Cabaret Theater Reviews

BWW Reviews: Force of Nature Lauren Robert Rocks Iridium Again

Four songs into Lauren Robert's show at Iridium this past Tuesday night (her third appearance at the jazz club since last August), she was already producing her usual pulsating, percussive, and passionate presentation of hard-driving blues and soulful pop when the show took a transformative turn and reached a higher ground. The mature, sultry, blue-eyed blonde, whose sound goes beyond blue-eyed soul, put on her Louisiana accent cultivated from years playing down south with her old band, Mojo Hand, and told her audience that the set's fifth song was 'inspired by the swamps and sexy action of N'awlins.' Then Robert and her new band, which included three members of the old gang, really got their mojo going, jumped into a musical swamp boat and navigated through a Robert original called 'Two Alligators' (from Mojo Hand's 1992 album Zulu Parasol), an intense and rhythmic mix of blues, hard rock n' roll, and Zydeco, and that featured a cool background vocal arrangement and Robert playing a washboard-better known as a fotoi (fo-twa)-draped down her chest. Like an alligator, the song stalked and then snapped, and with Noe Matos supplying some frenetic percussion, it was a draw-dropping number that wouldn't let you stop bouncing in your seat. (more...)

BWW Reviews: Lovely Laura Benanti Is A Dazzling 'Idiot's' Delight in Her New Show at 54 Below

Halfway through her opening night at 54 Below on Monday, Laura Benanti unveiled the evening's showstopper, a multi pop-song mix titled 'Inappropriate Medley.' No, Benanti didn't faux strip her way through the songs as if she was replaying her past role as Gypsy Rose Lee, but she frantically ripped through eight songs, including Beyonce's 'All the Single Ladies,' 'Old Man River,' Sonny & Cher's 'I Got You Babe,' Aretha Franklin's 'Respect,' and culminated the riff by boogying like Tina Turner on 'Proud Mary,' and playing a tambourine tossed over by her Musical Director/pianist Todd Almond. As the audience commenced with raucous cheering, an almost out-of-breath Benanti quipped, 'I can't wait to read the review tomorrow that says Laura Benanti is an idiot.' Well, Laura Benanti may be a lot of things, but idiot is not one of them. (more...)

BWW Reviews: Eden Espinosa Charms Nashville Audiences...Cabaret Style

Come to the Cabaret…The Absinthe Cabaret, that is. Saturday night was the inaugural event of the newly formed Absinthe Cabaret in Franklin, TN. Executive Producer, Carolan Trbovich lined up a fantastic first event, with Broadway star Eden Espinosa headlining, and theatre and stage musician Johnny Rodgers hosting. Eden is best known for her roles as Elphaba in Wicked, for playing Maureen in the final cast of RENT on Broadway, and for originating the role of Brooklyn in the musical Brooklyn. Johnny Rodgers has toured with Liza Minnelli and appeared on Broadway with her during her show, Liza's at the Palace. (more...)

BWW Reviews: 2012 MetroStar Talent Champ BILLIE ROE Delivers a Gritty, Winning Tribute to Tom Waits

You probably don't have to feel sorry for a mature, experienced female singer who decides to tackle the gritty music of Tom Waits and calls her show 1978 NYC Underground, but it was still tough not to feel for Billie Roe as she performed this week at the Metropolitan Room. Roe, who in 2011 offered the highly-praised Dangerous Women: Life In Film Noir, admittedly has yearned to present a Waits songbook for 35 years, but just a couple of months before her four-show run which ends tonight at 9:30 pm (her prize for winning the 2012 MetroStar Challenge Competition at the Met Room), rising cabaret star Marissa Mulder staged a Tom Waits-themed show that was close to perfect in every way and earned rave reviews from the New York Times and BroadwayWorld.com. (more...)

BWW Reviews: In DADDY'S LITTLE GIRL, Champagne Pam is Bubbly, Brassy, Bold and Beautiful at the Beechman

Two years ago, in my generally favorable review of Pamela Lewis' quirky, if flawed, cabaret show Dog Walking Diva, I went a little bit out on the limb with . . . “She has the potential to be a major cabaret star.” Well, as Lewis (who given her bubbly and bold personality performs under the totally appropriate moniker of “Champagne Pam”) remarked often in her newest show, during which she assessed whether she had yet achieved a list of life goals, that particular observation would have to get a “check.” Because with Daddy's Little Girl, Champagne Pam--who proudly admitted to having reached the Big 4-0--is all grown up as a cabaret performer and should be a member of that rarified group who even a reviewer on a press comp should pay to see and hear. (more...)

