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

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...

CD Review: Ann Kittredge’s “reIMAGINE”

Lisa Jo Sagolla
Even if its arrangements and vocal interpretations weren’t bursting with an inventiveness that leaves one awestruck, vocalist Ann Kittredge’s debut CD, reIMAGINE, would still be an irresistible musical treat.  Kittredge possesses a beautiful, evocative instrument, and hearing her sing is pure pleasure in itself.  Yet in this aptly titled 13-track album, she puts her voice...

CD Review: Sean Patrick Murtagh’s “The Mario 101! A Celebration of the Mario Lanza Songbook”

Lisa Jo Sagolla
While tenor Sean Patrick Murtagh’s debut album, The Mario 101! A Celebration of the Mario Lanza Songbook, is vocally magnificent, his singing style is not of the ilk typically relished by cabaret connoisseurs.  With his warm, slender, operatic voice, Murtagh grasps the dramatic arc of a song and renders it musically, prioritizing the aural aesthetics...

CD Review: Celia Berk’s “Now That I Have Everything”

Lisa Jo Sagolla
A wondrous singer, Celia Berk provides the perfect autumn album with her new CD, Now That I Have Everything.  Her handsome voice emits the warm beauty of fall colors, deep browns, rich reds, golden yellows, and bold orange.  And her album’s beguiling musical selections, reflecting the many facets of romantic love, are rendered from a...