Beware of Young Girls: Kate Dimbleby Sings the Dory Previn Story

Mark Dundas Wood
Singer-songwriter Dory Previn (1925-2012) occupied a particular niche in American popular music. Born Dorothy Langan, her first forays into the entertainment world were as a singer/dancer in summer stock. She soon took up songwriting and in the late 1950s was hired as a lyricist for films at MGM, where she was paired with composer André...
Kate Dimbleby

Cafe Society Swing

Mark Dundas Wood
Part documentary theatre and part musical revue, Cafe Society Swing (written by Alex Webb, directed by Simon Green, and presented at 59E59 Theaters) tells of the legendary Manhattan supper club that broke the city's color barrier beginning in 1938. The show is based on Terry Trilling-Josephson's 2009 book Cafe Society: The Wrong Place for the...

Adam B. Shapiro

Robert Windeler
There was much to like in Adam B. Shapiro's newest show, "Nothing Normal," seen at Urban Stages for one night as part of the theatre's annual Winter Rhythms series (and previously at 54 Below and the Metropolitan Room): the jazzy piano playing by musical director Barry Levitt (particularly on the two songs he wrote with...

Hedda Lettuce

Kevin Scott Hall
Drag performer Hedda Lettuce has become somewhat of a legend around town, having hosted screenings of camp classics at Bow Tie Chelsea Cinemas on Thursdays (and sometimes Saturdays and holidays) for many years. The multi-talented entertainer has also hosted her Christmas special (formerly "Lettuce Rejoice," this year billed simply as her Christmas Special) for many...

Celia Berk

Mark Dundas Wood
In her first New York solo engagement, Celia Berk opened her Metropolitan Room show, "You Can't Rush Spring" (directed by Jeff Harnar), with "I’ve Been Waiting All My Life" (Billy Goldenberg, Alan & Marilyn Bergman). This song’s title was clearly chosen to help describe Berk’s professed long-held ambition to become a cabaret singer. She came off...

Jon Weber

Mark Dundas Wood
Anyone who has spent much time attending cabaret shows in New York City in recent years will likely be familiar with Jon Weber, who has worked as pianist and/or musical director for a number of other performers. I've come to appreciate his musical versatility, his good-natured professionalism in support of singers, his curiosity-filled smile, and...

Judi Mark

Robert Windeler
It must be ever harder for cabaret performers to come up with a fresh theme for a show. Once the tributes to single (and singular) artists and composers have seemingly been exhausted, where does one go? Perhaps too often it's to the autobiographical look back at the performer's own life and the songs that either...

Sandra Bargman

Kevin Scott Hall
Entering through the house wearing a bonnet full of sunflowers and a long black coat over a black catsuit and boots, Sandra Bargman knew how to make an entrance and you got the feeling you were in for a very different kind of cabaret show. On that score, Bargman, a theatre veteran as well as...

Anna Anderson

Mark Dundas Wood
I first heard Anna Anderson—a recent arrival from Arizona—perform at the November 3 Gala show at the Duplex, where she was on the bill with a number of other performers featured at that club in 2014; that night she sang an appealingly saucy version of The Zutons' "Valerie." She was one of the performers I most...

Kim Grogg

Robert Windeler
"Go Where the Love Is," the title song of Kim Grogg's current show at Don't Tell Mama, speaks volumes. First, it establishes her as a solid, self-confident singer of infectious MidWestern warmth. Second, it neatly establishes the theme and content of her show: mostly upbeat songs about the mostly positive aspects of love. Third, although...