KT Sullivan
I’m Glad I’m Not Young Anymore
The Laurie Beechman Theatre, NYC, May 24, 2026
Reviewed by Bart Greenberg
Photo by Richard Termine
KT Sullivan, who recently received the Cabaret Scenes-American Songbook Association’s Darrell Henline Award, brought her considerable talent and charm to The Laurie Beechman Theatre for the first of a series of performances that will feature guest stars. Looking like Auntie Mame at her most elegant, Sullivan accompanied herself on the piano, as she has done since returning from the pandemic shutdown, she delivered a lovely set of mostly standards as well as some surprises from the Great American Songbook. With a bit of a wink in her eye, she kicked off the show with a mash up of “While We’re Young” (Alec Wilder/Morty Palitz) and “Young at Heart” (Johnny Richards/Carolyn Leigh) and then smoothly shifting to the title of the series, “I’m Glad I’m Not Young Anymore” (Alan Jay Lerner/Frederick Loewe). The latter was delivered with great attention to the lyrics, getting every laugh in the song while acting the ruefulness of the story completely.
For something quite different, she beautifully handled the mournful Noël Coward tune “I Travel Alone.” Shifting tone again, she remarked that “one of the lovely things about my age is that people send me flowers,” which easily transitioned into the Sheldon Harnick/David Baker comic masterpiece “Someone Is Sending Me Flowers.” This was very smart cabaret. She dedicated “Isn’t He Adorable” (Cy Coleman/Joe McCarthy) to the recently passed cabaret star Joyce Breech. Sullivan also announced that “new songs are being written,” and to prove that assertion, she delivered the beautiful “Recalling If We Can” by John Forester.
Sullivan’s guest and frequent collaborator Mark Nadler then took the stage. He performed only one number, Irving Berlin’s “I Love a Piano,” but it turned into a 10+ minutes production number, complete with a costume change. He flung himself off the piano, under and on top of the piano. His arrangement incorporated “Chopsticks,” Chopin, Scott Joplin’s “The Sting,” and “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy” (Don Raye/Hughie Prince). It was total Nadler chaos and totally delightful.
Nadler remained on stage to accompany the final guest, Elizabeth Sullivan, KT’s mother and a fine singer and songwriter in her own right. Even remaining elegant when needing to change from her heels to her slippers thanks to recent hip surgery, she certainly wove a lovely spell with her song set of three of her own compositions, including “Not Tonight,” a number she wrote for her late husband’s 70th birthday. It is a work filled with the love of a long-term relationship.
The three performers joined together for several more family numbers; then Sullivan and Nadler wrapped things up with Stephen Sondheim’s “Old Friends.” These folks are truly old friends, and everyone attending felt like they were included in the love.
