Robin Westle

Mark Dundas Wood
1969 was famous as a year full of political tumult and social upheaval. Richard Nixon began what would be a troubled presidency in January. A draft lottery was instituted to conscript American men to fight in the prolonged conflict in Vietnam. And the Stonewall riots put the nascent Gay Liberation movement in the spotlight that...

Scott Raneri

Mark Dundas Wood
The Marvelous Mr. Marzo (written by Joey Virgo and directed by Mark Copron) is one of those cabaret shows that is also a confessional monodrama. But instead of telling and singing of a troubled romantic relationship or a battle with personal demons, singer and actor Scott Raneri relates the tale of a family secret that...

Maureen Taylor

Mark Dundas Wood
With her lilting voice and sunny stage presence, Maureen Taylor puts the cabaret listener in a receptive frame of mind, whatever she is singing. In her recent show at Don't Tell Mama, Cosmic Connections: The Lyrics of Michael Colby (directed by Frank Galgano), she performed songs with varying colors and moods, but with an overarching...

Katharine Mehrling

Penelope Thomas
While it is a delicious thing to hear a real Berliner singing from the Weimar Cabaret tradition, Katharine Mehrling seems to have a soul that is equally inspired by the streets of Paris. Her trio of muses for Streets of Berlin, her recent offering at Joe's Pub, were Marlene Dietrich, Judy Garland, and Édith Piaf....

Elizabeth Parrish

Robert Windeler
If there's such a thing as a carefully crafted stream-of-consciousness approach to cabaret, Elizabeth Parrish is surely the queen of it. In her recent show at Pangea, Every Soul's a Cabaret (directed by Paola Styron), "Betsy," as she was introduced, made a most convincing case for her own life as a cabaret and a largely...

Lauren Frazza

Gerry Geddes
Feelin' Good, singer Lauren Frazza's remarkably assured cabaret debut at Pangea, is filled with great singing, striking arrangements, good humor and real emotion. Again and again, one forgets that this is her first venture into cabaret. Under Geoff Stoner's clean, precise direction, Frazza delights the audience with tales of the dogs she has known. She...

Lisa Viggiano

Robert Windeler
In her latest show, From Lady Day to The Boss (at Don't Tell Mama, smoothly directed by Tanya Moberly), Lisa Viggiano justly and joyously celebrated the nearly five-decade career at Columbia Records of John Henry Hammond—from his supervision of the last recordings of Bessie Smith to his signing and launching of Bruce Springsteen. In between...

Gretchen Reinhagen

Gerry Geddes
Lately it seems that singer Gretchen Reinhagen's name pops up most often with the word "director" attached, but in her continuing residency at Pangea the words "host" and "star" are more to the point. Using her most recent night as a celebration of her new CD, Take It With Me, Reinhagen focused on a number...

Mark William

David Sabella
With Feeling Good, his new show at The Green Room 42, vocalist Mark William celebrated the release of his debut CD, Mark William: Come Croon With Me. The recording is billed as his "critically acclaimed nightclub act"; accordingly, the show was a hybrid of nightclub- and cabaret-style performance. This is sometimes the case with a...

Lorna Dallas

Mark Dundas Wood
Lorna Dallas—an American who made a name for herself as a young singer in London, and then decided to make a life there—returned to New York City's Birdland Theater recently with an encore performance of the show she debuted there in February. Stages, directed by Barry Kleinbort, with musical direction by pianist Chris Denny, gave...