It’s here again! “March Is Cabaret Month” with award ceremonies from the Cabaret Hotline Gala 3/2 (Metropolitan Room) to the 30th Annual Bistro Awards 3/4 hosted by Jason Graae (Gotham Comedy Club) to the MAC Awards 3/26 hosted by Karen Mason (B.B. King Blues Club & Grill).
The nominees and the winners for the Cabaret Hotline Online Gala will be chosen by the members of Cabaret Hotline Online. Winners and others from the community will perform at publisher Stu Hamstra’s event.
The Bistro Awards, produced by Sherry Eaker, will be presented to: Carol Fredette (Ongoing Jazz Artistry); Lillias White (Major Engagement); Celia Berk (Vocalist); Eric Comstock (Singer-Instrumentalist); Joshua Dixon (Debut); Shana Farr (Concept Show); Kristoffer Lowe (Ira Eaker Special Achievement Award); Stearns Matthews (Recording); Marissa Mulder (Vocalist); Gabrielle Stravelli (Jazz Vocalist); Jon Weber (Musical Historian and Entertainer).
At the MAC Awards, Lifetime Achievement honors will be given to Baby Jane Dexter and Steve Ross. David Kenney, host of Everything Old Is New Again on WBAI FM, will receive the Board of Directors Award. Winners in certain categories will perform.
The month brings a buzz and a bevy of performances at the usual haunts. The new kid on the block, the refurbished Room 53 on West 53 Street, got a jump on Cabaret Month and extends it into April with special prices, special events and forays into booked cabaret shows to complement its nightly open mic/piano bar programs, with singers and listeners welcome, with varied cabaret-friendly genres covered—but no cover charge. It’s also the home base of play nice!—a year-round inter-generational all-volunteer theatre group raising money for charities, run by Rob Lester, whose musical comedy about a circus family of adoptees living next door to a cabaret club debuts there 3/14 and repeats 3/21. Performances are there and around town; several singers usually seen performing in the NYC clubs (plus celebrity guests) are in the cast. Email onthejobrob@gmail for more info.
How’s this for a Cabaret Month event: Karen Mason in Mason at Mama’s in March! She’s at Don’t Tell Mama every Sunday and Monday. Ruth Carlin returns 3/11 with A Light in the Window: The Songs of Joni Mitchell. Steven Brinberg’s Simply Barbra is there 3/14. Vickie Phillips presents To Life and Rainbows 3/19, a memorial tribute to her son, Kirk. In place of a cover charge, donations will be made to Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Research Center. Tanya Moberly’s Songs I Feel Like Singing is 3/20.
Eric Michael Gillett returns to The Laurie Beechman Theatre with his Man About Town: The Wit and Wisdom of Noël Coward 3/10. His EMG Collective offers classes in creating a cabaret act, auditioning and vocal performance. Look for an interview with Eric in our next issue. Also at the Beechman, Eric directs the Robin Westle-hosted Robin’s Nest, a benefit for helpusadopt.org which provides grants to help those adopting with their expenses. In addition to Eric and Robin, the 3/1 event features performers La Tanya Hall, Andy Milne, Billie Roe, Stephen Mitchell Brown, Patrick Dwyer, Leah Jennings and Victoria Sorrentino. Carolyn Montgomery-Forant returns with Visible Phoenix 3/13 & 4/10. Amy Wolk and William TN Hall will be Puttin’ on the Brits! 3/15 as they salute British pop music. Proceeds benefit Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. Anya Turner and Robert Grusecki’s Look Up! The Songs of Turner and Grusecki is 4/4. Singers Darcy Yellin and Tom Picasso join them. Michael Kirk Lane declares Now You Know 4/7 & 16. Jay Rogers directs, William TN Hall is musical director and it features Jon Satrom and Laura Pavles. Singer-pianist-songwriter Robyn McCorquodale presents Diary of a Piano Girl 4/8, 14, 22 & 28.
Jay Rogers and Aaron Morishita are back at the Metropolitan Room with Duets 3/4. It’s never too early to introduce live entertainment to a young audience and the monthly Kiddie Kabaret does just that. Songs, puppetry, magic and juggling are geared to the youngsters. Shows are 3/7 & 4/18, Saturdays at noon. Look for Yvonne Constant’s What Now…A Tribute to Mike 3/10, 18; 4/7 & 14. (See feature on Yvonne on pg 40.) Joseph Macchia’s Cabaret Cares offers All That Jazz: An Evening of Kander & Ebb Our Way 3/23, with the theme of the 4/21 edition TBA. Celia Berk returns with You Can’t Rush Spring 3/28 & 29.
