Spider Saloff

Gerry Geddes
"The Spider Saloff Party" at Cafe Noctambulo at Pangea marked the return of the singer-comedian to the New York cabaret scene, where she once thrived and has always belonged. Since leaving here, she has been living in Chicago and touring the world, mostly as a jazz singer. While jazz was certainly an element of this...

The 27th New York Cabaret Convention

Bistro Awards
The 27th edition of the New York Cabaret Convention, presented by the Mabel Mercer Foundation, took place October 18-21 at the Rose Theater at Jazz at Lincoln Center. Gerry Geddes, Mark Dundas  Wood, and Robert Windeler covered the four nights for us. Following are their thoughts.       Gala Opening Night – by Gerry Geddes...

Bill Solly

Gerry Geddes
Back in the '70s, when Broadway began to embrace the sounds of rock and pop at the expense of more traditional legit scores, there were a number of composers, clearly enamored of the older styles, who began to see Off Broadway as an artistic and economical alternative for creating shows that celebrated the classic form....

Cake & Comedy

Mark Dundas Wood
The conventions of the comedy club differ significantly from those of the cabaret room. Cabaret, understandably, tends to be more on the polished, formal, and polite side, while the world of stand-up and sketch comedy seems looser and more freewheeling. Female performers have traditionally had a strong voice in cabaret, but not so much in...

Dora Rubin

Mark Dundas Wood
Dora Rubin understands the usefulness of surprise in a cabaret set. This singer—who in years past would have been described as "offbeat"—takes risks that performers far more experienced than she might avoid. And while the surprises she hatches may land with varying degrees of precision, she never fails to hold the audience's attention. I found...

Magnus Martensson

Gerry Geddes
Magnus Martensson was born in Sweden and studied piano, composition, and conducting in both Sweden and the U.S. He came by his easy, off-the-wall humor as naturally as he came by the frizzy mop of blond hair on his head. That hair might well be an outward symbol of the wacky thoughts that are obviously...

Lynn Henderson

Robert Windeler
Her getup signals the overall tone of Lynn Henderson's current Don't Tell Mama show, directed by Barry Kleinbort, even more than does its title song, "'T'ain't Nobody's Bizness If I Do" (Porter Grainger, Everett Robbins). Her bright Red Riding Hood cape (an exactly matching red boa is added later for some especially showbizzy numbers) already...

…And Then You Die

Robert Windeler
Despite its possibly off-putting title, this 70-minute revue by David B. Goldberg, which had a recent four-night run at Don't Tell Mama, was a mostly benign, even breezy, look at what we do, or should do, to deal with the inevitability of death. In twelve scenes introducing fourteen songs (all by Goldberg), three eager and...

I Sort Of Enjoyed It

Gerry Geddes
When one comes across a show entitled I Sort Of Enjoyed It, which played recently at the Metropolitan Room, a lot of things come to mind before the show actually begins. Are the creators providing the first or last line of a potential review? Are they setting themselves up for a fall? Are they trying...

Todd Murray

Mark Dundas Wood
Todd Murray brought a new iteration of his show “Croon” to The Triad for a few performances in August. It was both a cabaret show and a history lesson in American popular music. Between numbers, Murray talked about men's approaches to romantic pop singing—beginning with Rudy Vallee in the 1920s; proceeding through the eras of...