Donald Wayne

Mark Dundas Wood
"Lost in the 40's" Don't Tell Mama  –  August 28, September 8, 10, 11, 13  With "Lost in the Forties," Donald Wayne provided a highly personal look- and listen-back at the music consumed by 1940s Americans—a generation wounded and scarred by the Second World War. Early on in the show, which was directed by Spider...

Kenneth Gartman

Mark Dundas Wood
"…not like the other cavemen" Don't Tell Mama  –  September 10 & 14, October 23 & 28, November 2 At the top of his act, Kenneth Gartman speaks about growing up listening to—and singing—Christian pop music. He actually includes a couple of numbers from that genre in his show. On the night I attended, I...

Carole Demas

Elizabeth Ahlfors
"Summer Nights" Laurie Beechman Theatre  –  September 19, October 17 Summer nights are balmy rather than steamy when Carole Demas delivers her reprise of Summer Nights, a program of American songs. This is easy listening in a most engaging way. The casual Demas has a wide smile and a welcoming, laid-back demeanor, but beneath that...

Simply Streisand

Mark Dundas Wood
Laurie Beechman Theatre  –  August 10 & 24, Sept. 7, Oct. 5, Nov. 2 Installments of "Simply Streisand" began playing at the Laurie Beechman Theatre this summer, and the series will continue, at least into early fall. Each performance enlists a different mix of singers to pay tribute to Barbra Streisand and sing selections from...

O Sole Trio

Roy Sander
I didn't know quite what to expect from O Sole Trio. The three members of this group (musical director/accompanist David Shenton and vocalists Erin Shields and Giuseppe Spoletini) all have classical training, so I thought they might present an evening of Italian arias, which would have been just dandy with me. But, then, the group's...

Max and Maxine: Together…AGAIN!

Kevin Scott Hall
 Don't Tell Mama  –  September 13 & 20 First presented back in 1997, "Max and Maxine" follows the careers of an aging lounge act doing its desperate best to remain relevant and hip. Theatre veterans Bryan Scott Johnson and Jennifer Perry have fun playing the over-the-top duo, along with musical director Gary Adler, during a...

Rita Gardner

Roy Sander
"Try to Remember: A Look Back at Off-Broadway" Metropolitan Room  –  September 9, 10, 16, 17, 18 Early in the opening number of her show at the Metropolitan Room, Rita Gardner sings a passage from the score of The Fantasticks that made my jaw drop: more than 50 years after she created the role of...

Storm Large

Mark Dundas Wood
"An Intimate Evening with a Woman Your Mom Warned You About" Metropolitan Room  –  August 31 The aptly named Storm Large blew through town the week after Hurricane Irene's brush with Manhattan. She touched ground at the Metropolitan Room, where she gusted for an hour or so at winds reaching at least 150 miles per...

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...