Andrea Axelrod

Mark Dundas Wood
Love—you impossible thing! Elusive? Obviously. But sometimes you can also be slippery even to define. Your borders are often blurry and difficult to trace. Andrea Axelrod explores this particular conundrum in her new show at the Metropolitan Room: "Almost Like Being in Love (songs on the cusp of love)." She covers a variety of scenarios...

Martin C. Hurt

Gerry Geddes
With his new show, "You Inspire Me," singer/actor Martin C. Hurt wanted to pay tribute to songwriters Fran Landesman and Tommy Wolf. He had heard "Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most" and fallen in love with their best-known song, as did many of us upon our first exposure to it. Musical legend has...

Kurt Phelan

Gerry Geddes
In his native Australia, Kurt Phelan is a theatre star; among his credits are the original Priscilla Queen of the Desert, Dirty Dancing, Singin' in the Rain, and various and sundry Disney princes through the years. With his good looks and strong voice, it is easy to believe that. He has also done cabaret "down...

Lena Hall

Gerry Geddes
Before I get into my review of Tony-winner/rocker Lena Hall's new show, "Oh! You Pretty Things," at the Café Carlyle, I think I need to present a few personal bona fides. I saw the first New York performance of Janis Joplin (with Big Brother and the Holding Company) at Fillmore East and attended many Bruce...

Claudine Cassan-Jellison

Mark Dundas Wood
Learning about your family history can be fascinating. But how often will strangers share your enthusiasm for stories about the lives of your parents and grandparents? Not especially often, I would guess. Claudine Cassan-Jellison beat the odds with "Just Visiting," her new show at Don't Tell Mama. The evening was built around the saga of...

Marissa Mulder

Mark Dundas Wood
"Marilyn in Fragments"—Marissa Mulder's new show, directed by Sondra Lee and performed at the Laurie Beechman Theatre—doesn't follow the format of an ordinary cabaret "tribute" show. In her portrayal of Marilyn Monroe, Mulder doesn't break character until the very end of the show, and there is seldom a pause taken to allow for audience applause...

Barrett Foa

Gerry Geddes
Barrett Foa has established a successful career in television in Los Angeles as a co-star of NCIS: Los Angeles and as a recurring character on Entourage, but he remains, in his own words, "a musical theatre addict" who's been "jonesing" to be back in New York and back on the boards for a while. The boards...

Helane Blumfield

Robert Windeler
"Gender blending," as Helane Blumfield described the premise of "Call Me H!," her recent show at Don't Tell Mama, is not the same thing as gender bending. Rather, Blumfield employed her set of 15 songs—all but one of them both written and sung by men—as a plea to be oneself from early childhood, regardless of...

Minda Larsen

Mark Dundas Wood
Part of Minda Larsen's prize package for winning last summer's MetroStar Talent Challenge at the Metropolitan Room was a four-performance engagement at the club. Called "My Southern Song" and directed by Marilyn Maye, the resulting show has arrived. In it, Larsen—originally from Jacksonville, Florida—takes a look at her heritage, singing songs about the American South,...

Amy Jo Jackson

Gerry Geddes
When statuesque, platinum blonde Amy Jo Jackson entered Feinstein's/54 Below in her new show, "I Want To Be Your Man," she owned the stage by sheer physical force before she uttered a note. This turned out to be a very good thing because the show she presented took a bit of time to catch up...