Risa Finkel

Mark Dundas Wood
Risa Finkel drives a mean welcome wagon. For her recent show at Pangea, "Moment to Moment," the singer assembled a program with a smart balance of humor and seriousness. She displayed a warm and pleasant singing voice, as well. But Finkel had something even more essential going for her: an impressive talent for making listeners...

Liz Callaway Sings Maltby & Shire

Gerry Geddes
Liz Callaway is a wonder! The Story Goes On: Liz Callaway Sings Maltby & Shire, her loving and beautifully sung tribute at the Appel Room as part of Lincoln Center's American Songbook Series, showed the star of theatre and concert stage at the height of her powers. The clarity, the feeling, and the remarkable technique of...

thirtywhatever

Mark Dundas Wood
The musical revue is a durable genre—and why shouldn't it be? A link of sorts between a standard cabaret show and a musical play, the revue is a straightforward way of showcasing the work of emerging songwriters as well as of performers. The careers of such talents as Rodgers & Hart, Comden & Green, Jerry Herman, Eartha...

Marta Sanders

Robert Windeler
A deft three-song medley of "Follow Me" (Lerner & Loewe), "Gotta Move" (Peter Matz), and "The Gypsy in My Soul" (Clay Boland, Moe Jaffe) perfectly sets up the trip that is Marta Sanders's current show at the Laurie Beechman Theatre. Her longevity as both a person and a performer could have allowed her to rely solely...

Jana Robbins

Robert Windeler
When this show was previously done at Feinstein's/54 Below, it was called "I'm Still Here!" but for this second outing at the club, it was newly named "Jana Robbins Returns!" Both titles turn out to be apt enough. After all, by her own upfront admission, she's been a New York-based singer and actress for some...

Billy Lykken

Gerry Geddes
The provocative title of Billy Lykken's recent show at the Metropolitan Room, "Sacred Monster," refers to the posters of various music divas, like Bette Midler and Whitney Houston, that used to hang on his walls when he was growing up as, in his words, "a Filipino Viking." It's an intriguing premise for a show: exploring...

Rachelle Garniez

Gerry Geddes
Much has been written, reported, and broadcast about the celebrity death toll in 2016. While it is probably not substantially different from previous years, it did seem that a disproportionate number of major figures left us. I doubt that there has been a more personal, smart, funny, touching celebration of the artistry and legacy of...

Rebecca Kilgore

Robert Windeler
In a welcome, too-rare, and too-brief return to New York cabaret, the Portland (OR)-based Rebecca Kilgore proved anew that sometimes just singing the song more or less how it was written or previously sung by others can be quite enough, even for a jazz singer. Don't get me wrong. Kilgore certainly possesses a subtly swinging...

Jesse Luttrell

Gerry Geddes
Before I go into the show that Jesse Luttrell performed at Feinstein's/54 Below with the Fred Barton Broadway Band, let me digress into a bit of metaphorical art criticism. Imagine, if you will, that you have been invited to view the work of an exciting new painter at a gallery show of fourteen of his latest...

Bob Diamond

Gerry Geddes
It's funny how over time, words can lose or change their meanings in popular culture. Before it became a kiss-of-death description, the word "nice" was a perfectly acceptable positive description of something that was neither remarkably good, nor terribly bad. In matters of performing and cabaret, it would indicate a pleasant diversion for an hour...