Meet Four Performers Who Faced A Different Kind of Challenge, and Triumphed!

Simi Horwitz
Anita Hollander (Photo: Kia Michelle Benbow) ANITA HOLLANDER, whose double bout with cancer led to a full leg amputation, has no problem with the words “disability."  The preferred term today is “challenge,” she knows and understands those who choose it, especially if they can “pass” and enjoy more casting opportunities. But...

Francesca Blumenthal—From Ad Agency Copywriter to Award-winning Songwriter, Maybe Her Life *Was* Just Like the Movies

Bistro Awards
Songwriter Francesca Blumenthal had the uncanny ability to write lyrics that so many of us could easily relate to. Her well-chosen words that told a story would either make us laugh out loud or touch our hearts, and sometimes both. Francesca Blumenthal This past December, we lost Francesca who, aside from...

Critical Thoughts: Words Matter—Diction, Phrasing, and Understanding Help Tell the Story

Gerry Geddes
When you are singing a song, you are telling a story. You may be narrating the story to the audience, you may be a participant in the story, or simply observing or perhaps reacting to the story, but in each case, the words matter.  The more connected to the song you are, the more personal...

Cabaret Setlist: Taking a Chance on Songs (Part II)—Meg Flather Takes on Jud Fry’s “Lonely Room” from “Oklahoma!” (Music by Richard Rodgers, Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II)

Mark Dundas Wood
Repertoire for the Once and Future American Songbook Article #20 in this ongoing series. Happy 2022, all! I wish you many memorable musical moments in the year to come. In the previous installment of Cabaret Setlist (click here to read), we looked at how singers can expand the scope of their art by defying expectations about...

Cabaret Setlist: Taking a Chance on Songs (Part 1)—Byron St. Cyr Dares with “The Miller’s Son” (Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim)

Mark Dundas Wood
Repertoire for the Once and Future American Songbook Article #19 in this ongoing series. Usually, for these Cabaret Setlist articles, I’ll look at a song and trace its creation, along with its performance and recording history, then add the insight of contemporary singers who have performed the number recently. For this installment—and the next one—I’m...

Cabaret Singers: Did Their Virtual Performing Experiences Have Any Effect on Their Long-Awaited Return to the Stage?

Simi Horwitz
We began this article with the hypothesis that cabaret artists must have learned at least something from their virtual presentations that they were then able to bring bring back to their new and live performances. So, we reached out to six cabaret performers—Eric Comstock, Carole Demas, Barbara Fasano, Ann Kittredge, Michael McAssey, and Billy Stritch—to find out...

Cabaret Setlist: “Everybody Gets to Go to the Moon” — Music and Lyrics by Jimmy Webb

Mark Dundas Wood
Repertoire for the Once and Future American Songbook Article # 18 in this ongoing series. With richer-than-God entrepreneurs—Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, and Richard Branson—pioneering commercial flights into space these days, the rocket-ship dreams that people harbored back in the early days of the international Space Race have been reignited. (Such fantasies will seem more attainable,...

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...

CD Review: Kate McGarry and Keith Ganz Ensemble’s “What to Wear in the Dark”

Gerry Geddes
In their new CD, What to Wear in the Dark, the Kate McGarry and Keith Ganz Ensemble have fashioned a musically intriguing and emotionally satisfying response, not only to the pandemic but to the last decade or two of public and private wounds and monstrous elections. Kate McGarry has long been one of the brightest lights in...

CD Review: Jenna Esposito’s “More Amore—Songs from the Great Italian-American Songbook”

Lisa Jo Sagolla
Singer Jenna Esposito’s invigorating new album, More Amore: Songs from the Great Italian-American Songbook, is a family affair.  Its rousing arrangements are by the singer’s father, Fortune Esposito.  Her sister, Kelly Esposito-Broelmann, sings back-up, while her nephew, Charlie Broelmann, plays drums, and her husband, Jimmy Cannizzaro, serves as a percussionist and associate producer.  Everyone knows...