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Cheyenne Jackson

Bistro Awards
Two Cheyenne Jacksons are making their Café Carlyle debut: Cheyenne Jackson the handsome actor-singer of stage, film, and television; and Cheyenne Jackson the man, who has faced a number of personal challenges and tells us about them. Headliners at the upper echelon of clubs may sometimes talk about their careers, but it’s quite rare for...

The 25th Anniversary NYC Cabaret Convention

Bistro Awards
The 25th anniversary edition of the NYC Cabaret Convention, presented by the Mabel Mercer Foundation, took place October 20-23 at the Rose Theater at Jazz at Lincoln Center. Robert Windeler, Kevin Scott Hall, and Mark Dundas Wood covered the four nights for us. Following are their thoughts.

Barb Jungr

Bistro Awards
Barb Jungr is a great interpreter of songs. She is every bit as iconic as the singer/songwriters she chooses to translate and reinterpret. She’s a rock star; she looks and feels like the girl next door or your mom—if your mom were Patti Smith or Joni Mitchell. In her current show at 59E59 Theaters, the...

Jon Peterson

Bistro Awards
With his recent show exploring the life and career of entertainer Anthony Newley (at Stage 72 at The Triad), British singer-dancer-actor-writer Jon Peterson reminded the audience just how thrilling a well-executed tribute performance can be. In part the success of “He Wrote Good Songs” (a title inspired by Newley’s chosen epitaph) can be attributed to...

Carol Fredette

Bistro Awards
Carol Fredette has decided that she is not going to sing any more downbeat songs, at least when it comes to their lyric content. That sweeping decision has eliminated all of the blues and a large swath of country music, at a minimum, from her possible repertoire. But this show at Jazz at Kitano, taken...

Isabel Rose

Bistro Awards
Expensively produced flash-and-trash is often able to find an enthusiastic audience, even at the high end of the cabaret world. This one-night effort proved that anew, and you didn’t have to go to Las Vegas to see it. Rose, whose show at 54 Below was in aid of her latest album release, “Trouble in Paradise,”...

Natalie Douglas

Bistro Awards
“Hello Dolly,” Natalie Douglas’s recent tribute to Dolly Parton at Birdland, provided a memorable cabaret experience. Her vocal instrument is incomparable; she segues easily from a smoky contralto to a pinging, piercing mix that is as rich and resplendent as early Streisand.  

Jake Mendes

Bistro Awards
Although his recent Don’t Tell Mama show, “Lady Songs,” had more than a few rough edges, Jake Mendes is, I think, on the right path to finding out who he is as a solo performer and what his place might be in New York’s cabaret community. Or, if he isn’t on that path quite yet,...

Liam Forde

Bistro Awards
The title of Liam Forde’s offering at Stage 72—”A Fleet Phantasmagoria!”—is a bit much and a little precious, isn’t it? Well, the show, itself, is a lot much and very precious—with both adjectives now used in their most plauditory sense:much signifying the prodigious amount of artistic creativity on display;precious in that the musical numbers go from gem to gem, with...

Tom Andersen

Bistro Awards
The closing performance of Tom Andersen’s recent Don’t Tell Mama show (his first solo program in almost a decade) had a casual pre-Labor Day vibe. He wore cool summer attire, befitting a box social. And he’d tucked plenty of fresh, thoughtfully prepared musical treats in his picnic hamper.