Tracy Adams
A Richmond, Virginia native, Tracy Adams has been singing in clubs around Chicago, where he now resides, since 1989. He made his formal solo cabaret debuts in both Chicago and New York in 1999 and has created 15 new shows since. Tracy is a songwriter as well as performer and arranger, and for seven years was a restaurant reviewer for Gay Chicago Magazine. He is a member of the Chicago Cabaret Professionals and a performing alum of Acts of Kindness Cabaret.
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Elizabeth Ahlfors
Born and raised in New York, Elizabeth graduated from NYU with a degree in Journalism. She has lived in various cities and countries and now is back in NYC. She has written magazine articles and published three books: A Housewife’s Guide to Women’s Liberation, Twelve American Women, and Heroines of ’76 (for children). A great love was always music and theater—in the audience, not performing. A Philadelphia correspondent for Theatre.com and InTheatre Magazine, she has reviewed theater and cabaret for the Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia City News. She writes for Cabaret Scenes and other cabaret/theater sites. She is a judge for Nightlife Awards and a voting member of Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle.
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Annamaria Alfieri
Annamaria Alfieri is the author of four acclaimed historical mysteries, including the current Strange Gods, which takes place in British East Africa in 1911 and is described as Out of Africa meets Agatha Christie. Writing as Patricia King, she also is the author of five nonfiction books, including Never Work for a Jerk, that landed her on the Oprah Winfrey Show. She is a past president of Mystery Writers of America, New York Chapter, and Vice President of the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival. She is a life-long fan of the American Popular song.
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John Amodeo
John Amodeo has been a contributing writer to Cabaret Scenes since 1998, has written cabaret articles for Theatermania.com, was a cabaret journalist for Bay Windows (1999-2005), and then for Edge Publications (2005-present). John has been producer, assistant producer, and host for several Boston-area cabaret galas over the past 25 years, and produced Brian De Lorenzo’s MACC-nominated recording “Found Treasures.” His liner notes grace several cabaret CDs. John holds degrees in landscape architecture from Cornell and Harvard Universities, and has been practicing landscape architecture in Boston for 35 years, where he is a partner in his firm. John was a founding member of the Boston Association of Cabaret Artists (BACA), and served as BACA Vice President for 2 terms. He is happily married to his favorite cabaret artist Brian De Lorenzo.
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Michael Barbieri
In the cabaret community, Michael is best known as a MAC and Bistro Award winning technical director. Over his 20-year career, he designed hundreds of shows for luminaries like Julie Wilson, Elaine Stritch, Linda Lavin, Andrea McArdle, Stephen Schwartz, and Amanda McBroom. Clubs at which he’s worked include The Duplex, Judy*s and the Metropolitan Room. These days, he splits his time between NYC and Las Vegas, having traded lighting for writing. He contributes restaurant and hotel reviews for QVegas Magazine and writes the Las Vegas Experience column for Gay Vegas Magazine.
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Clifford Bell
Clifford Bell, known affectionately as "Lawrence of Cabarabia," is one of the leading directors and producers in the fields of cabaret, concerts, and one-person shows. As a 40-year veteran of show business, Clifford has worked in venues large and small. He has written and directed variety performances featuring icons like Walter Cronkite, Colin Powell, and Michael Eisner at the Arrowhead Pond in Anaheim, California, and toured with television icon Katey Sagal and her band. With his frequent collaborator Lara Teeter (Tony Nominee, On Your Toes), Clifford also co-created the successful touring show Direct from Broadway, starring Tony Award winners Debbie Gravitte (Jerome Robbins' Broadway) and Michael Maguire (Les Misérables). As one of the most prominent figures in the West Coast cabaret community, Clifford hosts "Cabarabia The Podcast," focused on "Live Entertainment in Intimate Settings." Clifford is particularly well known for his variety evenings and showcase presentations, often for charitable causes. One of Clifford's most anticipated efforts is Our Name Is Barbra, the annual celebration of Barbra Streisand's birthday, which has been raising funds and awareness for Clifford's beloved charity Project Angel Food for the past 24 years and counting! In 2023, Clifford will be featured (alongside Chita Rivera, Bruce Vilanch, and Sam Harris) in Marc Saltarelli's documentary "Studio One Forever."
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Joel Benjamin
A native New Yorker, Joel was always fascinated by musical theater. Luckily, he was able to be a part of seven Broadway musicals before the age of 14, quitting to pursue a pre-med degree, which led no where except back to performing in the guise of directing a touring ballet troupe. Always interested in writing, he wrote a short play in high school that was actually performed, leading to a hiatus of nearly 40 years before he returned to writing as a reviewer. Writing for Cabaret Scenes has kept him in touch with world filled with brilliance.
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Mary Bogue
Born to upstate New York parents Nelson Binner and Gladys Witt, Mary Bogue was the fourth of five children. Her love of acting was apparent early in her life, when she acted out imagined scenes in the second story hallway of their home on Division Street. Moving to California in 1959 only fueled the fire and soon she tried out and got the part in Beauty and the Beast, a children's production at The Old Globe Theatre in San Diego. The bug followed her into junior and high school productions, but when she struck out on her own in the early 70s, she found it wasn't as easy as sitting at the world famous Schwab's on Sunset. Her first audition stopped her dead in her tracks for years when the "casting director" expected nudity. It was only in 1990 that she returned to her first love, albeit slowly as she was a caregiver to 16 foster daughters. Only when she was cast in Antonio Bandera's directorial debut, Crazy in Alabama (1999)(which she was cut from) did she pursue this dream.
