Jay Brannan

Gerry Geddes
Jay Brannan walked out on stage at Joe's Pub in his recent performance as if he were entering his living room to greet some friends who had stopped by to hang out. In t-shirt and jeans, with red sneakers, carrying a guitar and smiling a sly, shy smile, he sat on the lone stool, center...

Eddie Sarfaty

Mark Dundas Wood
Eddie Sarfaty is an emphatically Jewish, comic, one whose cultural identity stays front and center throughout his set. His show "Playing in Traffic" (at the Metropolitan Room) features jokes about having been a depressed kid, about harboring envy of Gentiles (whose holidays were so much more festive and fun than the ones he celebrated), and,...

Molly Pope

Roy Sander
A few years ago, Molly Pope cast off the hard-edged bitch-diva persona that had made her the darling of camp followers, and allowed us to see the person underneath. The form she chose then was a scripted, theatrically stylized presentation of her experiences breaking into show business; it was both a welcome development and a...

Alice Ripley

Robert Windeler
In her "All Sondheim" show at 54 Below, Alice Ripley has managed to differentiate herself from the seeming plethora of cabaret performers who offer entire sets devoted to that particular deserving composer. She has done this by relating some charming personal anecdotes linking herself to most of the songs she sings here. As a kid...

Melissa Hamilton

Gerry Geddes
It's an increasingly rare occurrence to encounter a vocal jazz performance at which, after only a bit of the first number, I can just relax in the realization that I am in the presence of a master of the form, that I will gladly put myself in his or her hands and let them take...

Rita Rudner

Mark Dundas Wood
A very persistent shoosh-ing could be heard throughout an extended portion of Rita Rudner's final performance at her recent 54 Below engagement. It was unclear who, exactly, this self-appointed guardian of silence was trying to police—but the shoosh-er was certainly far more audible than the shoosh-ee. For a while, Rudner ignored the strange commotion. But finally,...

The Engaygement

Gerry Geddes
The Engaygement, the new musical with book, lyrics, and music by David Auxier-Loyola, (in which boy-meets-boy morphs into boy-weds-boy legally), is a hybrid—at once a workshop of a new musical play, a showcase for new songs and a cabaret show. While it is an enjoyable evening, the focus is scattered among those three intentions so...

Karen Oberlin

Mark Dundas Wood
Karen Oberlin comes on stage for "His Aim Is True: The Singular Songs of Elvis Costello" at Stage 72 wearing what looks to be an elaborate choir robe, fit for an early-20th-Century celebrity evangelist. But there's one difference: her outfit is not a creamy, calla-lily white but a flat black. She's Aimee Semple McPherson taking on...

Marlene VerPlanck

Mark Dundas Wood
In a one-nighter at Jazz at Kitano recently, Marlene VerPlanck reminded audiences of why she's so greatly respected as a musician. Her singing has a kind of matter-of-factness, and yet it seems to befit a special occasion. There's an effervescent quality in her timbre that evokes the feeling one may get upon hearing sleigh bells...

Charles Busch

Mark Dundas Wood
Charles Busch's current show at 54 Below is called "That Girl/That Boy"—a title that points to something essential about his longtime approach to drag performance. Unlike some drag guys, Busch has retained his male identity when it comes to billing. Had he chosen, he could easily have come up with some outrageous, giggle-inspiring female nom de...