Simi Horwitz

Simi Horwitz is an award-winning feature writer/film reviewer who has been honored by The Newswomen’s Club of New York, The Los Angeles Press Club, The Society for Feature Journalism, the American Jewish Press Association, and the New York Press Club (among others). She received an Honorable Mention from Folio: Eddie and Ozzie Awards for her two drag stories (May 22, 2020, August 4, 2020) published here on BistroAwards.com. More recently, she was the recipient of the 2023 New York Press Club Award and won three 2023 L.A. Press Club Awards, including first prize for film criticism (for reviews published in the Forward). The publications that have printed her work include The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Hollywood Reporter, Film Journal International, and American Theatre. She was an on-staff feature writer at Backstage for fifteen years (1997-2012).   

Simi Horwitz

Articles by this Author:

Six Authors Talk About Publishing Books on the Great American Songbook and Its Artists in Today’s Market

So, you want to publish a book about your favorite composers or singers right out of the Great American Songbook? Or, iconic Broadway musicals, for that matter? Think again, assert...

Crowdfunding: The Do’s, the Don’ts, the Virtues, the Liabilities

Doing What You Have to Do to Get Your Work Out There When James Beaman decided to return to cabaret after a 20-year absence, and in the wake of the...

The Reinvented (and Always Reinventing) Stand-Up Comic

In a song snippet, dubbed “Denial,” filmed at New York's Comedy Cellar more than a decade ago, stand-up comic Rick Crom slyly alluded to people kidding themselves when “when they...

From Logistics to Aesthetics: The Varying Roles of the Cabaret Director

BistroAwards.com's critic Gerry Geddes, also a cabaret director, has worn many hats that include writer, lyricist, teacher, and theatre director. He has no doubt about the major challenge cabaret directors...

NY Cabaret Rooms: What Are the Subtle and Not-So-Subtle Differences Among Them?

Isn’t it obvious that an evening at Don’t Tell Mama is qualitatively different from, say, 54 Below or Pangea? Sidney Myer Yes and no, says Sidney Myer, veteran cabaret performer...

Paying Tribute: Various Approaches One Can Take When Celebrating the Work of an Artist

Performers paying tribute to a singing icon or big name writing-composing team usually work within a clearly defined genre. They belt or croon the tunes identified with the anointed artist(s)...

Meet Four Performers Who Faced A Different Kind of Challenge, and Triumphed!

Anita Hollander (Photo: Kia Michelle Benbow) ANITA HOLLANDER, whose double bout with cancer led to a full leg amputation, has no problem with the words “disability."...

Cabaret Singers: Did Their Virtual Performing Experiences Have Any Effect on Their Long-Awaited Return to the Stage?

We began this article with the hypothesis that cabaret artists must have learned at least something from their virtual presentations that they were then able to bring bring back to their...

Seven Artists Discuss Performing in Cabaret and in Musical Theatre

What Are the Differences? Do They Prefer One Over the Other? Does Each Serve the Artist in Different Ways? Some cabaret-cum-musical theatre performers equivocate, but most, at least among those...

Drag Kings Just Want to Have Fun and Get Their Due

Article #2 of Simi Horwitz's ongoing series on alt-cabaret. Drag King Mo B. Dick (aka Mo Fischer), best known for his self-defining quip, “Instead of being an angry woman I...