We are Nominated for a BroadwayWorld.com Award!

Bistro Awards
We don't usually like to flaunt ourselves..... For the past 36 years, the "Bistro Bits" column in Back Stage, the Bistro Awards annual event, and BistroAwards.com, has always put the spotlight on you, and we pride ourselves on that. But, how nice it is that some of you would like to now place the spotlight...

Gay Marshall “Back on Boogie Street — Songs of Leonard Cohen”

Gerry Geddes
Back in 2016 at the Cafe Carlyle, Judy Collins closed her wonderful show by sitting at the piano, alone on stage, and mesmerized us with Leonard Cohen’s “Suzanne.”  As we left the room and wandered out into the night we received the devastating news that Cohen had passed away that very evening.  Knowing that Collins...

Rebecca Angel “For What It’s Worth”

Ken Bloom
Those of us of a certain age remember the heyday of recorded singles. Two songs on either side of a 45 rpm record with a large hole in the center. For many of us, when the hit bands and singers from the Fifties through the Sixties dropped their new single, we paid attention. They were...

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...

CD Review: Luba Mason “Triangle”

Ken Bloom
First things first: I’m a huge fan of Luba Mason. She’s smart, funny, sensitive, playful, and has a great way with a song. But despite of all these superior qualities I find her new CD, Triangle, somewhat disappointing. I like the songs, her interpretations and the accompaniments all individually, but, as a total listening experience,...

CD Review: Ken Greves “Vintage and Rare: The Songs of Harold Arlen (Vol. 3) — Ridin’ on the Moon”

Lisa Jo Sagolla
  Of all the revered composers of Broadway’s Golden Age, whose work makes up a large part of the American Songbook mined by cabaret artists, Harold Arlen is perhaps the most blatantly jazz-influenced.  For this reason – while the composer’s fans are surely delighting in the recent release of Ridin’ on the Moon, Volume 3...

“Machiavelli Was Right”

Bistro Awards
Click on the arrow on the left above to listen to "Machiavelli Was Right" from the musical The American Foxe, book and lyrics by Karen Gottlieb, music by Michele Brourman.  (Lyrics below.) "Machiavelli Was Right" is sung by George Ball, vocal recorded by Rob Trow, and engineered and mixed by Stephan Oberhoff. In the mid...

“Turn It All Around”

Bistro Awards
Click here to listen to Turn It All Around Words and music by Debra Barsha and Sheilah Rae (lyrics below) Sung by Wonu Ogunfowora Harris M. Turner and Wonu Ogunfowora, backup singers Accompanied and produced by Taylor Peckham Debra Barsha and Sheilah Rae recently wrote this empowering and inspirational song, "Turn It All Around," not...

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...

How Seven Performers Created Their Unique Niche in the New Normal (or Where There’s a Will, There’s A Way)

Wendy Lane Bailey
Part Two of a two-part article on virtual performing. Read Part One here. Performers across the boards have quickly adapted to the changes brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic. A number of cabaret performers have taken existing shows and retrofitted them to the online format, others have created all new virtual shows for themselves, while a...