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.

Eric Michael Gillett and La Tanya Hall

Mark Dundas Wood
"Nothing to Lose But Your Heart – The Songs of Lynn Ahrens & Stephen Flaherty" Feinstein's at Loews Regency – February 21-25 The songwriting team of composer Stephen Flaherty and lyricist Lynn Ahrens often writes songs for musicals with a show-business setting. That's something the audience learns early on in this program featuring the duo's...

Alec Mapa

Mark Dundas Wood
"Baby Daddy" Laurie Beechman Theatre – February 9, 10, 11 At the top of his show at the Laurie Beechman Theatre, actor-comedian Alec Mapa told the audience about his recent Las Vegas engagement. He said he had been asked by management to watch his language. Mapa assured the largely gay and gay-friendly Beechman crowd that...

Noah’s Very Unusual Insight

Mark Dundas Wood
The Duplex  –  January 27, 28 The premise of Noah's Very Unusual Insight (directed by Stephanie Fittro) is pleasingly silly. Patient "Noah A." (Michael Hanko, who also wrote the script), a gay man living in New York, is introduced to the audience by his longtime psychotherapist, Dr. Lorna Gallo (Peter Lappin). Noah suffers from ABD...

Charles West

Mark Dundas Wood
"Feeling Good" Don't Tell Mama  –  November 16, 17, 23, December 8, 15 When Charles West steps onto the Don't Tell Mama stage and delivers his first song, you may think: Geez, isn't he just a little too much? West is suave and self-possessed. He has chiseled good looks and he's full of sexy growls....

The Bobs

Mark Dundas Wood
"The Bobs Return to the Duplex—with Angie Bob! The Duplex – November 11 Celebrating 30 years of performing, the Bobs still pack a punch with their clever a cappella stylings, which were dubbed "New Wave a cappella" back when the group started out. Their approach to songs is fairly consistent: One member of the quartet will take...

Colleen McHugh

Mark Dundas Wood
"More Songs of Self-Delusion" Birdland  –  October 24 You can't fake the sheer love of performing that Colleen McHugh demonstrated at her birthday show at Birdland. Or if you can, you're the Meryl Streep of cabaret. The birthday girl clearly worked hard that night, but she made it all look like a spirited round of...

Craig Pomranz

Mark Dundas Wood
"Love and the Weather" Metropolitan Room  –  October 5, 9, 12 Craig Pomranz is the cabaret singer of the people. He calls to mind a working-class politician—a populist candidate trying to earn my vote down at the general store. On the afternoon I saw him, Pomranz didn't bother with a grand entrance from the lobby,...

Donald Wayne

Mark Dundas Wood
"Lost in the 40's" Don't Tell Mama  –  August 28, September 8, 10, 11, 13  With "Lost in the Forties," Donald Wayne provided a highly personal look- and listen-back at the music consumed by 1940s Americans—a generation wounded and scarred by the Second World War. Early on in the show, which was directed by Spider...

Kenneth Gartman

Mark Dundas Wood
"…not like the other cavemen" Don't Tell Mama  –  September 10 & 14, October 23 & 28, November 2 At the top of his act, Kenneth Gartman speaks about growing up listening to—and singing—Christian pop music. He actually includes a couple of numbers from that genre in his show. On the night I attended, I...

Simply Streisand

Mark Dundas Wood
Laurie Beechman Theatre  –  August 10 & 24, Sept. 7, Oct. 5, Nov. 2 Installments of "Simply Streisand" began playing at the Laurie Beechman Theatre this summer, and the series will continue, at least into early fall. Each performance enlists a different mix of singers to pay tribute to Barbra Streisand and sing selections from...