Mark Dundas Wood

Mark Dundas Wood is an arts/entertainment journalist and dramaturg. He began writing for BistroAwards.com in 2011. Currently, he writes the "Bistro Bits" column for the site. Other reviews and articles have appeared at theaterscene.net and talkinbroadway.com, as well as in American Theatre and Back Stage. As a dramaturg, he has worked with New Professional Theatre and the New York Musical Theatre Festival. He is currently literary manager for Broad Horizons Theatre Company.

Sally Kellerman

Mark Dundas Wood
Throughout her long acting and singing career, Sally Kellerman has been known for her offbeat qualities. She started working in movies and television in the late 1950s and early 1960s, but her devil-may-care breeziness served her especially well in the "New Hollywood" of the 1970s, a time when endearing eccentrics could flourish, especially when they...

Matt DiPasquale

Mark Dundas Wood
"Neither Here nor There," Matt DiPasquale's engaging show at the Duplex, is a solo act, but for some reason he uses three separate microphones, spread evenly across the front of the stage. Is he working some metaphor—perhaps suggesting that he's not sure of where he stands? Or maybe that he has three times as much...

Chita Rivera

Mark Dundas Wood
At one point during the opening night of her Café Carlyle debut show, "An Evening of My Favorite Songs," Chita Rivera noted that she has been running around for years just being her 35-year-old self, without noticing exactly how much time has elapsed. If this show is any indication, the Rivera approach to aging is...

Gay Marshall

Mark Dundas Wood
Over the years, singer-actress Gay Marshall has made the musical repertoire of Édith Piaf something of a specialty. With the 2015 centenary of the legendary French singer's birth, she has been especially busy of late singing Piaf's material. Yet in many ways her persona doesn't seem much at all like that of the singer she celebrates. Piaf's image,...

David Meulemans

Mark Dundas Wood
"Lucky to Be Me" is the title of both David Meulemans's show at the Metropolitan Room—where he is currently an "Artist in Residence"—and a CD of that show recorded live at the club. As the title suggests, the singer is the sort of guy who looks on the bright side of things. There are plenty...

Josephine Sanges

Mark Dundas Wood
Like many cabaret-goers, I first became aware of Josephine Sanges when she competed in the Metropolitan Room's MetroStar Talent Challenge last summer (she finished second runner-up in the competition). At the time, she was a relative newcomer to cabaret. Her singing background had been largely in the world of sacred music. (As a church musical...

Danya Katok

Mark Dundas Wood
Lyric soprano Danya Katok is a young, fresh-faced performer with a sweet onstage demeanor. She has trained for—and launched—a career as an opera and classical concert singer, experience she gave evidence of during her recent Don't Tell Mama engagement. But she is able to play chameleon—adjusting her singing style to perform numbers with a folk-pop...

Liliane Montevecchi

Mark Dundas Wood
When she takes the cabaret stage, Liliane Montevecchi is not just regal. She's an entire royal court. At center is the monarch herself, with her imposing demeanor and effortless power to keep all eyes on her person. But she's also her own jester—throwing mischievous, sometimes naughty quips to the audience. Likewise, she's her own bodyguard....

John Epperson

Mark Dundas Wood
You might think that John Epperson, having been for decades in the employ of the glamorous and imposing stage sensation Lypsinka, would have picked up some of his mistress's grand manner. But that's clearly not the case. The eponymous star of "John 'Lypsinka' Epperson: An Evening with Lypsinka's Maid" (at Feinstein's/54 Below) isn't exactly mousy....

Megan Loughran

Mark Dundas Wood
The title of Megan Loughran's recent show at Don't Tell Mama, "I Sing Standing Up," gives a sly indication of the show's content. Her act was a hybrid. It was, at base, a stand-up comedy show, but there were songs sprinkled throughout—some (but not all) of which were comic. As a comedian, Loughran called to...