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Melody Breyer-Grell
A life-long New Yorker, Melody Breyer-Grell was a voracious reader as a little girl, which led towards a life filled with theater, opera and jazz. Following her penning a parody nightclub show chronicling the ups and down of a life in music, she proceeded to get published in several genres, including fiction, essay and memoir. They include The Fairhaven Literary Review, short stories featured in Counting Down the Seconds and SunKissed (both published in the UK by Freya Publications). Melody is a frequent contributor to The Huffington Post, opining on a broad range of subjects—from peace in the Middle East to American Idol.
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Gavin Brock
In addition to working full-time as a primary school teacher in London, Gavin is a composer, lyricist and children's author. His Christmas fantasy adventure novel ' Alabaster Snowball and the Naughty List' is published by Troubador. In 2023, his mini-musical 'Krampus Night' was produced by Indieworks Theatre Company, New York and featured in season two of the multi-award winning Bite-Sized Broadway podcast. For more information, please visit www.gavinbrock.co.uk
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Charlotte Brooks
Charlotte has composed, arranged, taught and performed for a very long time. Very long. Although dancing in a Broadway show was the original goal, a lack of balance and coordination quickly put an end to that ambition. Acquiring a family piano, nicely filled the performing gap.
To provide an opportunity for professional level performance cabarets, 16 Bars was launched in 2009. This was a new venture, and a poke in the comfort zone But as Neil Simon once said:” If no one ever took risks, Michelangelo would have painted the Sistine floor!” Charlotte has taught music related content at all grade levels, and continues writing essays, songs, and cabarets. It was an honor to write a song for the Arizona Historical League, and iconic to hear Glen Campbell sing it as The League recognized distinguished Arizona ‘History Makers.’ When I was a child my dad told me I needed to find what I loved to do and do it! Luckily, I have.
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Jeffrey Bruce
Originally from Fresh Meadows, Queens, Jeffrey has been in nine national tours, including How to Succeed… (Finch), Camelot (Mordred) and Peter Pan (Hook). He has also had the pleasure to play leads in the entire Neil Simon catalogue. On television, he was the permanent guest host, for 21 years, on the #1 local talk show in the country Kelly & Company on WXYZ-TV, Detroit. He teaches a weekly Master Class in Drama in Boca Raton, Florida. His theater reviews are on talkinbroadway.com. Writing for Cabaret Scenes has enabled him to educate the public as to the superb cabaret resources that South Florida has to offer.
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Jeanie Carroll
Jeanie Carroll, cabaret enthusiast and vocalist, has had a long and exciting career as a performer in many configurations: in Big Bands, with Jazz Combos; as a soloist/guitarist; being involved in Community Theatre; as a DJ; and as a Music Educator in Sedona and Las Vegas. Carroll frequently travels to participate in cabaret conferences from Chicago to Paris, France. Her passions include family, travel, languages, and teaching. When she has a night off from gigging, she loves attending and writing about high-caliber cabaret events!
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Fiona Coffey
Fiona Coffey joins our review team as a cabaret enthusiast and jazz singer, just as she makes her sell-out debut on the London cabaret scene with a self-devised tribute to her alter-ego Mrs. Robinson. She has hosted jazz evenings and performed at a number of venues including The Crazy Coqs, The Pheasantry, and 606 Club. In her day job she is a leadership development coach, travelling around the globe, working with a hugely diverse population of executives, as they grapple with the challenges of leadership and organizational change. Having recently expended most of her writing energies on her doctoral thesis, she welcomes the opportunity to entertain and inform a different audience through Cabaret Scenes.
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Alix Cohen
Alix Cohen’s writing began with poetry, segued into lyrics then took a commercial detour. She now authors pieces about culture/the arts, including reviews and features. A diehard proponent of cabaret, she’s also a theater aficionado, a voting member of Drama Desk, The Drama League and of The NY Press Club in addition to MAC. Currently, Alix writes for Cabaret Scenes, Theater Pizzazz and Woman Around Town. Additional pieces have been published by The New York Post, The National Observer’s Playground Magazine, Pasadena Magazine and Times Square Chronicles. Alix is the recipient of six New York Press Club Awards.
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Mychelle Colleary
Mychelle Colleary (native Californian, honorary New Yorker and now Londoner) graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music from San Jose State University. Her first professional acting role was at 18 and she worked in theater for two years before attending University. As a jazz vocalist, Mychelle has performed internationally and has shared the stage with greats such as Carl Anderson, Clare Fischer and Bobby McFerrin. She currently divides her time between project management (design & communications) and being on a stage or in an audience. From musical theater to classical to folk rock to jazz to cabaret, Mychelle brings her collective professional experience and insight to reviewing.
