Joanne Halev’s “Sailing On”

Penelope Thomas
Joanne Halev’s elegance as a performer filled a packed room upstairs at Birdland. She was queen of the thoughtful pause, allowing reflective spaces in her phrasing, and connecting with her very engaged audience. Joanne Halev (Photo: Helane Blumfield) Directed by Sara Louise Lazarus, Sailing On was a loose set of reflections about Halev’s life and...

Meeting the Challenges of the New Year’s Changes: Club Offerings from Dee Dee Bridgewater, Jeannette Miller, Sarah Anne Fernandez, and William Ryall

Mark Dundas Wood
We’re back! And in the first month of this new year, we saw a diverse group of offerings at local clubs: some quite inspiring. So, let’s get right to them! Dee Dee Bridgewater: Rallying for Courage To say that 2025, so far, has been a challenge for many of us is putting it mildly. Anticipation...

Bistro Bits: Winter Rhythms 2024 Features Beats of Different Drums

Mark Dundas Wood
This year’s “Winter Rhythms” series at Urban Stages (the 16th annual edition) was a mix of old and new, playful and profound, polished and loosey-goosey. Some shows focused on the winter holidays, Others referred to them very little, if at all. The best of them had those elements of innovation and surprise that I've been...

A Grab Bag of Cabaret Shows in a Wide Array of Styles

Gerry Geddes
It seems each year the holiday season starts earlier and gets here quicker, and inevitably leaves me with a backlog of reviews to shows I have seen over the past few months in danger of not seeing the light of print before the new year arrives.  Here’s what I have, in no particular order.  Josephine...

Bistro Bits: From Gershwin to Booze, Broadway, Murder, and Sex, Cabaret Shows Take on a Variety of Themes

Mark Dundas Wood
We’ve now reached the point in the year when the influx of new cabaret runs may be tapering off a little, giving way to year-end holiday offerings (often one-offs), with songs about wise men, snowmen, and the occasional dreidel.  Also, bistroawards.com has been on a short hiatus that began Thanksgiving week. So, in this column,...

A Tale of Two Tributes: One Hit, One Miss

Gerry Geddes
The concept of a tribute show in cabaret is appealing to performers for a number of reasons.  First, and most obvious, would be love for the honoree and the wish to pay homage to them. It could be to shine a spotlight on elements of the life or works of the honoree that are not as...

Bistro Bits: Autumn in New York Cabaret — New Shows from Ward, Moberly, Neiheisel, and Mack

Mark Dundas Wood
Now that we're officially more than a month into the fall season, there's been a noticeable uptick in the number of new cabaret shows opening in Manhattan. This week, I report on four such shows: a solo cabaret debut from a familiar face, a set of American Songbook gems from a club stalwart, a tribute...

Club Review: Peter Calo & Anne Carpenter—”Timeless Singer-Songwriters”

Gerry Geddes
A soft blanket on a snowy night. A cool lemonade on a summer afternoon.  Mac and cheese on a cool October Saturday.  They all spell “comfort.”  Add to that list an evening spent listening to singer-guitarist Peter Calo and vocalist Anne Carpenter singing the songs of Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon, Paul Simon, James Taylor, and...

Bistro Bits: There Are Many Ways to Approach a Tribute Show—Here Are Two

Mark Dundas Wood
Singers preparing a tribute show, whether they’re celebrating the tune list of a songwriter or feting the career of a performer, have a number of decisions to make. Do they want to talk about the subject’s biography—perhaps telling the life story chronologically? Maybe they prefer to organize the program by looking at several components of...

Club Review: Can Yasar—”A Turkish Rhapsody”

Gerry Geddes
Can (pronounced “John”) Yasar had a dream growing up in his native Turkey with which many of us can identify.  His wish was to move to New York City and live his true life, find his true happiness, and pursue his true career all of which would have been denied had he stayed in his...