Molly Pope

Roy Sander
"Introducing Molly Pope" Ars Nova  –  Jully 18-20 It was four years ago that Molly Pope made her cabaret debut with "The Diva-lution of Molly Pope," presenting herself as a bitch-diva. The character was unappealing and unlikable, and Pope's singing was relentlessly loud. While I could see that talent lay buried beneath the attitude, I...

Melanie Stace

Elizabeth Ahlfors
"Steppin' Out"  Metropolitan Room  –  July 7, 14, 23 Tall, slim and stunning, with exotic dark eyes and a Colgate smile—that's the first thing you notice as Melanie Stace takes the stage. As she starts to sing, you hear the confidence of experience, a secure tone, long vocal lines, trained breath control and a vibrant...

Julie Halston

Kevin Scott Hall
"Old, New, Borrowed and Blue" Birdland  –  July 11 A sold-out crowd greeted theatre veteran Julie Halston as she appeared at Birdland for a one-night-only return to one of her early successes: a one-woman comedy show. While she's best known for her many appearances in Charles Busch's plays (including a Drama Desk nomination—her third—for The...

You’ve Got Hate Mail

Mark Dundas Wood
The Triad  –  Fridays at 7 pm You couldn't ask for much simpler, more economic staging than what director Gary Shaffer has provided for Billy Van Zandt and Jane Milmore's cybersex comedy, You've Got Hate Mail. Five actors are lined up downstage on the small proscenium platform of the Triad, seated behind laptop computers. When...

Django Reinhardt Festival: Starring the Young Lions of Gypsy Jazz

Elizabeth Ahlfors
Birdland  -  June 28 - July 3 For twelve years, November has been Birdland's traditional season for celebrating the jubilant swing of Jean "Django" Reinhardt with jazz musicians from around the world. This summer, Birdland added a second festival, proving that for a jolt of pure joyful music, the spirit and sound of this legendary...

Broadway & Berg: Broadway Show Stoppers and the Theater Songs of Neil Berg

Roy Sander
Feinstein's at Loews Regency  –  Jully 5 - 16 "Broadway & Berg: Broadway Show Stoppers and the Theater Songs of Neil Berg"—yes, it may be a cumbersome title for a show, but it is descriptive. To be even more precise, this revue gives us eleven selections by Neil Berg and five from Broadway—a ratio that...

Richard Holbrook

Elizabeth Ahlfors
"Richard Sings Burton: The Songs of Burton Lane" Feinstein's at Loews Regency  –  June 29 "Richard Sings Burton: The Songs of Burton Lane" has turned into one of those cabaret shows that just won't quit. The amiable Richard Holbrook is one of the hardest working singers in this business, with a creamy tenor voice, crystal-clear...

Dee Dee Bridgewater

Roy Sander
"To Billie With Love: A Celebration of 'Lady Day'" The Town Hall  –  June 24 Dee Dee Bridgewater is the most exciting jazz singer I know. Equally accomplished as a musician, vocalist, actress, and entertainer, she's also the greatest all-round artist I know of performing in the jazz idiom. Not surprising, then, that her recent...

Uptown Express

Kevin Scott Hall
"Gotta Be This or That" Metropolitan Room  -  June 24, 25 From the moment the male quartet Uptown Express took to the Metropolitan Room stage in their matching, fitted, gray sharkskin suits, black shirts and purple ties, there was a sense that one was in for an evening of polished entertainment. Here was a good-looking...

Susan Siegel

Mark Dundas Wood
"Starts & Stops" The Duplex  –  June 5, 12, 19 Among the songs that singing actress Susan Siegel included in her Duplex show was Cy Coleman and Dorothy Fields's "It's Not Where You Start" from Seesaw, which begins with the lyrics "It's not where you start, it's where you finish/ It's not how you go,...