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Chip Deffaa
Chip Deffaa is the author of 16 published plays and eight published books, and the producer of 24 albums. For 18 years he covered entertainment, including music and theater, for The New York Post. In his youth, he studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. He is a graduate of Princeton University and a trustee of the Princeton "Tiger" magazine. He wrote and directed such Off-Broadway successes as "George M. Cohan Tonight!" and "One Night with Fanny Brice." His shows have been performed everywhere from London to Edinburgh to Seoul. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild, the Stage Directors & Choreographers Society, NARAS, and ASCAP. He’s won the ASCAP/Deems Taylor Award, the IRNE Award, and a New Jersey Press Association Award. Please visit: www.chipdeffaa.com.
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Lynn DiMenna
Lynn DiMenna has enjoyed a multi-faceted career in the entertainment world. She’s been guest vocalist with the Artie Shaw, Tommy Dorsey, Glenn Miller and Count Basie orchestras, as well as a featured “girl singer” with the Stan Rubin Orchestra and The Tavern on the Green All Stars. As a cabaret headliner and CD recording artist, her shows have played clubs from New York’s Stage 72 at The Triad, Metropolitan Room, Laurie Beechman Theater and Birdland to L.A.’s Gardenia. For nearly two decades, she hosted cabaret-focused radio shows in the New York metropolitan area, and now is a contributing writer and reviewer for Cabaret Scenes magazine and its website.
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Annie Dinerman
Annie Dinerman has written music reviews for CDs and DVDs, books, and live performances. On the New York theater scene, she’s handled reviews, interviews, and feature articles. Her entertainment writing style is informed by her award-winning songwriting talent for lingo, sound, and rhythm (MAC Award, Bistro Award, Abe Olman Award from Songwriters Hall of Fame). Her ear for production values has been sharpened by long hours of recording studio experience. Annie Dinerman is quoted in press kits and label websites for established artists like Buffy Sainte-Marie and Tanya Tucker.
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Jaz Dorsey
Jaz Dorsey is a native of Atlanta, Georgia. He has a BA in International Studies from Chapel Hill and pioneered the graduate dramaturgy program at Virginia Commomwealth University. From 1990 to 1997 he lived and worked in New York City and enjoyed numerous productions of his own cabaret-style musicals including Cafe Escargot and Alice In America. He currently lives in Nashville, Tennessee where he curates a new play reading series for the Nashville Parks Theatre Department. He is also managing director/dramaturg for The Spiral Theatre Studio in New York.
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Richard Edgcomb
Richard Edgcomb has been an aficionado and fan of cabaret way before he ever knew what cabaret was. He was a fan of Broadway music and the Great American Songbook from an early age. Even in his teens, records by Jane Oliver and Liza Minnelli shared space on the turntable with Aretha Franklin and other R&B artists. All came full circle when he hosted several radio shows on WDVR FM 89.7/91.9 New Jersey Public Radio for 18 years. His first show, Lazy Monday Afternoon, an easy-listening slot, morphed into Center Stage, a cabaret show filled with music, talk and interviews. Richard began writing for Cabaret Scenes early in 2000.
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Lynn Timmons Edwards
Lynn writes and performs themed cabaret shows based on the songs of the Great American Songbook throughout Arizona. She has had three short plays produced in the Theatre Artists Studio Festival of Summer Shorts and is working on a full length play, "Fairy," based on the life of Mary Russell Ferrell Colton, a founder of the Museum of Northern Arizona. In addition to writing and singing, Lynn plays bridge and tennis and enjoys traveling with her husband and artistic companion, Bob. Born in Ohio, Lynn is a graduate of Denison University (BA), Arizona State University (MPA) and has lived in Arizona since 1977.
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Randolph B. Eigenbrode
Randolph is the newest addition to the writing staff at Cabaret Scenes. He is a cabaret teacher, previously teaching with legend Erv Raible, and his students have gone on to success in the field with sold-out shows and many awards. He is also a director and that, combined with a knowledge of the art form and techniques that cabaret performing encompasses, makes him love reviewing NYC’s cabaret scene. When not catching the Big Apple’s crazy talent, Randolph loves 1970s variety shows, mall Chinese food, Meryl Streep films and a good cold glass of pinot grigio.
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Betsyann Faiella
Betsyann Faiella is a creative spirit with right and left brain functionality. She is a writer and publicist, and founded SavoyPR in 2008. Her clients have been featured in major news outlets including NPR, The Today Show, Page Six, Architectural Digest, and many other major news and entertainment platforms. Her own writing has been featured in the New York Times Diner’s Journal, and her bios for creative people are all over the web.
Before founding SavoyPR, she was a busy media producer working with commercial directors, leading international teams, and excelled in both the New York and Los Angeles markets with major brands including Mercedes, Exxon, Bayer, Johnson and Johnson, Old Navy.
Betsyann was previously a professional singer, and made her public singing debut at famed NYC cabaret, Reno Sweeney. After touring in shows from Canada to Las Vegas and beyond, she released an album in 2001 titled Can I Be Frank?, a dedication to the artistry of Frank Sinatra. She has performed at the Blue Note, Birdland, Ronnie Scott’s, and more, and Performing Arts Centers all over the U.S. with jazz greats including the late Hank Jones, Paul Smith, and Tedd Firth.
