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

Simi Horwitz
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 face today.  Put simply: it’s the diminished values of the culture at large. More specifically, it's what’s viewed and promoted as musical entertainment on such...

“Does This Song Look Good on Me?”—Four Singers Discuss Their Approaches to Repertoire

Mark Dundas Wood
It’s one of the central issues that cabaret and jazz performers face throughout their careers: How do you best go about picking material to sing? And that initial query prompts several related questions: -How do you decide if and when a song is right for you to perform? -How do you know when you’ve outgrown...

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

Simi Horwitz
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 and long-term booker at Don’t Tell Mama (DTM). “While each venue has its individual style, pluses and minuses, there’s overlap today.” The fabulous entertainer is...

“Barbra Streisand: the Music, the Albums, the Singles”—a Conversation with Author Matt Howe

Mark Dundas Wood
It was Yentl that turned Matt Howe into a Barbra Streisand aficionado.  He’d been in high school when A Star Is Born came out in 1976—too young to see an R-rated film. Before that, he was only dimly aware of the acting-singing star. He heard the Yentl cast album before the film’s release in 1983....

Cabaret Setlist: “Let’s Not Talk About Love” – Music and Lyrics by Cole Porter

Mark Dundas Wood
Repertoire for the Once and Future American Songbook Article #24 in this ongoing series. In 23 installments of Cabaret Setlist, how have we not yet looked at a song by Cole Porter? One of musical theatre’s most respected composer-lyricist hyphenates—along with Irving Berlin, Stephen Sondheim, and Jerry Herman—Porter was exceedingly prolific. A 1983 collection, The...

“The Real Ambassadors”: New Book Recalls an Anti-Segregation Jazz Musical Starring Louis Armstrong and Carmen McRae

Mark Dundas Wood
Say, show tune lovers—did you ever hear of The Real Ambassadors, a musical developed by famed jazz pianist Dave Brubeck (“Take Five”) and his wife, Iola, in the late 1950s and early 1960s? The show was envisioned as a Louis Armstrong vehicle, with Carmen McRae as his love interest. The celebrated “vocalese” trio of Lambert,...

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

Simi Horwitz
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) in their best voices.  But sometimes other ingredients are added to the mix—from unexpected interpretations to political implications to using the songs as a vehicle...

Remembering Jay Rogers

Gerry Geddes
On October 28, 2022, we lost Jay Rogers, one of the most hilarious, talented, endearing clowns in New York cabaret and theatre, to cancer.  It is a tragic reminder of the fragility of our lives, and that even a man whose art and being embodied a whole-hearted, joy-filled embrace of life and living it to...

Club Review: Dorian Woodruff’s “The Lyrics of Alan and Marilyn Bergman”

Gerry Geddes
In 1960, lyricists Alan and Marilyn Bergman secured their position in the Great American Songbook with Frank Sinatra’s recording of “Nice ‘n’ Easy” (Lew Spence) and, up until Marilyn’s death this year, they provided a lyrical backdrop to the passing decades with songs in film, theatre, television, and recordings while working with some of the...

Club Review: “Lisa Viggiano Sings the Jane Olivor Songbook”

Gerry Geddes
After she was discovered (and signed to Columbia Records) at her very first cabaret show, Jane Olivor released five albums between 1976 and 1982 that endeared her to many, particularly in the gay community.  As their superstar Barbra Streisand ascended to the stratosphere, Olivor took her place in many of their hearts.  As the AIDS...