Roy Sander

Roy Sander has been covering cabaret and theatre for over thirty years. He’s written cabaret and theatre reviews, features, and commentary for seven print publications, most notably Back Stage, and for CitySearch on the Internet. He covered cabaret monthly on “New York Theatre Review” on PBS TV, and cabaret and theatre weekly on WLIM-FM radio. He was twice a guest instructor at the London School of Musical Theatre. A critic for BistroAwards.com, he is also the site’s Reviews Editor; in addition, he is Chairman of the Advisory Board of MAC.

Colleen McHugh

Roy Sander
"Calendar Girl" Duplex  -  monthly For some time now, Colleen McHugh has been appearing monthly at the Duplex, each time with a different show and a different theme. How's that for a daunting self-assignment? The umbrella title for the series is "Calendar Girl"—for obvious reasons. The edition I saw on March 25 was called "Being...

Sean Harkness

Roy Sander
 Metropolitan Room  -  March 28, 31 Unless you're a shut-in, you've probably seen guitarist Sean Harkness backing up any number of fortunate singers around town—which means that you are already familiar with how gifted and multi-faceted a musician he is and you've seen the enthusiasm, joy, and commitment he brings to performing. In his recent...

Joe Bachana

Roy Sander
"Midnight Masquerade: The Music of Bernie Bierman and Jack Manus" Metropolitan Room  -  March 3, 17, 24 Before I discuss Joe Bachana's glowing celebration of the songs of Bernie Bierman and Jack Manus, I would like to put it in cultural perspective. More than a half-century after the phenomenon, the terms Tin Pan Alley and...

Rosemary Loar

Roy Sander
"Stiing, Stang, Stung!" Metropolitan Room  -  February 6, 8, 21, 26 In her show devoted to the songs of Sting, Rosemary Loar advances the view that Sting is the Cole Porter of our generation because, like Porter, he is not afraid to write intelligent lyrics—or lyrics that are simple, profound, and universal. For the rest...

Eric Comstock & Barbara Fasano

Roy Sander
"This Thing Called Love"  Oak Room at the Algonquin  -  February 9 - March 6 For their latest show, Eric Comstock (piano, vocals) and Barbara Fasano (vocals, radiance) offer us an evening of songs about love. I know, I know: With the possible exception of list songs filled with geographical references or songs about household...

Cornelius Bates

Roy Sander
"My Brazilian Romance: A Tribute to the Music from Brazil" Metropolitan Room  -  January 20, 24 I don't think many people would dispute the claim that Brazil has been the source of one of the world's great bodies of music. But it is not easy music—at least not for gringos: the rhythms can be complex...

Tyne Daly

Roy Sander
"The Second Time Around" Feinstein's at Loews Regency  -  January 19 - 30 Something pretty marvelous is taking place at Feinstein's these days: Tyne Daly is back in a show directed by David Galligan, and she is, to sum things up, pretty marvelous. We've known that she's an accomplished actress and singer, but we may...

Jackie Fornatale

Roy Sander
"Get Ready – Jackie Fornatale Sings Motown" Don't Tell Mama  -  November 15, 22, January 10, March 4, 18 Jackie Fornatale opens her tribute to Motown walking through the house singing "Dancing in the Street" (William "Mickey" Stevenson, Marvin Gaye, Ivy Hunter). Immediately, the audience is swept up in a spirit of joyous ebullience, and...

Cynthia Crane

Roy Sander
"John Denver, Bernie Madoff & Me" Don't Tell Mama  -  November 30, December 6, 8, 9 It's an intriguing title for a cabaret show—isn’t it?—"John Denver, Bernie Madoff & Me." Reading backwards: the "me" is singer Cynthia Crane; Bernie Madoff is, well, Bernie Madoff, among whose victims, alas, was Cynthia Crane; and singer/songwriter John Denver,...

Susan Winter

Roy Sander
"Susan Sings Van Heusen" Metropolitan Room  -  December 13, 15, 20, 22 From time to time I've used the term "nightclub singing" to refer to an artistic approach that focuses on presentation rather than interpretation, an approach in which style and arrangement take precedence over nuance and exploration of the lyric. Though such a performance...