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Ron Forman
Ron Forman has been a Mathematics Professor at Kingsborough Community College for 45 years. In that time, he has managed to branch out in many different areas. From 1977 to 1994 he was co-owner of Comics Unlimited, the third largest comic book distribution company in the USA. In 1999,after a lifetime of secretly wanting to do a radio program, he began his weekly Sweet Sounds program on WKRB 90.3 FM, dedicated to keeping the music of the Great American Songbook alive and accessible. This introduced him to the world of cabaret, which led to his position as a reviewer for Cabaret Scenes.
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Will Friedwald
Will Friedwald is an American author and music critic. He has written for newspapers that include the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Village Voice, Newsday, New York Observer, and New York Sun – and for magazines that include Entertainment Weekly, Oxford American, New York, Mojo, BBC Music Magazine, Stereo Review, Fi, and American Heritage.
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Pamela S. K. Glasner
Pamela S. K. Glasner is a critically-acclaimed published author, filmmaker, social advocate and contributor to the Huffington Post. She is a proud member of the Writer’s Guild of America, the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, and the Connecticut Historical Society. She is also a Registered Reader at both the Royal Society of London and the British Library. She lives in rural Connecticut where she continues working on "The Lodestarre Series," an historical drama which explores the treatment and mistreatment of the mentally ill over the course of 350 years, as well as several other new projects.
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Carla Gordon
Carla Gordon is a singer/songwriter, director, and producer. The Chicago Tribune cited her among “Chicago’s most accomplished cabaret performers….a major player in Chicago cabaret.” Reviewer Pam Peterson called her “Honey-voiced wisecracker!” Ageless Magazine called her performance as Sophie tucker, “A gem!” Gordon writes custom material for singers nationwide. Her flagship show, "Blacklisted," featuring songs made famous by artists blacklisted under McCarthyism, has toured to critical acclaim. She serves on the Board of Directors for the Chicago Cabaret Professionals and on the Advisory Board of the Skokie Theater. Her songs air on WFMT’s Midnight Special and are being performed performed by cabaret artists nationwide. carlacabaret@aol.com
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Bart Greenberg
Bart Greenberg first discovered cabaret a few weeks after arriving in New York City by seeing Julie Wilson and William Roy performing Stephen Sondheim and Cole Porter outdoors at Rockefeller Center. It was instant love for both Ms. Wilson and the art form. Some years later, he was given the opportunity to create his own series of cabaret shows while working at Tower Records. "Any Wednesday" was born, a weekly half-hour performance by a singer promoting a new CD release. Ann Hampton Callaway launched the series. When Tower shut down, Bart was lucky to move the program across the street to Barnes & Noble, where it thrived under the generous support of the company. The series received both The MAC Board of Directors Award and The Bistro Award. Some of the performers who took part in "Any Wednesday" include Barbara Fasano and Eric Comstock, Tony Desare, Andrea Marcovicci, Carole Bufford, the Karens, Akers, Mason and Oberlin, and Julie Wilson.
Privately, Greenberg is happily married to writer/photographer Mark Wallis, who as a performance artist in his native England gathered a major following as "I Am Cereal Killer."
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Peter Haas
Writer, editor, lyricist and banjo plunker, Peter Haas has been contributing features and performance reviews for Cabaret Scenes since the magazine’s infancy. As a young folk-singer, he co-starred on Channel 13’s first children’s series, Once Upon a Day; wrote scripts, lyrics and performed on Pickwick Records’ children’s albums, and co-starred on the folk album, All Day Singing. In a corporate career, Peter managed editorial functions for CBS Records and McGraw-Hill, and today writes for a stable of business magazines. An ASCAP Award-winning lyricist, his work has been performed at Carnegie Hall, Feinstein’s, Metropolitan Room and other fine saloons.
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Ken Haller
Dr. Kenneth Haller offers well-child and sick-child care, evaluations for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and care for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) adolescents. He also specializes in health literacy and cultural competency. Dr. Haller is an associate professor in the Department of Pediatrics, Division of General Academic Pediatrics, at Saint Louis University School of Medicine. He serves as joint associate chair for faculty development. Research interests include: resident education in community settings; advocacy for underserved populations; effects of media on children; and health care needs of LGBT youth. Memberships include: American Academy of Pediatrics; American Medical Association; Physicians for Social Responsibility; St. Louis Physicians for Human Rights; and the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association. Dr. Haller uses theater techniques to improve communication with patients. He teaches a course for first-year medical students called “Acting Like a Doctor,” using acting techniques to help students be empathetic and mindful in their patient interactions. in his spare time, he is also an actor & cabaret singer. Some of his successful one-man cabaret shows include “Side by Side by Sondheim”, “The TV Show,” and “Mama’s Boy,” part of the Gaslight Cabaret Festival series.
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John Hoglund
For over 30 years, John Hoglund has been a respected entertainment writer covering cabaret, jazz, theater and recordings. His writings have appeared in numerous outlets including the Bistro Bits column for Back Stage. John moderated seminars and forums for the International Cabaret Conference At Yale. He produced many celebrity fundraisers in NYC including one of the first benefits after 9/11: “HeartSong:The Heroes' Concert” at The Bottom Line featuring 36 major stars. He co-produced “HeartSong2: The Heroes' Concert” for Katrina victims at Symphony Space and “Miracle On 35th Street” with a star-studded lineup. Other fund raising efforts include the first benefits for Broadway Cares and God's Love, We Deliver. John served on the Board of Directors of MAC for 12 years. He is well known for championing new and rising talents.
