Robert Windeler

Robert Windeler is the author of 18 books, including biographies of Mary Pickford, Julie Andrews, Shirley Temple, and Burt Lancaster. As a West Coast correspondent for The New York Times and Time magazine, he covered movies, television and music, and he was an arts and entertainment critic for National Public Radio. He has contributed to a variety of other publications, including TV Guide, Architectural Digest, The Sondheim Review, and People, for which he wrote 35 cover stories. He is a graduate of Duke University in English literature and holds a masters in journalism from Columbia, where he studied critical writing with Judith Crist. He has been a theatre critic for Back Stage since 1999, writes reviews for BistroAwards.com, and is a member of The Players and the American Theatre Critics Association.

Jon Peterson

Robert Windeler
"Song Man Dance Man" Stage 72 at the Triad Theatre  -  May 7 Jon Peterson's talent as both singer and tap dancer is impressive. He provides an amiable, riveting stage presence; on top of that, his complete absorption of the work of his deceased double- triple- and even quadruple-threat, iconic showbiz predecessors and his enthusiasm...

Yvonne Constant

Robert Windeler
"One of a Kind" Metropolitan Room  -  April 30, May 7, 20 28 It takes a certain Gallic chutzpah to call your cabaret show "One of a Kind." Fortunately, Yvonne Constant, the French-born chanteuse who first came to New York as an ingénue in the 1958 Broadway mounting of La Plume de Ma Tante, is...

Teresa Fischer

Robert Windeler
"Hip To Be Happy" Don't Tell Mama  -  April 7, 16, 22 A bubbly redhead given to holding a smiley-face umbrella today as surely as she was given to wearing a smiley-face dress when she was eight years old, Teresa Fischer seems terminally happy, and therefore terminally hip. We don't need the title song (by...

Tom Wopat

Robert Windeler
54 Below  -  February 25 He claimed, on stage, to be "as nervous as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs." If he really was, it didn't show. Throughout this generous one-night stand, Tom Wopat was assured in his choice of material, vocal delivery and lyric sensibility. And his use of that...

Rosemary Loar

Robert Windeler
"When Harry Met the Duke" Metropolitan Room - January 19, 27, 30, February 22 It must be getting harder to come up with titles, or even themes, for cabaret shows. Rosemary Loar has certainly tried hard with this one. The title refers to the show's running theme: when and whether Harold Arlen and Duke Ellington...

Bill Zeffiros Birthday Tribute to Frank Sinatra

Robert Windeler
Urban Stages  -  December 12 Just a few blocks away, rock-and-roll royalty of the past 50 years were blasting their 12‑12‑12 concert, raising millions for Hurricane Sandy victims. While at Urban Stages, this quieter evening's amiable host, Bill Boggs, was suggesting that if Frank were in the room he'd say something like, "Let's get the...

13 Things About Ed Carpolotti

Robert Windeler
59E59 Theaters  -  December 4 - 30 Is this cabaret? Is it theatre? Does it matter? This hour-long piece by Barry Kleinbort (based on a short play by Jeffrey Hatcher) is being presented in the cabaret space of a multi-theatre complex. Penny Fuller, who has been both stage actress and cabaret singer over her long...

Sue Raney

Robert Windeler
Feinstein's at Loews Regency  -  November 7 - 10 Cabaret critics are allowed at least the occasional crush. Come on, you know we are. So long as we've not actually met or known the objects of our affection and promise not to leave our critical faculties at the door when we review these artists (and...

Liz Rubino & James McClellan

Robert Windeler
"Playing His Songs: Liz Rubino and James McClellan Sing Marvin Hamlisch" Metropolitan Room  -  October 12 Performing a tribute to the composer Marvin Hamlisch soon after his death is a nice idea—if a fairly obvious one—for a cabaret show. But, like any other act, it should offer a point of view and some insight into...

Hopelessly In Love: The Lyrics of Tom Toce

Robert Windeler
Metropolitan Room  -  October 10, 28, November 10 "Hopelessly in Love" is a triple pun. It can mean, roughly, "besotted with the right person," or "inevitably involved with the wrong one," or "determined to be in love no matter what." The touching and witty lyrics of Tom Toce deal with all sides of this tri-partite...