Penelope Thomas

Credits include lead vocals for two albums with prog rock band FauveMuseum; background vocals with Shellen Lubin, and US & UK tours of Mikel Rouse’s "The End of Cinematics." She’s read poet Anne Carson’s work at The Whitney Museum and played leads in HBO Women in Comedy Festival-selected film "Pretty Dead" and the indie film, "The Interview." She studied voice with Norma Garbo, music theory with bassist Mark Wade, LoVetri Somatic Voicework through Baldwin Wallace University, and acting with Deena Levy. She taught in the New School’s Sweat musical theatre intensive. With a degree in Cultural Studies & Anthropology and a background in contemporary dance, Penelope loves thinking and writing about performance—connecting the dots between styles and genres and supporting the connection between artists and audiences.

Penelope Thomas

Club Review: Celia Berk’s “On My Way to You—Improbable Stories That Inspired an Unlikely Path”

Penelope Thomas
Celia Berk drew a large and enthusiastic crowd to the Laurie Beechman Theatre for “On My Way to You: Improbable Stories That Inspired an Unlikely Path.” Berk brought a room-filling sincerity and warmth that was wisely punctuated with humor. “Anything I Can Do” (Irving Berlin from Annie Get Your Gun) featured lyrics changed to “Anything...

Club Review: Tim Connell’s “Dreamin’ Again”

Penelope Thomas
Tim Connell  (Photo: Stephen Mosher) Tim Connell’s latest offering, Dreamin’ Again, featured music director and longtime collaborator James Followell on piano, and was directed by Steven Petrillo. The show was out for a second run at Pangea after having been delayed, just like most things, since March 2020. Connell’s song list was...

Club Review: Ari Axelrod’s “Ari’s Arias”

Penelope Thomas
One of the many things that Ari Axelrod gets right on stage is sharing his gratitude. A medley of “Never Never Land” (Jule Styne, Betty Comden and Adolph Green) and “Pure Imagination” (Leslie Bricusse, Anthony Newley) opened his evening at Birdland Theater, creating a fairytale mood; as if we were all going on a trip...

Club Review: Stacey Kent

Penelope Thomas
Stacey Kent (Photo: JazzJournal.co.uk) Stacey Kent sings from a part of the jazz vocal tradition that I particularly admire. She’s one of the post-Anita O’Day singers who has found her lane in a mellow groove.  Her sound is perfect for Brazilian styles, technically accomplished, with even tone and dynamic markings peaking...

Club Review: Ann Kittredge’s “Movie Nite”

Penelope Thomas
Ann Kittredge (Photo here and below: Helane Blumfield) Ann Kittredge was in her element at Birdland Theater with her latest cabaret offering, “Movie Nite.” In a show packed with well-chosen songs from classic (and sometimes more contemporary) Hollywood, Kittredge and her team’s creative instincts were on-target: she sounded as if her...

Club Review: Susie Mosher’s “The Lineup”

Penelope Thomas
Susie Mosher is a hell of a good host. She wrangles a weekly Tuesday variety night with a rotating group of performers at Birdland Theater; when I was there on September 14, her crowd seemed to be a crossover between local Broadway and cabaret fans, tourists, and an enthusiastic office party. She was ready for...

Club Review: Amy Jo Jackson’s “The Brass Menagerie”

Penelope Thomas
Amy Jo Jackson in The Brass Menagerie. When Amy Jo Jackson says she’s offering the CliffsNotes guide to Tennessee Williams’s body of work in The Brass Menagerie, she’s being cheeky. It’s far too modest. But she would know that, because she knows exactly what she’s doing. The characters from Williams’s plays...

Club Review: The Royal Bopsters

Penelope Thomas
(L. to r.):  Dylan Pramuk, Amy London, Jeanne O'Connor, and Pete McGuiness of The Royal Bopsters. A lucky few who braved torrential rain got to hear The Royal Bopsters’ second set on Wednesday, September 1. The Pangea stage was challenged to make room for four singers and their rhythm section: their close...

Club Review: André De Shields’ “Black by Popular Demand (A Musical Meditation on How Not To Be Eaten by The Sphinx)”

Penelope Thomas
Three women emerged silently in low light from the back of the house; winding between café tables, eyes scanning the horizon, parasols aloft; the pianist and percussionist shimmered a soundscape for them as they made their way to the stage; everyone had a hat. Freida Williams and André De Shields (Photo: Lia...

Club Review: Alex Leonard and The Sutton Place Trio

Penelope Thomas
Alex Leonard “What Is This Thing Called Love?” is a deceptively simple 1929 Cole Porter tune that alternates major and minor chords, and is a perennial favorite of jazz musicians. Pianist and singer Alex Leonard set it up as a ballad, sliding in on lead vocals for the first verse, then...