Grace Cosgrove

Mark Dundas Wood
"Spend an Evening with Grace" Metropolitan Room  –  April 29, 30, May 2, 4, June 8, 23 The theme of Grace Cosgrove's Metropolitan Room show, she tells us, is "the delicate experience of love." There's something appropriately delicate about her singing, too. At least that's what I thought after listening to her first few selections....

Loli Márquez-Sterling

Mark Dundas Wood
"I Love That Story!" The Triad  –  April 26 and 29 There's an exuberant athleticism about Loli Márquez-Sterling. Whether performing in English or Spanish, she harnesses every inch of her slim self when she sings. An abundance of joy suffuses her performance--which is not to say she comes across as a Pollyanna who cannot acknowledge...

Alison Nusbaum

Kevin Scott Hall
"Ladies! A Raucous Homage to Mel Brooks' Broads" Don't Tell Mama  –  April 24, 27, 30 With ingenuity and inspiration, popular and award-winning piano bar entertainer Alison Nusbaum and her musical director, veteran and also award-winning Ricky Ritzel, have come up with a theme show that's entirely appropriate for the cabaret genre, but perhaps has...

Fran Leonardis

Roy Sander
"It Will Never Be That Way Again" Metropolitan Room  –  March 24, April 9, May 23 Fran Leonardis couldn't have picked a better—or truer—song for her opening number than Marvin Laird and Joe Paley's "Born to Entertain." With it, she proclaims exactly what she's about, then for the next hour she proceeds to prove it....

Tom Vaughn

Elizabeth Ahlfors
"Trail of Cheers" Laurie Beechman Theatre  –  March 20, 30, April 11 Creating a cabaret show is a balancing act, keeping various emotional balls in the air while maintaining authenticity and musicality. The show should reveal something about the performer without audiences having to endure a self-serving swamp of his personal minutiae. Avoiding preachiness and...

Amra-Faye Wright

Elizabeth Ahlfors
"Sittin' on Top of the World" Feinstein's at Loews Regency  –  April 3 & 5 Glamour, attitude, sophistication—this was once the image of nightclub divas. These days, not so much—though occasionally you spot that charisma on stage right before you. This was how last October, Amra-Faye Wright, a statuesque platinum blonde from South Africa, showed...

Barb Jungr

Roy Sander
"Man in the Long Black Coat" Metropolitan Room – April 10 - 28 Most of my fellow critics have been going gaga over Barb Jungr. My reaction when I first saw her, in 2004, was mixed—and so it has remained over the course of several subsequent viewings, sometimes more positive than negative, other times the...

Clint Holmes

Roy Sander
"This Thing Called Love, Cole Porter & Paul Simon" Café Carlyle  -  April 10 - 28 With creative programming, an imaginative concept, and a daring performance that knocks expectations out the window, Clint Holmes's new show at the Café Carlyle is not so much an evening of song as it is a hell of a...

Gregory Charles

Kevin Scott Hall
"Vintage" Café Carlyle – April 3-7 Canadian musician and singer Gregory Charles, very popular in his home country and abroad, has brought his show "Vintage" to none other than the posh and intimate Café Carlyle. The formula, which has apparently won him many fans in venues large and small, is simple: do an all-request show...

Stacy Sullivan

Roy Sander
"A Tribute to Miss Peggy Lee" Iridium – March 13 When Stacy Sullivan sings "I Love Being Here With You" (Bill Schluger, Peggy Lee) at the very top of her tribute to Peggy Lee, it is clear that she means it. I've long been a fan of Sullivan, but I don't think I've ever seen...