BWW Reviews: Bayou City Concert Musicals' ALONE TOGETHER: THE MUSIC OF ARTHUR SCHWARTZ is a Magically Enchanting Cabaret

Paul Hope's Bayou City Concert Musicals (BCCM) is proudly continuing their mission of bringing to Houston the best of the best from show business' yesteryears. Sometimes it is in the form of a forgotten or neglected musical, like their concert stagings of ONE TOUCH OF VENUS, THE SECRET GARDEN, and FINNAN'S RAINBOW. At other events, Paul Hope stages a cabaret of a composer's hits and erstwhile gems. Last Monday, BCCM premiered their cabaret entitled ALONE TOGETHER: THE SONGS OF ARTHUR SCHWARTZ. Arthur Schwartz composed for the Broadway productions THE BAND WAGON, A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN, and others. He was also a celebrated Hollywood composer, writing music for THANK YOUR LUCKY STARS, the film adaptation of THE BAND WAGON, and others. (more...)

CABARET LIFE NYC: Sunday at the Cabaret with Corinna, Eva and Lianne -- Two Out of Three Ain't Bad

When you're a cabaret reviewer on the evening show prowl between Monday night and Saturday evening (although not every night, thank goodness), you'd like to think that the God of Cabaret would make Sunday a day of rest. No such luck, since the weekend allows clubs to book shows as early as brunch time. I learned this again early this month when I felt compelled to attend three shows starring charming female singers-Corinna Sowers-Adler at Stage 72 (the Triad), Eva Kantor at the Laurie Beechman, and Lianne Marie Dobbs at the Metropolitan Room. I didn't break my personal Sunday record of four shows in one day set in late January (yes, I should be committed), but there was a two-hour break in this mix so it still turned out to be an 8-hour cabaret extravaganza. (Thank you, oh God of Cabaret, for press comps!) While it would have been sweet for the musical marathon to have been a clean sweep of excellent shows, as Meat Loaf might croon, 'Two Out Of Three Ain't Bad.' (more...)

William Blake's Triumphant Etta James Tribute Show Transforms the Cafe Carlyle Into an R & B Concert Hall

Texas born and bred singer William Blake--who came to New York six years ago at age 24--has lately taken the town by storm with his terrific tribute show to the legendary Etta James. In the process, Blake has also managed to transform some of the town's most prestigious nightclub/cabaret venues into his own personal concert halls. First it was at Birdland, where in the summer of 2012 and with the support of 'Cast Party' impresario Jim Caruso, Blake launched his Echoes of Etta raucous, standing-room only crowds. Then last February, Blake, his five piece band and three girl backup singers, overpowered Joe's Pub. But the last two nights might have been Blake's most impressive performances to date, as he totally captured the crowd at the elegant and sedate Cafe Carlyle (for the room's new 10:45 'Second Act' sets). It was almost as if you were experiencing an R & B concert at Carnegie Hall. (more...)

BWW Reviews: OC Hosts Tony-winning Legend Barbara Cook's 85th Birthday Concert

Billed as Barbara Cook's Special 85th Birthday Concert, the Tony Award-winning soprano's one-woman concert of musical theatre songs, rare selections, and jazz standards at the Renee and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall in Costa Mesa was met with well-earned---and well-deserved---adoring cheers throughout the evening. And if the concert was Cook's master class in musical performance, her latter interview with ASCAP's Michael Kerker was a symposium on how to be the best entertainer one can be. (more...)

BWW Reviews: Gia Mora Brings EINSTEIN'S GIRL to Bethesda Blues and Jazz Supper Club

Cabaret and physics? Who would have thought? Yet, Gia Mora makes it all work. (more...)

Lauren Fox's Transcendent Mitchell/Cohen Tribute Show in a New Jersey Concert Hall Is a Total Trip

Well, it took me almost a year and a half and a long car ride deep into New Jersey to do it, but when last Saturday night (March 23) I finally got a chance to see and hear Lauren Fox's Joni Mitchell/Leonard Cohen Tribute Show ('The painter and the poet who mesmerized the world with their songs,' as Fox put it), it was well worth the wait--and the trip. Actually, the show itself was a trip, as Fox not only embodied the look, spirit, and vocal timbre of Mitchell and her songs (if not completely reaching her soaring soprano), she also managed to channel the persona of the intense and mysterious machoness of Cohen simply by donning a fedora and maximizing her deeper register voice. It's not at all a surprise that Fox not only received rave media reviews and the 2012 MAC Award for 'Best Debut' for this show, but that a 750-seat theater like the recently-renovated, Art Deco style Landis in Vineland, NJ, would want to bring this stunning, 16-song cabaret set and Fox's transcendent performance to their stage (more...)

