Club Review: Stacey Kent

Penelope Thomas
Stacey Kent (Photo: JazzJournal.co.uk) Stacey Kent sings from a part of the jazz vocal tradition that I particularly admire. She’s one of the post-Anita O’Day singers who has found her lane in a mellow groove.  Her sound is perfect for Brazilian styles, technically accomplished, with even tone and dynamic markings peaking...

Club Review: Sidney Myer

Betsyann Faiella
For many years, Sidney Myer has been well known to us as the kind, funny, and encouraging impresario at Don’t Tell Mama (and previously, Panache). Every once in a while he would take the stage at a fancy event and sing a song or two to everyone’s delight. In recent years, he began appearing in...

Review: Wendy-Lane Bailey’s “Five Minutes: Snapshots in Time”

Betsyann Faiella
Wendy-Lane Bailey, the beautiful and enigmatic singer/producer, took centerstage as a performer at United Solo Festival this year with her work, Five Minutes: Snapshots in Time. The show was directed by Omar Sangare who is the founder and artistic director of the festival. Described as a “musical examination of the turning points that transform your life...

CD Review: Karen Mason’s “Let the Music Play”

Gerry Geddes
I first reviewed Karen Mason back in the “golden days” of NYC cabaret, at the Duplex,  just after she moved from Chicago to NYC and then, a bit later, at the opening night of the cabaret room at Don’t Tell Mama.  She was an electrifying vocalist, a spellbinding and open-hearted storyteller, and a star. She...

Club Review: Dorian Woodruff’s “Studio Musician—The Music of Manilow”

Gerry Geddes
Dorian Woodruff (Photo: Frank Marando) As the first notes of Chopin’s “Prelude in C Minor” (which is the basis of Barry Manilow’s “Could It Be Magic”) slid easily into “It’s A Miracle” (Manilow, Marty Panzer), it was already apparent that singer Dorian Woodruff holds a special affection for and appreciation of...

Club Review: Quinn Lemley’s “Rita Hayworth: The Heat Is On!”

Lisa Jo Sagolla
  Quinn Lemley (Photo courtesy of Century Artists Management Agency.) A highly theatrical production, singer Quinn Lemley’s thrilling “Rita Hayworth: The Heat is On!” is an extravagant look at the life of the eponymous Hollywood sex symbol, the glamorous World War II pin-up girl dubbed the “Love Goddess.”  Sporting stunning costumes...

Club Review: Mason Alexander Park’s “The Pansy Craze”

Gerry Geddes
Mason Alexander Park’s The Pansy Craze at Chelsea Table + Stage was part TED talk on non-binary history, part hard rock cabaret show, and part showcase for Park’s obvious talents. They played Hedwig in the first national tour of Hedwig and the Angry Inch, and regionally in I Am My Own Wife, Cabaret, and The...

Club Review: Kim David Smith’s “Mostly Marlene”

Gerry Geddes
Kim David Smith (Photo: José Alejandro Espaillat) On the eve of Halloween 2021, I ventured into Club Cumming in the East Village. It was festooned with cobwebs and an errant skull here and there; hanging from the ceiling throughout the bar were multiple close-up photos of Janet Leigh’s head just as...

Club Review: Gilbert D. Sanchez’s “Me and My Good Judys at Good Judy”

Gerry Geddes
Gilbert D. Sanchez I recently visited The Blue Room, a new (or at least new to me) cabaret upstairs from Good Judy, a friendly and comfortable gay bar on Fifth Ave in Brooklyn.  The show room is a tiny, bare bones space with an upright piano on the stage, decent lights,...

Club Review: “If It Only Even Runs a Minute — Celebrates the Underappreciated Musicals of Hal Prince”

Gerry Geddes
Harold Prince If It Only Even Runs a Minute, which recently returned to Feinstein’s/ 54 Below, is the brainchild of Jennifer Ashley Tepper and Kevin Michael Murphy who serve as genial, enthusiastic, informative hosts for a show dedicated to samples from and stories about the flops of Broadway history.  It is...