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David Hurst
A New Yorker for more than 25 years, David Hurst is the publisher, editor and theatre critic for New York Arts Review (www.NYArtsReview.com), a fine arts based website which focuses on theatre, opera, dance, music, film and cabaret. He is a classically trained singer, pianist, violinist and percussionist. From 2001 - 2014 he served as the theater critic for Next Magazine in New York. He has written for Opera News, In Theater, TheaterMania.com and Show Business Weekly and is a voting member of both the New York Drama Desk and the New York Drama League.
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Thanasis Kalantzis
Thanasis started reviewing for Cabaret Scenes in 2012. He started by reviewing primarily jazz and cabaret artists visiting from the U.S., but these days, he concentrates on British talent. Recently, he added covering musical theater to his duties. He was born in the heart of rural Greece in 1967. He studied Archaeology at the University of Thessaloniki, worked as an excavator in the prehistoric town of Akrotiri, Santorini, and then spent two years on the beautiful island of Crete excavating a Roman village, among other sites. In 1991 he moved to London to study for his MA in Archaeology at University College London thinking that, upon completion, he’d return to Greece and continue with his excavation work. Nevertheless, he gave this amazingly diverse city a go, and started working with various companies, including the Horniman Museum, Sotheby’s and, most recently, the Big Lottery Fund, the organization that allocates lottery funds to arts and charities. His been in London for 26 years, and is happily married to his husband and runs a small, successful business.
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Rian Keating
Rian Keating created and hosted the cable television show, Spotlight! in his early twenties, interviewing such luminaries, among many others, as Gwen Verdon, Bebe Neuwirth, George Rose, Julie Wilson, Jones & Schmidt, Kathy Bates and Charlie Sheen. He returns to interviewing after a long and successful career as a high school English teacher in New York City, teaching at-risk and immigrant students. Rian is the recipient of two MAC Awards: 2022 Special Production for his musical memoir, Time Stamps: Life Fragments in Story and Song and 2023 for Male Vocalist.
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Kathleen Landis
From Manhattan’s elegant Café Pierre and Four Seasons Hotel to Carnegie Hall, pianist/vocalist Kathleen Landis continues to delight both longtime and new audiences with her extensive repertoire and interpretive musicianship. Kathleen combines her life-long study and performance of classical repertoire with her other musical side, jazz improvisation, creating her concert and club selections from that specialized repertoire as well as the Great American Songbook. Kathleen ignites her music with that duality of expression and musical language, imbuing her performance surroundings with musical sophistication, diversity and a warm, ingratiating presence, drawing a coterie of New York and international devotees.
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Bill Lanese
Bill has an independent producer, event coordinator, fundraiser, consultant through his company, Bill Lanese Entertainment, since 2009. He has worked on Film Festivals, Film Promotion, Producing Live Events, Cabaret, Live Theatre, Management and Booking Talent in Nightclub,
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Chuck Lavazzi
Chuck Lavazzi is the producer for the arts calendars and senior performing arts critic at 88.1 KDHX, the host of The Cabaret Project’s monthly open mic night, and entirely to blame for the Stage Left blog at stageleft-stlouis.blogspot.com. He’s a member of the Music Critics Association of North America and the St. Louis Theater Circle. Chuck has been an actor, sound designer, and occasional director since roughly the Bronze Age. He has presented his cabaret show Just a Song at Twilight: the Golden Age of Vaudeville, at the Missouri History Museum and the Kranzberg Center.
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Peter Leavy
As a youthful columnist, Peter offered dating advice to Seventeen magazine’s teen readers. Simultaneously, his “think pieces” and articles on entertainment appeared in other national magazines. Editing four magazines for a small publisher when the Korean Conflict erupted, Peter entered military service, becoming Editor-in-chief of The Army Home Town News Center. After service, he joined the family business and in the ensuing decades created several companies in the fashion and home decoration industry. Peter signed on as one of the first contributors to the fledgling Cabaret Scenes magazine, later was named associate editor and, in 2007, took over as publisher.
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Barbara Leavy
Literary critic and author of books on literature, folklore and mythology, Barbara Leavy has been a contributor of features and reviews to Cabaret Scenes from the magazine’s earliest issues. Retired as a full professor of English at the City University of New York’s Queens College, she retains her honorary appointment as Adjunct Professor of English in Psychiatry at Cornell University’s Medical College. When not at cabaret, her current work in the realm of crime fiction. Barbara’s latest book, published by Poisoned Pen Press, is a second edition of The Fiction of Ruth Rendell—Ancient Tragedy and The Modern Family.
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Candace Leeds
Candace Leeds has been steeped in the world of music since the age of twelve, when she enrolled in Juilliard to study voice and prepare for a professional career. After 15 years of music studies, she moved into entertainment management at New York's Town Hall, where she produced concerts and served as Associate Director. Her writing and marketing skills led to senior positions in major public relations firms, including the PR arm of Grey Advertising and The Rowland Company, which became part of Saatchi and Saatchi. For the past two decades, she served as Vice President of Public Affairs at the multi-billion dollar conglomerate, Loews Corporation, and now has her own marketing consulting company. While pursuing her business career, she continued her music involvement, studying cabaret and occasionally performing in local New York venues. Candace is an accomplished writer whose work has appeared in the New York Daily News, TV World, and many others.
