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.

Telly Leung

Gerry Geddes
When it comes to popular music in general and singing in particular, it might not be the worst of times, but it is far from the best of times. It started back with Star Search, where contestants were encouraged to favor volume and melismatic riffs above phrasing and musicality—and they were rewarded for doing so....

Aisha de Haas

Gerry Geddes
Singer-actress Aisha de Haas entitled her new show at Birdland The Music That Makes Me Dance, but it might have been more accurately titled The Music That Makes Me SING. Claiming to have been liberated from restrictive impressions of what cabaret should be by attending a recent Natalie Douglas show, she had filled this "hodgepodge" with...

Barb Jungr and John McDaniel

Gerry Geddes
In their show 1968 – Let the Sun Shine In, recently at Birdland, Barb Jungr and John McDaniel dove into the amazingly rich pool of music that 1968 produced. It seemed a natural follow-up to their Beatles celebration, Come Together. Jungr, who has long been recognized as an incisive interpreter of popular music, was in rare...

Tammy Faye Starlite

Gerry Geddes
When I entered Pangea on the Lower East Side to see Tammy Faye Starlite's show She Comes in Colors, little did I realize that I would be witnessing a 2018 reincarnation of a Warhol superstar. Her slightly exaggerated look with platinum hair, shockingly red lips, blazing eyes, and high-drama voice would fit in perfectly on a...

Max Vernon

Gerry Geddes
Max Vernon, award-winning composer/lyricist of the off-Broadway hits The View Upstairs and KPOP, has taken up residency at Joe's Pub with Existential Life Crisis Lullaby, which each month will present songs from works in progress. The opening salvo gave us a preview of The Tattooed Lady (written with Obie Award-winning playwright Erin Courtney). In addition...

Deborah Karpel

Gerry Geddes
In her show The Midwood Miracle, recently at Pangea, singer-writer-storyteller Deborah Karpel told the story of her estrangement from, and eventual reconciliation (however tentative) with, her late father, with whom she had a common familial arrangement: "not asking anything of each other" and barely speaking. In the kind of desperation that is fairly indigenous to...

Josephine Sanges

Gerry Geddes
Josephine Sanges has a voice so good it's almost criminal. In her latest show, Come Rain or Come Shine – Josephine Sanges Sings Harold Arlen, which recently gave an encore performance at the Laurie Beechman Theatre, that voice was ravishing on Arlen's classic melodies. Her technical ability and artistry went a long way to gloss over...

Two Tuckers

Gerry Geddes
Two Tuckers (drag artist Golden Delicious and pianist-singer Tucker) is a ragtag, scattershot, hellzapoppin delight that has nothing on its mind but entertainment. If you need a moment to decipher the joke of the title, take it now. The duo wrote an eponymous opening number that delightfully explained it all. It also gave a preview...

Cole Escola

Gerry Geddes
The piano on the stage at Joe's Pub is covered with wigs of many hues and styles. Beneath it is a large black plastic trash bag, which will be revealed to contain a variety of dresses, gowns and costumes. Next to the piano is a full-size xylophone, to which attention will revert again and again...

Alaska Thunderf*ck

Gerry Geddes
Alaska Thunderf*ck achieved stardom as a finalist on the fifth season of RuPaul's Drag Race. In Alaska & Jeremy: On Golden Girls, her show at the Laurie Beechman Theatre, she proves that this is no fluke, but is based on solid, undeniable talent. Working with her accompanist (or more accurately her co-star), Handsome Jeremy, she gives...