Broadway Live!

Mark Dundas Wood
Feinstein's at Loews Regency  –  August 29 "Broadway, it's a magical, mystical place," performer Robert Cuccioli told the audience early on in 'Broadway Live!'—"and it's only a couple blocks away!" That may have been the central problem with this revue. With the epicenter of the American Musical Theatre so close by, few audience members here...

Keri Heidecker

Mark Dundas Wood
"Freak Magnet" The Duplex  –  July 29, August 20, 27 "Comedian/singer Keri Heidecker has always attracted freaks. And she is one." So read an online tag for her show, "Freak Magnet." The idea piqued my interest. I imagined something approximating early John Waters movies, only in a cabaret setting. I didn't necessarily imagine that, as...

The Chalks

Kevin Scott Hall
"Denim and Gasoline World Tour" Laurie Beechman Theatre  –  August 15 & 29 "We've been in seclusion, putting our life story to music," says Judeen Chalk, explaining the year and a half since she and her two "sisters," Judelle and Belva—The Chalks—have performed in clubs. If their return to the Laurie Beechman Theatre—with a slew...

Rebecca Kilgore

Roy Sander
"Some Like It Hot – The Music of Marilyn Monroe" Feinstein's at Loews Regency  –  August 9 - 13 Early in her program of songs that Marilyn Monroe sang, Rebecca Kilgore stated her view that many people don't realize how good a singer Monroe was. She had good timing, good intonation, and she swung," Kilgore...

Gregory Generet

Roy Sander
"A Slow Hot Wind" The Metropolitan Room  -  August 9 - 12 After a career with CBS that won him three Emmys, Gregory Generet has been making a quick ascent in New York's jazz world with the release last year of his well-received CD "[re] Generet-ion" and appearances at  high-profile nightspots like Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola...

Jean Brassard & Steve Ross

Roy Sander
"French Lessons" TheTriad  –  July 26 We all know singer-pianist Steve Ross, one of the world's foremost interpreters of good songs. French-Canadian singer-actor Jean Brassard is less familiar, at least on the New York cabaret scene. I first became aware of him a few years ago through his participation in the Kabarett Kollectif, and with...

Shana Farr

Roy Sander
"Whistling Away the Dark—Through Songs of Julie Andrews" Metropolitan Room  –  August 3, 8, 15, 17 Shana Farr's tribute to Julie Andrews, directed by Eric Michael Gillett, opens with a medley of a half-dozen songs associated with the great star. In these few minutes, several important things take place. We are reminded of how beloved...

Gregory Michael Castoria

Mark Dundas Wood
"Bette Midler Already Did This Show" The Duplex  –  July 21, 30, August 18 Taking a page, perhaps, from Rufus Wainwright's recreation of Judy Garland's 1961 Carnegie Hall concert, Gregory Michael Castoria has come up with a smart, funny, and touching rendering of a classic Bette Midler performance. This is no drag show—Castoria appears in...

Rosalyn McClore

Mark Dundas Wood
"Cry Me a River" Metropolitan Room  -  July 24, 31 There's no denying that Rosalyn McClore possesses bountiful musical talents, both as singer and pianist. She seems to connect in a very deep way with the music she sings, which runs the gamut from blues to gospel to pop to jazz. At her hour-long show...

Karen Mason

Elizabeth Ahlfors
"Show Queen – Life After Wonderland" Iridium  -  July 19 Wonderland, not a popular musical last season, has left the Marquis Theatre, but Karen Mason, one of its stars, remained on Broadway, albeit on a smaller stage and for one night only. As Mason said, "I have many homes." On this night, her fans were...