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Marilyn Lester
Marilyn Lester left journalism and commercial writing behind nearly two decades ago to write plays. That branch in the road led to screenwriting, script-doctoring, dramaturgy and producing for the stage. Marilyn has also co-authored, as well as edited, books. It seemed the only world of words she hadn’t conquered was criticism, an opportunity that presented itself via Theater Pizzazz. Marilyn has since sought to widen her scope in this form of writing she especially relishes. Marilyn is a member of the Authors Guild, Dramatists Guild, Women in the Arts and Media and The League of Professional Theater Women.
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Rob Lester
2015 is native New Yorker Rob Lester's eighth year as contributing writer, beginning by reviewing a salute to Frank Sinatra, whose recordings have played on his personal soundtrack since the womb. (His Cabaret Scenes Foundation member mom started him with her favorite; like his dad, he became an uber-avid record collector/ fan of the Great American Songbook's great singers and writers.) Soon, he was attending shows, seeking out up-and-comers and already-came-ups, still reading and listening voraciously. He also writes for www.NiteLifeExchange.com and www.TalkinBroadway.com, has been cabaret-centric as awards judge, panel member/co-host, and produces benefit/tribute shows, including one for us.
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Esther Lynn
Born in Chicago, Esther tells people that she grew up in the dark. Her grandfather and father owned neighborhood movie theaters on the city’s North Side, and weekends and summers in the ‘50s were spent watching movies of the era. She grew up in Tucson, lived in Southern California for 10 years, and moved to Las Vegas in 1976. She has dealt in art since 1971, but for the past 35+ years, has spent much of her life as an entertainment writer, with bylines in the Las Vegas Review-Journal and Las Vegas Sun, as well as numerous tourist publications. For the past 13 years, the mother of three, and grandmother of three young adult grandsons, has written a weekly online column under the name of Claire Voyant.
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Les Michaels
Les Michaels is a singer, host, and producer known from his Cabaret Open Mic Mondays at Vermont for seven years and Guest Stars Cabaret in the Ten20 at Belage Hotel for three years. He moved to Palm Springs seven years ago and hosts Applause Wednesdays Cabaret Open Mic at Club Threesixty North in Palm Springs and Cabaret on the Green at AJ’s on the Green in Cathedral City. His Sundays in Summer Cabaret Series in the Arthur Newman Theatre at the Joslyn Center in Palm Desert is in its sixth season.
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Michael Miyazaki
Michael Miyazaki is a Washington DC/Baltimore area-based performer, director, and writer. He has performed at various venues in the DC area, and his most recent show is Thanks for the Memories: The Musical Legacy of Bob Hope. He has appeared with numerous local theater troupes including Scena Theatre, the Source Theatre, and Fraudulent Productions. He has attended the Perry-Mansfield Cabaret Workshop (working with master teachers Andrea Marcovicci, Karen Mason, Barry Kleinbort, Christopher Denny, Shelly Markham, and David Gaines), and has also studied under Sally Mayes, Tex Arnold, Lina Koutrakos, Rick Jensen, Amanda McBroom, and Alex Rybeck. He is the creator of the blog The Miyazaki Cabaret Update: DC & Beyond (currently on hiatus) and is a member of the DC Cabaret Network and the Arts Club of Washington.
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Todd Murray
Declared “The Real Deal,” and “Impeccable,” by Stephen Holden of the New York Times, and hailed “the best male vocalist living today” by Paul Richards of WHLI, NEW YORK Radio’s “The Morning Show,” Todd Murray’s smooth bass baritone has been heard from Japan to Switzerland and in clubs and artist series all over the USA. His latest show “CROON” garnered much praise: “I felt privileged to listen, Rex Reed of the NY Observer including “Best Male Cabaret Show CROON 2015” and “Best Male Vocalist 2015” by BroadwayWorld.com, and most recently awarded “The Margaret Whiting Award” at the Mabel Mercer Cabaret Convention in 2016. Mr. Murray has recorded three critically acclaimed CD’s “When I Sing Low,” “Stardust and Swing,” and “Croon.” Todd’s “trembling sensitivity” (New Y orkTimes) is why he is often called “the songwriter’s dream” (Cabaret Scenes).
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Steve Murray
Always interested in the arts, Steve was encouraged to begin producing and, in 1998, staged four, one-man vehicles starring San Francisco's most gifted performers. In 1999, he began the Viva Variety series, a live stage show with a threefold mission to highlight, support, and encourage gay and gay-friendly art in all the performance forms, to entertain and document the shows, and to contribute to the community by donating proceeds to local non-profits. The shows utilized the old variety show style popularized by his childhood idol Ed Sullivan. He’s produced over 150 successful shows, including parodies of Bette Davis’s gothic melodramedy Hush, Hush Sweet Charlotte and Joan Crawford’s very awful Trog. He joined Cabaret Scenes 2007 and enjoys the writing and relationships he’s built with very talented performers.
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Victoria Ordin
Victoria Ordin is a writer based in West Los Angeles and Manhattan. Raised in L.A. around film and television, she developed an early appreciation for Broadway and cabaret from her parents.
