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.

Cabaret Setlist: “When I Was a Boy” — Music and lyrics by Dar Williams

Mark Dundas Wood
Repertoire for the Once and Future American Songbook  Song #9 in this running series Although Dar Williams’s song “When I Was a Boy” would go on to become a signature number for her, she once apparently harbored doubts about its potential. This eloquent and extremely likable story-song might well have been laid to eternal rest...

Cabaret Setlist: “Take Care of This House” – Music by Leonard Bernstein, Lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner

Mark Dundas Wood
Repertoire for the Once and Future American Songbook Song #8 in this running series. This installment of Cabaret Setlist is published on the day before what’s being called the most significant presidential election of our lifetimes. Wanting something pertinent to the occasion, we decided on a Broadway song first heard in 1976, the year of...

Cabaret Setlist: “Makin’ Whoopee” – Music by Walter Donaldson, Lyrics by Gus Kahn

Mark Dundas Wood
Repertoire for the Once and Future American Songbook  Song #7 in this running series "Whoopee" on stage. Walter Donaldson and Gus Kahn’s “Makin’ Whoopee,” first sung by Eddie Cantor in the 1928 musical Whoopee!—is a hardy comedic evergreen. While researching it, I was startled to discover that the person I would...

Cabaret Setlist: “End of the World” — Music and lyrics by Matt Alber

Mark Dundas Wood
Repertoire for the Once and Future American Songbook Song #6 in this running series Part of my intention when starting this series was to take a fresh look at songs from the American Songbook that have endured over several decades. Additionally, though, I wanted to examine newer songs, ones that would seem to have an...

Cabaret Setlist: “It Never Was You” — Music by Kurt Weill, lyrics by Maxwell Anderson

Mark Dundas Wood
Repertoire for the Once and Future American Songbook Song #5 in this running series   Kurt Weill and Maxwell Anderson’s “It Never Was You” might be better known today were it not for Walter Huston. Cover of Broadway's 1938 Knickerbocker Holiday souvenir program. The 54-year-old actor was slated to appear in...

Cabaret Setlist: “Two for the Road” — Music by Henry Mancini, lyrics by Leslie Bricusse

Mark Dundas Wood
Repertoire for the Once and Future American Songbook Song #4 in this running series The cable came directly from Audrey Hepburn, who was in France shooting her latest film, with director/producer Stanley Donen. “Dearest Hank, please won’t you do the music? ... Can’t imagine anyone else but you scoring.” How could Henry Mancini refuse the...

Cabaret Setlist: “California Nights” — Music by Marvin Hamlisch, lyrics by Howard Liebling

Mark Dundas Wood
Repertoire for the Once and Future American Songbook Song #3 in this running series. Unlike the first two songs we’ve examined in Cabaret Setlist (Rodgers & Hart’s “Little Girl Blue” and Stephen Sondheim’s “Sand”), today’s selection hails from the world of AM-radio pop. First heard in January 1967, “California Nights” anticipates the coming Summer of...

Cabaret Setlist: “Sand” – Music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim

Mark Dundas Wood
Repertoire for the Once and Future American Songbook Song #2 in this new running series. Few among us dispute the idea that Stephen Sondheim is the most important living American composer/lyricist in musical theatre. He has raised the artistic bar for songwriting so high that giants in the sky could effortlessly dance the limbo beneath...

Cabaret Setlist: Repertoire for the Once and Future American Songbook

Mark Dundas Wood
  Song #1 in this new running series: “Little Girl Blue” – Music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Lorenz Hart When it comes to cabaret repertoire, I can think of few other songwriters who have created the sort of treasure trove that Rodgers and Hart have given us. The appeal of their catalog was (and...

Marta Sanders and Leanne Borghesi

Mark Dundas Wood
Showbroads—a battling-diva entertainment with Marta Sanders and Leanne Borghesi—appeared late last year at Birdland. Recently, the lively show, under the direction of Nicolas Minas, was repeated at the same venue. The evening proved to be good old-fashioned campy fun. The comic feuding of the two actor-singers never rose to a pitch that seemed especially caustic....