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.

Lauren Fox

Roy Sander
"Here's to Love" Metropolitan Room  –  March 21, 28, April 4, 11, September 8 I hadn't planned on reviewing Lauren Fox. I went to her show at the Metropolitan Room last month purely out of curiosity: though this was her first venture into cabaret, she had received praise for her recent work in theatre, and...

O Sole Trio

Roy Sander
I didn't know quite what to expect from O Sole Trio. The three members of this group (musical director/accompanist David Shenton and vocalists Erin Shields and Giuseppe Spoletini) all have classical training, so I thought they might present an evening of Italian arias, which would have been just dandy with me. But, then, the group's...

Rita Gardner

Roy Sander
"Try to Remember: A Look Back at Off-Broadway" Metropolitan Room  –  September 9, 10, 16, 17, 18 Early in the opening number of her show at the Metropolitan Room, Rita Gardner sings a passage from the score of The Fantasticks that made my jaw drop: more than 50 years after she created the role of...

Rebecca Kilgore

Roy Sander
"Some Like It Hot – The Music of Marilyn Monroe" Feinstein's at Loews Regency  –  August 9 - 13 Early in her program of songs that Marilyn Monroe sang, Rebecca Kilgore stated her view that many people don't realize how good a singer Monroe was. She had good timing, good intonation, and she swung," Kilgore...

Gregory Generet

Roy Sander
"A Slow Hot Wind" The Metropolitan Room  -  August 9 - 12 After a career with CBS that won him three Emmys, Gregory Generet has been making a quick ascent in New York's jazz world with the release last year of his well-received CD "[re] Generet-ion" and appearances at  high-profile nightspots like Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola...

Jean Brassard & Steve Ross

Roy Sander
"French Lessons" TheTriad  –  July 26 We all know singer-pianist Steve Ross, one of the world's foremost interpreters of good songs. French-Canadian singer-actor Jean Brassard is less familiar, at least on the New York cabaret scene. I first became aware of him a few years ago through his participation in the Kabarett Kollectif, and with...

Shana Farr

Roy Sander
"Whistling Away the Dark—Through Songs of Julie Andrews" Metropolitan Room  –  August 3, 8, 15, 17 Shana Farr's tribute to Julie Andrews, directed by Eric Michael Gillett, opens with a medley of a half-dozen songs associated with the great star. In these few minutes, several important things take place. We are reminded of how beloved...

Molly Pope

Roy Sander
"Introducing Molly Pope" Ars Nova  –  Jully 18-20 It was four years ago that Molly Pope made her cabaret debut with "The Diva-lution of Molly Pope," presenting herself as a bitch-diva. The character was unappealing and unlikable, and Pope's singing was relentlessly loud. While I could see that talent lay buried beneath the attitude, I...

Broadway & Berg: Broadway Show Stoppers and the Theater Songs of Neil Berg

Roy Sander
Feinstein's at Loews Regency  –  Jully 5 - 16 "Broadway & Berg: Broadway Show Stoppers and the Theater Songs of Neil Berg"—yes, it may be a cumbersome title for a show, but it is descriptive. To be even more precise, this revue gives us eleven selections by Neil Berg and five from Broadway—a ratio that...

Dee Dee Bridgewater

Roy Sander
"To Billie With Love: A Celebration of 'Lady Day'" The Town Hall  –  June 24 Dee Dee Bridgewater is the most exciting jazz singer I know. Equally accomplished as a musician, vocalist, actress, and entertainer, she's also the greatest all-round artist I know of performing in the jazz idiom. Not surprising, then, that her recent...