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Jerry Osterberg
After decades in the banking field, singing in a chorale, and writing on just about every subject under the sun, Jerry left finance and decided to devote himself to the American Songbook. Countless workshops in singing and writing later, he began contributing articles to the New York Sheet Music Society and to write reviews and feature stories for Cabaret Scenes. Jerry is now the Contributing Editor for the monthly newsletter of the NYSMS, continues to perform in chorus, and is currently researching a biography of the late American pop singer Jo Stafford.
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Jacqueline Parker
Like Ethel Merman, lifelong New Yorker Jacqueline Parker began her career as a stenographer. She spent more than two decades at the city's premier public agency, progressing through positions of increased responsibility after earning her BA in English from New York University (3.5 GPA/Dean’s List). She won national awards for her work in public relations and communication and had the privilege of working in the House of Commons for Stephen Ross, later Lord Ross of Newport.
In the second half of her career, Jacqueline brought her innate organizational skills and creative talents to a variety of positions. While distinguishing herself in executive search, she also gave her talents to publishing, politics, writing, radio broadcasting and Delmonico's Restaurant. Most recently, she hosted Anything Goes! a radio show that paid homage to Cole Porter and by extension the world of Broadway musicals and the Great American Songbook. Other features of the show were New York living, classical music, books, restaurants, architecture and politics. This show highlighted the current Broadway scene, both in New York and around the country through performances and interviews with luminaries including Len Cariou, Charles Strouse, Laura Osnes, Steve Ross and Joan Copeland. Her pandemic project was immersion into the life, times and work of Alfred Hitchcock, about whom she has written a soon-to-be-published article. Jacqueline has been involved in a myriad of charitable causes, most notably the Walt Frazier Youth Foundation, St. Patrick's Cathedral, Sisters of Life, York Theatre, and the New Jersey Shakespeare Festival. She is a proud Founder of Hidden Water. Her greatest accomplishment is the parenting of her son, a lawyer specializing in mediation. She has many pretend grandchildren, nieces and nephews, on whom she dotes shamelessly, as well as a large circle of friends to whom she is devoted. Her interests in addition to theater and cabaret are cooking, entertaining, reading, and spending time on Queen Mary 2.
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Harold Sanditen
Harold Sanditen was born and bred in Tulsa, Oklahoma, but has lived in London since 1987. He is probably best known as the host of the über-popular "Open Mic Party" at the Crazy Coqs in London, their longest running show, now in its sixth year. Also at the Crazy Coqs, he hosts and produces "Open Mic Highlights" shows, which showcase the best of the talent coming through the open mic, both from the UK and abroad.
Since bursting onto the cabaret and jazz scene in 2008, he has devised and performed seven cabaret shows - "The Secret of Life," "Love Exposed," "Thoughts 'Round Midnight," "Shades of Blue," "Full Circle," "Flyin' High," and "Harold and Broad" (with Anita Gillette), released three CDs - "Taking Flight," "Shades of Blue," and "Flyin' High," starred in "Café Society Swing" in the West End, and toured as a singer to packed houses from LA to Mykonos. He occasionally coaches singers and has directed two cabaret shows, including the UK hit "A Touch of Mrs. Robinson." Prior to singing, Harold was a theater producer for 20 years. He produced over 60 shows, ranging from the smallest fringe to large scale West End, including" Long Day's Journey into Night" (starring Jessica Lange, Charles Dance, Paul Rudd and Olivia Colman,) "Fallen Angels" (starring Felicity Kendal & Frances de la Tour,) "Unsuspecting Susan" (starring Celia Imrie - London & New York), "A Day in the Death of Joe Egg" (starring Clive Owen), "The Boys Next Door "(starring Steve Guttenberg & Kathy Burke), and "Hospitality" (starring Lesley Joseph).
As a writer, he reviewed for Cabaret Scenes from 2009 to 2013, and continues to be a contributing writer. He has also contributed articles to whatsonstage.com and London Jazz News. He was the Vice Chairman of LAMDA from 1998 to 2015. Prior to London, he worked as an investment banker in New York City and holds an MBA from the Wharton School. haroldsanditen.com
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Stephen Sorokoff
Stephen studied at the Manhattan School of Music. Besides being a pianist, his business career was in the Fashion Industry. He was CEO of a textile manufacturing facility and President of an international textile machinery company. He was on the Board of Directors of the “First All Children’s Theatre” which brought the Stephen Schwartz musical "The Trip and Captain Louie" to the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. His wife Eda, an interior space designer and classical pianist, was on the Board of Barrington Stage Company and is still active at BSC. Stephen’s photographs, videos, and articles appear on Broadwayworld.com, T2Conline.com, and The New York Observer. He is active in the entertainment events at the Friars Club, where he is a member. He is the music editor of Times Square Chronicles and an Advisory Honorary Board Member of The Society For The Preservation of The Great American Songbook.