April at the Met begins with Gretchen Reinhagen’s Reinhagen Redux: “three shows in three months with three bands” She starts with Almost Blue 4/1 followed by Special Kaye: A Tribute to the Incomparable Kaye Ballard (May) and Listen to the Music: The Songs of My ‘70s (June). Bobbie Horowitz begins a new monthly series, It’s Just a Number, which honors someone over 50 “who’s created something new and fab in his/her life.” The 4/11 honoree is Alice Fisher, founder of “The Radical Age Movement” and the Outreach Director for State Senator Liz Krueger. Entertainment is provided by top cabaret performers. Corinna Sowers Adler says Let Me Sing and I’m Happy 4/12 & 22. Harold Sanditen is on a world tour with Flyin’ High. He stops at the Met 4/23. Look for an encore performance of Ann Dawson’s Traveling Solo: Tales & Tunes 4/29.
We lost two big supporters of cabaret in January and the Metropolitan will hold memorial tributes to each: Joe Franklin’s is 3/9 and Ervin Drake’s is 4/4.
Thomas Honeck continues Dancing with Death at The Duplex 3/7. On 3/14, catch “a night filled with music, beer, laughter, tears and good times” with Adam T. Biner & Jordan William Segal in I Know Nothing! The Revolution continues with Kathleen France & Dawn Derow 3/15. Stacie Koby is Committed 3/20 & 28. Songwriter Timothy Mathis and Friends present If Only I’d Written It Down…Too 4/11. The “friends” are Abigail Taylor-Sansom, Katie Rhoades, Sam Eckmann and Rockford Sansom. Singer/songwriter/comedienne Chris Christopher accompanies himself 4/11 as he covers songs from Billy Joel to Ray Charles to Barbra Streisand. How’s that for eclectic!
At 54 Below, Maureen McGovern is Celebrating Women Singer/Songwriters 3/10-14. Mark Nadler is Addicted to the Spotlight 3/11, 25 & 4/15. Triple threat Ben Vereen is there 3/17-21. Richard Holbrook brings his Burton Lane show to the stage 3/17. Melissa Manchester (see cover story pg 48) celebrates the release of her latest CD, You Gotta Love the Life, 3/26-28. Patti LuPone is The Lady with the Torch 4/1-14.
Singer-songwriter Alexa Ray Joel, daughter of Billy Joel and Christie Brinkley, continues her stay at Café Carlyle through 3/7. Husband-and-wife Herb Alpert & Lani Hall take up residence from 3/10-21, followed by Debbie Harry! Yes, best known as the lead singer of Blondie, the singer-songwriter and actress makes her Carlyle debut 3/24 – 4/4.
April finds the return of Jane Scheckter to NYC cabaret when she appears at Cafe Noctambulo at Pangea with a reprise of her acclaimed show Jane Scheckter loves, adores, misses Bobby Short. Sharón Clark is at Iridium NYC 3/2. Linda Amiel Burns’s Singing Experience class performs 3/10 at Stage 72 at The Triad. Natalie Douglas hosts Jazz Party at Birdland the first three Sundays in March. Anika Larsen is at the club celebrating the release of her CD, Sing You to Sleep (see review pg 70), 3/23. Broadway and TV star Anita Gillette is there 3/30.
The March edition of 92nd Street Y’s Lyrics & Lyricists, 3/21-23 is New York: Songs of the City. Deborah Grace Winer is Artistic Director/Host, Mark Waldrop directs and John Oddo is M.D. The cast is Klea Blackhurst, Peter Cincotti, Darius de Haas, La Tanya Hall, Leslie Kritzer and Jeffrey Schecter.
Scott Siegel’s Broadway by the Year features the Broadway Musicals of 1941-1965. That’s 3/30 at The Town Hall. The Blue Note welcomes Dee Dee Bridgewater 3/10-12.
Out on Long Island, the Tilles Center offers Diana Krall 3/1, Tierney Sutton 3/14, the John Pizzarelli Big Band 3/28 and Andrea Marcovicci 4/11. On Staten Island, Lorenzo’s has The Duprees 3/27 and Joe Piscopo 4/17. Bernie Furshpan succeeded in producing the “Longest Variety Show”—60 hours of continuous entertainment at the Metropolitan Room in early January. Documentation has been submitted to Guinness World Records. You can watch a live-stream of all 60 hours at www.liveamp.com/lvs/ with no cover or minimum required!
Cabaret comes to TV! PBS is producing a local series, 66th & Broadway, filmed before a live audience at the Tisch WNET Studios at Lincoln Center and airing on Thirteen and WLIW21. Its premiere broadcast in February featured Jennifer Sheehan in You Made Me Love You—Celebrating 100 Years of the Great American Songbook. KT Sullivan starred in the second episode. After the initial broadcast, each episode is available at www.thirteen.org/programs/66th-and-broadway/.
