudgy began her career at a time when...

Club Review: Ann Morrison’s “Merrily from Center Stage”

Gerry Geddes
Anyone who has seen the 2016 documentary Best Worst Thing That Ever Could Have Happened might understandably assume that there was no need to get further insight into the famed failure that was Merrily We Roll Along. Anyone who has seen an autobiographical cabaret show by a Broadway performer might understandably assume that a show by one...

“Bennett & Barton: Swing Out Under the Moon!”

Gerry Geddes
If the Bistro Awards gave out an award for Outstanding Musical Archeologist, Elena Bennett would win hands down for her triumphant return to the New York cabaret stage with Fred Barton in Bennett & Barton: Swing Out Under the Moon! which recently debuted at Pangea.  In an evening filled with classics (in quality if not...

Club Review: Helane Blumfield and Bobby Peaco in “Me and Bobby P”

Gerry Geddes
Bobby Peaco was one of the stalwarts of New York piano bars and cabaret for decades.  His talent, wit and antic spirit livened up many of the city’s classic venues until a few years ago when he decided to move to Florida with his husband.  He made a rare and welcome return to the cabaret...