Madelaine Warren

Mark Dundas Wood
According to online biographical notes, Madelaine Warren started her performing career as an opera singer. Later she transitioned into the pop-music arena, performing in concert halls and clubs, as well as on cruise ships (often teamed with her husband, Arthur Warren). Now she's finding her footing in the world of New York cabaret. After seeing...

Judy Collins

Gerry Geddes
Somewhere, in a Victorian mansion, on the very top floor, in the attic, behind a wall hanging, is a small closet, and locked in that closet is an early recording that is growing older and decaying. This Wilde/Dorian Gray explanation is the only one I can come up with for the miracle that is Judy...

Karen Luschar

Mark Dundas Wood
In singing music associated with Judy Garland, Karen Luschar has clearly found her métier as a performer. In her current show at Don't Tell Mama—"Chasing Rainbows: Songs of Judy Garland"—the singer doesn't exactly impersonate the late star, although many of the musical arrangements are reminiscent of (if not virtually identical to) the originals. Mainly, she...

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...