Monday evening found me at my usual Monday night hangout, Jim Caruso's Cast Party at Birdland. As always, there was a whole slew of talent on hand to keep the evening moving along merrily, including Lea DeLaria, Nicolas King, Angela Bingham, Maureen Taylor, Susan Winter, and (of course!) Jim Caruso himself! Scott Siegel did a terrific job filling in as guest host for the first hour, and, as always, the Cast Party band (Tedd Firth on piano, Steve Doyle on bass, and Dustin Jensen on drums) was fab!
On Wednesday night, I was very excited to be at the CD Release listening party for Irish songstress Maxine Linehan's Petula Clark tribute CD, What Would Petula Do? I'd seen Maxine perform the tribute earlier this year, and loved it. She's got a terrific voice, a charming, engaging personality, and great arrangements, not to mention a fantastic band and backup vocalists. On Wednesday night, the invited audience had a chance to mill around the beautiful Tainted Blue recording studio (where the CD was recorded), sip champagne, and listen to the CD being played, and then we were all brought into the main studio, where Ms. Linehan treated us to a live performance of five of the songs on the CD, including the title track, which was written especially for this project by her musical director Gerald Stockstill, along with Ken Jones. It was a really fun evening, and the CD sounded great - can't wait to get in on my ipod!
Thursday night, it was off to The Metropolitan Room for Gretchen Reinhagen in Special Kaye: A Tribute to the Incomparable Kaye Ballard. Directed by cabaret veteran Barry Kleinbort (who, incidentally, has worked extensively with Kaye Ballard herself!), the show was entertaining, informative, touching, and funny - all rolled into one well-structured, well-paced hour! Ms. Reinhagen did a great job of covering Ms. Ballard's nightclub material, Broadway material, and the all-important "special material," for which Ms. Ballard is particularly well known. Also woven in were some interesting anecdotes about several songs which were written for or given to Ms. Ballard first ("If," "My Coloring Book," "Maybe This Time"), but for one reason or another ended up getting made famous by someone else! Ms. Reinhagen did a terrific job with everything, but she really seems to have found herself a special niche with the comedic numbers, such as "Teeny Tiny," "Name Dropping," and "Sara Lee." It takes a special kind of talent to pull songs like that off, and she does it as well or better than anyone I've seen!
Friday night, it was back to The Metropolitan Room for MetroJam, which is the monthly open mic I have the honor of hosting. Despite the freezing temperatures in Manhattan, the room was full of incredibly talented folks, including the tremendously talented Tony DeSare, who was battling a cold but came through like gangbusters as our special guest for the night, performing an incredible piano version of "Autumn Leaves," a brand new Christmas song he'd just written last weekend, and "This Christmas," for which he brought up his friend, singer Adam James, to duet on. Adam then stayed up onstage and did a beautiful "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas," accompanied by Mr. DeSare! Other talented folks who got up to the mic last night included Carol McCann, Mary Foster Conklin, David Goldman , David Nathan Scott, and Sarah Rice, among others. It was a great evening, and, as always, the MetroJam Band (John DiPinto on piano, Ritt Henn on bass and Bobby Sher on drums) did a truly outstanding job!
Where I'm going this week...
Monday, December 14th: Jim Van Slyke in The Sedaka Show at Feinstein's at Loews Regency. I saw Mr. Van Slyke perform this show earlier this year and loved it! Since then, he's gone on to garner rave reviews from Mr. Sedaka himself and added some additional material the show. Can't wait to see it again!
Cast Party at Birdland. Hosted by Jim Caruso, this fantastic open mic usually runs from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. but this week, it will be starting an hour late due to the S.R.O. Jason Robert Brown concert starting at 9 p.m. I'm going to run over after seeing Jim Van Slyke at Feinstein's to continue what looks to be a great evening!
Tuesday, December 14th: Lennie Watts, Scott Coulter and Steven Ray Watkins with special guest Karen Mack in 'Bout This Time Each Year, their acclaimed holiday show. I've seen this show several times before and can't wait to see it again! Featuring well loved holiday favorites as well as some less traditional songs, this show never fails to put me in the Christmas spirit. Show is at 7 p.m. at Don't Tell Mama.
Pictured: Michael Feinstein and David Hyde Pierce
Photo Credit: Linda Lenzi
