Dora Rubin

Mark Dundas Wood
Dora Rubin understands the usefulness of surprise in a cabaret set. This singer—who in years past would have been described as "offbeat"—takes risks that performers far more experienced than she might avoid. And while the surprises she hatches may land with varying degrees of precision, she never fails to hold the audience's attention. I found...

Magnus Martensson

Gerry Geddes
Magnus Martensson was born in Sweden and studied piano, composition, and conducting in both Sweden and the U.S. He came by his easy, off-the-wall humor as naturally as he came by the frizzy mop of blond hair on his head. That hair might well be an outward symbol of the wacky thoughts that are obviously...

Lynn Henderson

Robert Windeler
Her getup signals the overall tone of Lynn Henderson's current Don't Tell Mama show, directed by Barry Kleinbort, even more than does its title song, "'T'ain't Nobody's Bizness If I Do" (Porter Grainger, Everett Robbins). Her bright Red Riding Hood cape (an exactly matching red boa is added later for some especially showbizzy numbers) already...

…And Then You Die

Robert Windeler
Despite its possibly off-putting title, this 70-minute revue by David B. Goldberg, which had a recent four-night run at Don't Tell Mama, was a mostly benign, even breezy, look at what we do, or should do, to deal with the inevitability of death. In twelve scenes introducing fourteen songs (all by Goldberg), three eager and...

I Sort Of Enjoyed It

Gerry Geddes
When one comes across a show entitled I Sort Of Enjoyed It, which played recently at the Metropolitan Room, a lot of things come to mind before the show actually begins. Are the creators providing the first or last line of a potential review? Are they setting themselves up for a fall? Are they trying...

Todd Murray

Mark Dundas Wood
Todd Murray brought a new iteration of his show “Croon” to The Triad for a few performances in August. It was both a cabaret show and a history lesson in American popular music. Between numbers, Murray talked about men's approaches to romantic pop singing—beginning with Rudy Vallee in the 1920s; proceeding through the eras of...

Joe Gulla

Mark Dundas Wood
Joe Gulla's monologue The Bronx Queen is the first installment of a trilogy that was originally presented on Manhattan's Theatre Row a few years ago. Earlier this year it was restaged in the cabaret setting of Joe's Pub, and on August 20 it had an encore performance there. The work explores themes that have become...

Jeff Macauley

Gerry Geddes
In Le Grand Tour, which debuted recently at the Metropolitan Room, singer Jeff Macauley completes his trilogy of shows about classic Hollywood songwriters. Having previously paid tribute to Henry Mancini and Norman Gimbel, he focused this time on Michel Legrand, a true master of film music, with over 200 film and TV scores to his...

Barbra Streisand

Mark Dundas Wood
It's been several decades since Barbra Streisand had any real connection to the world of New York cabaret. But that, of course, is how her career began—in such small clubs as the Bon Soir and the Blue Angel, where she became a sensation while en route to becoming a legend. In 2009, she gave a...

Loni Love

Mark Dundas Wood
A comedian, actor, and author, Loni Love is probably best known as a panelist on television's talk fest The Real. Her brand of stand-up may not necessarily stick out in a crowd—she trades in traditional comic staples: race and ethnicity, politics, religion, sex, the misbehavior of celebrities. And she embraces, with seemingly no hesitation, the...