Dec. 1-7: Winter Rhythms

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Winter Rhythms

December 1-7

Urban Stages
259 W. 30th St., NYC
http://urbanstages.squarespace.com/winterrhythms2016/

winter-rhytms-cabaret-scenes-magazine_212Thursday, December 1, 2016
7 PM KT Sullivan in Cabaret Noel: Come the Wild, Wild Weather
One of cabaret and musical theater’s brightest lights salutes the master of wit and melody in an all-Noël Coward program with musical direction by Dennis Buck.
Special opening night ticket price & events:
$50 includes champagne reception.
$120 includes champagne reception & “decadent dinner” at a nearby restaurant.

Friday, December 2, 2016 
7 PM The Arrangement Experience: The Corner of Rock and Broadway—Where Classic Rock Meets Classic Musical Theater. Rodgers and Hammerstein to Sondheim and Pink Floyd to Guns n’ Roses merge at the corner of Rock & Broadway. With eye- opening fresh arrangements, you will hear these classic songs  in a whole new way! With Staci Block, Natasha Castillo, Dawn Derow, Eve Eaton, Helen Glassman, Wendy Kaufman, John Koprowski, Phyllis Mollen, Wendy Russell, Fritz Stewart, Jeremy Sussman and Deborah Zecher. Musical Direction by Michael Holland and Andrew David Sotomayor. Directed by Lennie Watts. All Arrangements by Michael Holland, Andrew David Sotomayor, Lennie Watts and The Cast.

9:30 PM ZaZa Peaks and her Holiday Balls…um Bells or A Holiday Drag Spectacular!
Joseph Macchia, producer of NYC’s Next Top Drag Queen Competition and Tom Gamblin, host of Metrostar Talent Challenge, join forces to produce an all live – singing drag extravaganza with the some of NYC’s top drag performers! Hosted by ZaZa Peaks with Vicky Boofont, Cathy Dresden, Delilah Pipes, Ruby Powers, Nomi SAS, Gina Tonic. Musical Director :Tracy Stark.

Saturday, December 3, 2016
7 PM New York Cabaret’s Greatest Hits
Launched in August 2015 at the Metropolitan Room, New York Cabaret’s Greatest Hits (Created, produced and hosted by Stephen Hanks; Associate Producer: Fr. Jeffrey Hamblin, MD) has become one of the city’s most popular monthly cabaret events. The series features celebrated cabaret performers reprising their award-winning and critically acclaimed shows of the past. This show presents highlights from many of the 16 outstanding productions. With Mark Nadler, Julie Reyburn, Meg Flather, Karen Oberlin, Jim Brochu & Steve Schachlin, Barbara Porteus, Maureen Taylor, Susan Winter, Jenna Esposito and Adam B. Shapiro. Musical Director: Mark Janas. 

9:30 PM Krystle Henninger and The Screw Ups
Krystle Henninger is a New York-based singer/songwriter. She released her first full-length album Long Road Home last September and her first EP Swallowed Up in Blue in 2013. Krystle has performed around New York with various members of The Screw Ups. The Screw Ups consists of Kat Swanson, Nick Shea, Devin Dunne Cannon, Jason Hazell, with special guests TBA. Music available on iTunes, Amazon, Bandcamp, and other media platforms.

Sunday, December 4, 2016 |
3 PM The Vintage Advantage
A very special gathering of cabaret artists, all with the “vintage advantage.” Yes, they are all happily singers “of a certain age.” Included will be such well-known, award-winning and nominated singers as Billie Roe, Ann Dawson, Charlotte Patton, Sally Darling, Gary Crawford, Andrea Wolff and Helena Grenot, joined by talented “newcomers” to the wonderful world of cabaret, including Andrea Axelrod, Susan Jeffries, Bill Krakauer, Marcia Roney, Bill Dyzel and Cathy Taylor. Musical Directors are Barry Levitt and Matthew Martin Ward. Hosted and Produced by Bob Diamond. 