Marissa Mulder Rolls Up Her Rainbow Sleeves, Raises Her Own Personal Bar, and Conquers Tom Waits Classics at the Metropolitan Room

Observing the evolution of young Marissa Mulder's cabaret career is like watching a high jumper going for the gold at the Olympic Games. With every show or performance, she and the creative teams around her set the bar just a little bit higher and she keeps clearing the dang thing. But with her new Tom Waits Tribute Show, which opened last night at the Metropolitan Room (and continues through Saturday night, all at 7pm), the bar was raised multiple notches, and damn if she didn't clear it with inches to spare. With Tom . . . In His Own Words/The Songs of Tom Waits, Mulder has vaulted herself into major cabaret performer territory and even managed to stick the landing. (more...)

BWW Reviews: Leslie Uggams Delights Audience at The Apollo

Leslie Uggams one-woman,autobiographical, musical show, 'Uptown/Downtown' was a hit with The Apollo audience on Monday, March 18th. (more...)

BWW Reviews: Legendary Marilyn Maye's 'Maye-den Voyage' at 54 Below is Sensationally Smooth Sailing

Wednesday night was the second of Marilyn Maye's first 54 Below run (which will continue until March 16) and she sashayed around the stage in front of an almost full house like a woman of 35. Like most of her shows, Maye's performance was a 'live' cabaret Master Class for budding cabaret performers and seasoned professionals alike, and this 'Maye-den Voyage' never went adrift (thanks in part to solid and unobtrusive support from Tedd Frith on piano, Tom Hubbard on bass, and Jim Eklof on drums). (more...)

Jillian Laurain's 'Broadway' and Stacy Sullivan's Peggy Lee Tribute Give Audiences Saturday Night 'Fever'

The cabaret gods must be smiling on this reviewer because this past Saturday evening my wife and I celebrated her birthday with an intimate dinner in between a couple of totally engaging shows from two lovely ladies of cabaret; the beautiful Jillian Laurain paying homage to classic Broadway show tunes at the Metropolitan Room, and the beguiling Stacy Sullivan in her MAC and BroadwayWorld.com Award-nominated tribute to Peggy Lee, 'It's a Good Day,' at the Cafe Carlyle. For me and the Birthday Girl, it was definitely a good night. (more...)

BWW Reviews: Broadway Couple Mazzie & Danieley Offer HE SAID/SHE SAID Cabaret

Armed with twice the vocal power and awash with plenty of real, fiery chemistry, Broadway vets -- and real-life married couple -- Marin Mazzie and Jason Danieley's romantically-themed cabaret showcase titled 'He Said/She Said' played to packed audiences at the Samueli Theater in Costa Mesa over Valentine's Day Weekend, February 14 - 16. The touring concert act was cheekily explained as the couple's true love story told via specially-selected tunes that span Broadway and the Great American Songbook. (more...)

T. Oliver Reid Visits Vintage Harlem and Eric Michael Gillett Explores the Lyrics of Lorenz Hart at 54 Below Shows

At last year's Manhattan Association of Cabarets and Clubs (MAC) Awards, two of the big winners were T. Oliver Reid (photo left) for Male Debut and Eric Michael Gillett for Major Artist, Male (and both could very likely be MAC nominees again this year). Almost a year later, two of New York cabaret's leading men performed new shows one night apart at 54 Below; Reid on February 6 with Drop Me Off in Harlem, and Gillett the next night with Careless Rhapsody: An Evening Dedicated to the Lyrics of Lorenz Hart. Ironically, what the shows had in common--besides being a fairly good fit of material to singer--was that the majority of their sets featured songs written in the 1930s but in very different styles. With Reid it was the jazz, swing and blues of Harlem; with Gillette it was the romantic Broadway musical sensibility of Hart's lyrics (paired with the timeless melodies of Richard Rodgers). While neither Reid's 'Harlem,' nor Gillett's 'Hart' were stirring or spectacular shows, they were both solid and entertaining enough that both could be nominated for BroadwayWorld.com Awards in 2013. (more...)

KT Sullivan and Karen Kohler Are WUNDERBAR in Award-Winning Revue VIENNA TO WEIMAR at Stage 72

If you couldn't get to the Ziegfeld Theatre at the end of January to attend the year-late 40th Anniversary Blu-Ray DVD Screening of the 1972 film “Cabaret,” here's how you can do the next best thing. Head over to Stage 72 (formerly The Triad, on 158 W. 72nd Street) and watch KT Sullivan and Karen Kohler in their 2012 BroadwayWorld.com Award-winning revue 'Vienna to Weimar,' which will transport you into the politically infused and sexually steamy period of pre-World War II Austria and Germany, when life and art really was a cabaret. The only things missing will be a decadent MC and scantily-clad dancers. (more...)

