Lisa Jo Sagolla

Lisa Jo Sagolla is the author of "The Girl Who Fell Down: A Biography of Joan McCracken" and "Rock ‘n’ Roll Dances of the 1950s." A choreographer, critic, and historian, she has written for Back Stage, American Theatre, Film Journal International, and numerous other popular publications, encyclopedias, and scholarly journals. An adjunct professor at Columbia University and Rutgers, she is currently researching a book on the influence of Pennsylvania’s Bucks County on America’s musical theatre.

Lisa Jo Sagolla

Miss Maybell and Her Ragtime Romeos — “Under the Midnight Moon—Unrecorded Songs of the 1890s – 1920s”

Lisa Jo Sagolla
An amazing feat of research, re-vivification, and recording, the unique new album Under the Midnight Moon proffers tickling, period-style renditions of 15 previously unrecorded American songs dating from 1899 to 1924.  Entertainingly performed by “Miss Maybell” (vocalist Lauren Sansaricq) and her “Ragtime Romeos” (pianist Charlie Judkins and a kickin’ band of banjo, accordion, brass, wind,...

“Jane Monheit Sings the Cole Porter Songbook”

Lisa Jo Sagolla
The magnificent jazz vocalist Jane Monheit brought her new 60-minute show of eleven sensuously rendered Cole Porter classics to the Upper West Side’s Smoke Jazz Club in July. While billed Jane Monheit Sings the Cole Porter Songbook, this is not one of those endeavors motivated by the digging up of obscure works by a well-known...

Album Review: Lisa Yaeger’s “Jersey Girl”

Lisa Jo Sagolla
Based on her eponymous cabaret show, vocalist Lisa Yaeger’s exciting new album, Jersey Girl, celebrates songs written, performed, or famously recorded by New Jersey natives. A Jersey girl herself, with a bright, adorably sexy voice, Yaeger is remarkably daring. Not only does she take on tunes definitively performed by the likes of Whitney Houston, Marilyn McCoo,...

Maria Corsaro – “Love Makes the Changes”

Lisa Jo Sagolla
Vocalist Maria Corsaro’s dulcet new album, Love Makes the Changes, is a hybrid of sorts, in that it merges Corsaro’s longstanding passion for jazz singing with her newfound interest in cabaret. According to liner notes, Corsaro’s recording is intended to satisfy fans of both performance genres in equal measure. But from a purely vocal standpoint, cabaret audiences...

Darius de Haas: “Let Me Carry You This Christmas”

Lisa Jo Sagolla
A very “wintery,” interestingly daring Christmas album, noted jazz vocalist and OBIE Award-winning musical-theatre performer Darius de Haas’s Let Me Carry You This Christmas showcases the singer’s bold explorations of a range of musical styles through a well-curated array of traditional carols and cold-weather songs. De Haas sings with grand emotion. His “involving” style really pulls...

Debbie Wileman: “A Christmas Garland”

Lisa Jo Sagolla
Surprisingly, the iconic American vocalist Judy Garland never made a full Christmas album.  But thanks to Judy Garland impersonator Debbie Wileman’s A Christmas Garland, we get to hear what such a recording by the legendary singer might have sounded like. While you won’t be fooled into thinking you’re hearing Garland herself, Wileman’s vocal impersonation is extraordinary....

Familiar Jazz in Unfamiliar Fashions: “Elemental” New Collaborative Album from Dee Dee Bridgewater and Bill Charlap

Lisa Jo Sagolla
A fun new album featuring vocalist Dee Dee Bridgewater and pianist Bill Charlap, Elemental is for serious jazz fans in the mood for some playful, yet ticklingly sophisticated, voice and piano comingling. Comprising eight familiar jazz standards performed in fascinating, unfamiliar fashions, the collaborative album (with vocal arrangements by Bridgewater and piano arrangements by Charlap) revels...

Frank Dain “I’ve Had a Love”

Lisa Jo Sagolla
Singer Frank Dain’s romantic new album, I’ve Had a Love, aptly released on February 14, is the perfect soundtrack for anyone who has “loved and lost” and wants to spend some alone time wallowing in cherished memories.  An astutely-curated collection of 16 amorous songs from the Broadway, Hollywood, and pop-music worlds, Dain’s recording allows one...

Album Reviews: A Pleasurable Trio of Recent Releases

Lisa Jo Sagolla
Reviewing recordings by leading cabaret vocalists may be the heavenliest job on earth, as this latest batch of new releases “required” me to spend my fleeting summer days listening over and again to three thoroughly pleasing albums – two comprising nothing but tasty, love-themed songs, the other serving up pop and show tunes that insist...

Anya Turner and Robert Grusecki’s “Mid-Century Modern”

Lisa Jo Sagolla
An appealing new studio recording of ten original songs co-written and performed by vocalist Anya Turner and pianist Robert Grusecki, Mid-Century Modern is pleasingly unified by the prettiness, warmth, and intimacy of all of its selections. Within its line-up of impressively-devised songs, it also offers entertaining stylistic variety.  Delivered in simple, voice-and-piano arrangements—with Turner doing...