7 PM Susan Winter and Barry Kleinbort in Minor Miracles.
In their very first team outing, Susan Winter and Barry Kleinbort, two old friends of the Semitic persuasion (who also happen to be award-winning cabaret mavens) combine to explores the developments in popular music that sprang from the minor key traditions of Eastern European Jews. The evening contains delectable entries from Jewish writers as diverse as George Gershwin, Harold Arlen, Kurt Weill, Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe, Jay Livingston and Ray Evans, Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, Carole King, Randy Newman, and Billy Joel. Musical support is offered by the versatile and very gentile Paul Greenwood. “Minor Miracles” is a loving valentine to writers who made a mark on the art of popular song without forsaking the sounds of their rich ancestry. 

Monday, December 5, 2016 
7 PM Jim Brochu in Merman and Me
Drama Desk winner Jim Brochu’s life changed when he was thirteen years old and he met Ethel Merman. A brief encounter with the Queen of Broadway turned into a friendship, one that lasted until the end of her life. In this delightful and heartfelt new show, Merman and Me, Jim tells the story of her life and her music through rare videos as well as the great standards of Porter, Berlin and Gershwin that Merman introduced to the American Songbook. Musical Director: Mark Janas.

9 PM Blake Zolfo in The Monster at the End of This Show
In a heartfelt evening of story and song paralleling the misadventures of Sesame Street’s Grover, Blake Zolfo finds out what happens when life’s answers can no longer be found in a book, Directed by Andy Gale. Musical Director: Mark Janas. 

Tuesday, December 6, 2016 | Click here to see both shows for $45
7 PM The World According to Kurt Weill
In shows like The Threepenny Opera, One Touch of Venus and Lost in the Stars, composer Kurt Weill (1900-50) used song to comment, ironically yet passionately, on Weimar Germany, the rise of Hitler, the Great Depression, South African apartheid, and the American Dream. But Weill’s music also tells us much about how we live today. The World According to Kurt Weill brings him back where he belongs: the 21st century. With Janice Hall, Minda Larsen and Adam B. Shapiro. Musical Director: Eric Sedgwick. Director: Peter Napolitano. Writer and producer: William V. Madison.

9 PM A Night at the Bistros:Bistro Award-winning Songwriters and Singers
For 32 years, the Bistro Awards have recognized excellence in cabaret, jazz and comedy. Join us in a celebration of the some of the songwriters who have received the award and hear their work performed by a stellar line-up of singers drawn from past Bistro winners. It will be an evening of great songs sung by great singers, of old favorites and new discoveries. Sherry Eaker produces. Gerry Geddes directs.

Wednesday, December 7, 2016 | Click here to see both shows for $45
7 PM Karen Akers in Vive la Chanson!
Join one of Broadway and cabaret’s finest singers as she returns to one of her first loves, the French Chanson. Ms. Akers will celebrate the melodic charms and heartfelt emotions of music made famous by Piaf, Aznavour and more, while mixing in some American songs with the same passionate excitement. Musical Director: Alex Rybeck.

9 PM A Double Bill: Rita Gardner in Much More: A Tom Jones & Harvey Schmidt Songbook and
Jeff Harnar Sings Cole Porter

Rita Gardner presents a preview of her new one-woman show celebrating the songwriting team of Tom Jones & Harvey Schmidt (Celebration, 110 In The Shade, I Do! I Do!). From her unique vantage point as the original Girl in their record-breaking classic The Fantasticks, Rita’s songbook draws from their hits, their rarities, their trunk songs, woven together with her personal anecdotes and insights. Directed by Jeff Harnar.

Jeff Harnar presents highlights from his Cole Porter songbook, including standards, surprises and signature Porter patter songs from such scores as Red Hot and Blue, High Society, Anything Goes, Can Can and more. Harnar is a multiple MAC, Bistro and Broadway World Cabaret award winner. “Harnar and Porter are a perfect fit.” — The New York Times. Directed by Sara Louise Lazarus. Musical Director Alex Rybeck arranged and accompanies both shows on this special double bill.

Winter Rhythms continues through December 11.