BWW Reviews: JEROME KERN IN HOLLYWOOD - A Must-See Captivating Cabaret

Bayou City Concert Musicals has a track record of enjoyable and wholly entertaining performances. They burst onto the Houston Theatre scene with a concert production of FOLLIES. Since FOLLIES, Paul Hope has astounded audiences with productions of FALSETTOS, SHE LOVES ME, 70, GIRLS, 70, ASSASSINS, FIORELLO!, THE SECRET GARDEN, PAL JOEY, ON THE TOWN, GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES, FINNAN'S RAINBOW, and ONE TOUCH OF VENUS. Each of these shows was a sensational hit in its own time, but has been notoriously neglected as time merrily rolls along. Each of these concerts has been accompanied by a live orchestra, which only increases the price tag for producing the fabulous productions. To help keep ticket prices affordable, Paul Hope utilizes showcase cabarets as fundraisers. Like his concert productions, the cabarets are jam packed with the best of the best of Houston's musical theatre talent who only aim to captivate and enthrall. The latest cabaret, JEROME KERN IN HOLLYWOOD, is no exception. (more...)

BWW Reviews: Amanda McBroom Sweeps Into the Cafe Carlyle With a Romantic Valentine to Love Songs and Her Audience

It's hard to believe that Amanda McBroom--who many consider to be one of the country's leading cabaret performers--had never played the elegant Cafe Carlyle before the current run of her new show A Valentine Rose. But better late than never because few things could warm the cockles of a romance-craved heart more on a frigid early February evening than McBroom sweeping into the Carlyle and singing songs about the vagaries of love that fit her special definition: 'Like a double expresso--a slice of life ground under pressure with a little bit of steam.' (more...)

BWW Reviews: Community Rallies with FIGHT LIKE A GIRL: A CABARET FOR CARLA YOUNG

A review of Orlando's Theatre Downtown cabaret benefiting local stage manager, Carla Young. (more...)

BWW Reviews: Christine Andreas Is Totally Bewitching In Musing On Creative Musical Connections in BEMUSED at 54 Below

Even her biggest fans among the opening night crowd were likely befuddled, slightly bothered, and even a tad bewildered when they heard that Christine Andreas' first cabaret show at 54 Below was called "Bemused," and not exactly sure what that meant. But they would ultimately end up being thoroughly bewitched by a wonderfully engaging show by this totally entertaining pro. While most current or former Broadway stars who are staging shows at 54 Below are performing what amounts to mini-concerts, the lady who first became a Broadway audience favorite as Eliza Doolittle in the 20th anniversary production of My Fair Lady (and is two-time Tony Award nominee) knows her way around cabaret and developed a charmingly creative conceit for this run (continuing on Jan. 29, Feb. 1, 2 at 8:30 pm and Jan. 30, 31 at 7 pm), which included songs from Broadway, pop, the Great American Songbook, and even Edith Piaf. (more...)

CABARET LIFE NYC: Adam Shapiro's Hilarious 'Guide to the Perfect Breakup' is Also a Primer On Creating Great Cabaret Musical Comedy

If you're a cabaret performer thinking about staging a musical comedy theme show, or even if you're just a cabaret fan who appreciates a thoroughly entertaining show on multiple levels, you should try to squeeze yourself into The Duplex on Wednesday night at 7 pm to see Adam Shapiro's encore performance of his Guide to the Perfect Breakup, which is also a textbook on how to create the almost perfect musical comedy cabaret show. With the guidance and support of Director Peter Napolitano and Musical Director Barry Levitt, Shapiro has crafted a structurally intricate yet seamless show about the evolution of romantic relationships-no matter what your gender-which is also funny without being sarcastic, biting without being bitchy, and tender without being cloying. And it showcases the talents of a cuddly teddy bear of a performer, who possesses the kind of solid singing, acting, and comedic chops that make him a young, rising cabaret star. (more...)

BWW Reviews: Rosemary Loar is 'Out of This World' in Her Arlen-Ellington Tribute Show at the Metropolitan Room

With her tribute show to the music of Harold Arlen and Duke Allington, 'When Harry Met The Duke' is Rosemary Loar's creative foray back into the caressing arms of the Great American Songbook. If you consider that the contemporary cabaret scene in New York is 30 years on (since the opening of Don't Tell Mama in 1982 and the start of MAC in 1983), there have been likely been thousands of cabaret shows with GAS themes and the interesting new ideas may be down to a precious few. And Loar, who has been performing cabaret shows during that same time frame, has managed to come up with yet another variation and her erudite and accessibly sophisticated show goes down like a delicious vodka martini topped with a skewer of blue cheese stuffed olives. (more...)

BWW Reviews: Carole J. Bufford Passionately Pours Her Heart and Mind into 'Body & Soul' at the Metropolitan Room

I don't know about other cabaret journalists, but I have to believe that a reviewer feels the biggest buzz (aside from when composing a really well-crafted show analysis) when he or she has been fortunate enough to observe a young performer's ascent into stardom. That's the way I felt last Wednesday night at the Metropolitan Room as I was watching Carole J. Bufford's new show, Body & Soul. (more...)