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Oron Stenesh
Oron Stenesh brings his unique brand of cabaret to the Twin Cities direct from New York City, where he spent 8 years as a music theater actor and cabaret performer. Oron sings, dances, spits spoken word on the mic, gets political, and generally enjoys himself and encourages you to do the same at his O shows. Most recently, he played Bryant Lake Bowl in “HerniO: Stories of Strains.” His Minneapolis debut was, naturally, “Minne-O-polis.” In New York, Oron received a MAC Award Nomination (2011) for “The Big 3-0” and also performed “Olection” and “The O Train” at The Duplex. He toured “Olection” to Chicago’s Davenport’s Piano Bar. Selected theatre credits include an International Tour of "Fame" (as Schlomo), "Babes in Toyland" (Lincoln Center), "Far Away" (New York Theatre Workshop), "A Stoop on Orchard Street" (Off Broadway/Mazer), "A Christmas Carol" (McCarter) and Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel (Theatreworks/USA). He has also appeared on “One Life to Live” as Walt, an orderly that escorted a crazy person to a psych ward before being unceremoniously jettisoned from the ambulance when it ran off the road! Oron is a graduate of Northwestern University’s Theatre and Musical Theatre programs, attendee at the 2007 Cabaret Conference at Yale University, and proud member of MAC, AEA, and AFTRA.
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Eric Stevens
Eric cut his “vocal teeth” in his native Washington, D.C. After degreeing at JMU, then Army service, he spent the l960s in New York trying to be the next Andy Williams. He was managed by Karl Lassen, then Herb Handman. Eric opened for Bill Cosby, played on the hit, The Preacherman, and performed with Erskine Hawkins, Bill Conti, Joe Farrell, Paul Motian, Elliott Gould, Keeffe Brasselle, and Illona Massey. Then, “the music died.” In l969 he returned to Virginia, as a singer, comic-m.c., bandleader, pianist, bassist, journalist, and actor (Another Life). In 2002, Stevens began penning “Sophisticated Songs” for cabaret, jazz, pop, and more. Being a 50/50 tunesmith/wordsmith, he digs Rodgers, Legrand, Frishberg and the Bergmans.
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Geoff Stoner
Geoff Stoner is a New York-based performer who has created and appeared in cabaret shows such as "Words Wit Music" (Songs with Monologues)," "You're The Top (The Words and Music of Cole Porter)," and "A Short Visit Only (The Words and Music of Noel Coward)." In addition to performing, he directs solo and group cabaret shows. He has studied acting with Uta Hagen and Wynn Handman and performance with Lina Koutrakos, Rick Jensen, and others at the Yale Cabaret Conference. He also participates in jazz workshops with Gregory Toroian in NYC and Lori Mecham at the Nashville Jazz Workshop.
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Chris Struck
Chris Struck's debut novel, Kennig and Gold, is due to be officially published in June 2019. He's written reviews for Cabaret Scenes since August of 2017. For more information about the writer, see StruckChris.com
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Todd Sussman
Todd Sussman is a graduate of Columbia University, where he studied journalism and film. A longtime entertainment writer, he is the author of the Blockbuster Video books, The Greatest Movies of All Time, Volumes 1 & 2. He began his writing career as the film critic for The Miami News and soon became the editor of Blockbuster Video Magazine. For his work on the magazine, Todd received an Addy Award for Best In-House Publication, one of several Addy honors he holds. The Walt Disney Company commissioned him to write an interview promoting the film, Who Framed Roger Rabbit (for which Todd wrote the questions as well as the answers, in character as the beloved Roger Rabbit). He had the privilege of working as the Liner Notes Editor on the following projects for Barbra Streisand: Encore (her 11th Number One album), Release Me 2 (with various collector editions), and her tour program for The Music…The Mem’ries…The Magic! He also edited the liner notes for: A Capitol Christmas - Volumes 1 & 2, Neil Diamond’s Classic Diamonds, Nat King Cole & Friends’ A Sentimental Christmas, and Kristin Chenoweth’s Happiness Is Christmas. Recent cover stories for Cabaret Scenes include Johnny Mathis, Kristin Chenoweth, and Stephen Schwartz.
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Helen Theophanous
Helen Theophanous is half Greek/half Irish and studied music at Goldsmiths' and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. She has performed classical works and lead roles in musical theater. Following a career in Education Management, Helen studied jazz with Lea DeLaria and performs in major London venues, appearing regularly at Ronnie Scott's Bar with the resident trio with whom she made her album “Amici.” Her recent Bacharach show was launched at the Crazy Coqs, where Helen occasionally hosts the late night Open Mic. Clare Martin OBE said of Helen's voice “ ...stunning and classy ..with drama and presence...”
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Les Traub
Les Traub has been covering the cabaret scene for over twenty years. He is a co-founder and President of Cabaret West and has produced cabaret shows at the Jazz Bakery, Cinegrill, Gardenia, El Portal Theatre, Pasadena Playhouse and at UCLA. He co-produced and wrote a Sammy Cahn tribute show at the Saban Theatre in Beverly Hills. He is Chairman of the Board of Musical Theatre Guild, where he co- produced Sail Away, High Spirits, Little Mary Sunshine and Street Scene at the Alex Theatre. He has lectured on cabaret in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Connecticut. .
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Elliot Zwiebach
Elliot Zwiebach loves the music of The Great American Songbook and classic Broadway, with a special affinity for Rodgers and Hammerstein. He's been a professional writer for 45 years and a cabaret reviewer for five. Based in Los Angeles, Zwiebach has been exposed to some of the most talented performers in cabaret—the famous and the not-so-famous—and enjoys it all. Reviewing cabaret has even pushed him into doing some singing of his own — a very fun and liberating experience that gives him a connection with the performers he reviews.
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