Danielle Ferland’s “Sing for Your Ghosts”

Gerry Geddes
Sometimes a performer strikes gold by mining a very specific moment in time, or a specific show, and that very specificity shapes and refines the story and limits detours to other times and shows. But more often than not, the structure is that of a song-filled survey of school, then amateur productions, then touring and...

Club Review: Paula West

Gerry Geddes
I have been an avid fan of singer Paula West for decades. Her rich, smooth sound and knowing way with lyrics were always perfectly suited to dusting off even the most moribund of standards and presenting them with an exciting modernity and a revived energy.  I have lost track of her over recent years through...

Club Review: Natasha Bergman and Eli Greenhoe’s “Bergman & Bloustein”

Gerry Geddes
In the stand-up comic tradition in America, most of the duo acts have been made up of men: Martin & Lewis, Abbott & Costello, Laurel & Hardy, Rowan & Martin, and so many others.  The number diminishes greatly when one moves on to duos made up of a man and a woman but the few...

Club Review: Brian Letendre

Gerry Geddes
Within moments of the first song, the Scissor Sisters’ “I Don’t Feel Like Dancing” (Elton John, Jason Sellards, Scott Hoffman) in Brian Letendre’s delightful return to the New York stage at 54 Below, it was obvious to everyone that he is a dancer, in spite of what the lyrics proclaimed.  The swirl of the mirror...

Club Review: Miss Maybell and Her Jazz Age Artistes

Penelope Thomas
Early twentieth century popular music is a melting pot: with strong roots in Black American music, blues and ragtime grew into hot jazz and Tin Pan Alley, laying the groundwork for swing and big bands, then Bebop, all the way into the birth of rock and roll…this era is the foundation of what many of...

Anthony Murphy’s “A Joyful Noise!”

Gerry Geddes
Rarely has a show been more aptly named than Anthony Murphy’s A Joyful Noise which debuted recently at Green Room 42.  Murphy, a self-professed Broadway baby, was dazzling throughout.  The show was like a feast with each song offering a new course that deepened the experience and satisfied the musical palette in new and exciting...

Club Review: Deborah Stone’s “Take Me Back—Joan, Joni, Dylan, and Others”

Gerry Geddes
Back in the day, you couldn’t walk around the West Village without finding a folk club on every block; the sound of guitars and voices wafted into the streets wherever you went.  I remember catching the NY debut of a brand new singer at The Bitter End, a singer who “grew up” to become Jackson...

Club Review: Linda Purl’s “This Could Be the Start”

Penelope Thomas
Linda Purl is a true working actor: whether you’ve seen her on Happy Days or The Office, on or Off Broadway, in regional theatre, in straight plays or musicals, or in Japan, where she spent her early years—you’ve definitely already enjoyed her work. It’s this level of performance experience that backs up her craft as...

Club Review: “Ann Hampton Callaway Sings Peggy Lee and the Songs of the ’70s”

Penelope Thomas
Ann Hampton Callaway is a seasoned jazz artist, songwriter, an interpreter of the American Songbook, and an entertainer who knows how to work a crowd—especially when her ex-husband is bravely sitting in the front row. Her show at 54 Below on Sunday, January 15 was a half-and-half evening of Peggy Lee and 1970s pop, which...

Club Review: Ronny Whyte’s “Swinging Sondheim”

Gerry Geddes
The urbane sophistication and consummate musicality of singer/pianist/songwriter Ronny Whyte proved a perfect match for the artistry of Stephen Sondheim in the new show, Swinging Sondheim, which debuted this month at Birdland.  He treated the songs with style and reverence, as he would Porter or Gershwin or any other great songwriter; his treatments had a...