Carol Lipnik

Mark Dundas Wood
When I was describing singer Carol Lipnik to a friend, he asked me whether she sang any "standards." It took me a moment, but I recalled one number from her current show at Pangea that sort of qualified: her rendition of Hank Ballard's "The Twist." Lipnik describes the song as a "mad-opera alien-clown invasion." Her cover...

Matthew Connor

Gerry Geddes
Seeing Matthew Connor at Rockwood Music Hall (the terrific multiplex of music rooms in the East Village) I was reminded of the first time I saw Tom Waits at the much-missed Bottom Line. Waits adopted a complete persona for the stage. Someone coming in unaware would have thought that a derelict had wandered into the...

Nicholas Guest

Gerry Geddes
Nicholas Guest is the son of a British diplomat and brother to Christopher Guest (of Waiting for Guffman and Best in Show fame) and to New York Times writer Anthony Haden-Guest. He has appeared in numerous films, dating back to Trading Places and Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. His voice has appeared in even...

Heather Villaescusa

Mark Dundas Wood
After a decade's absence, Heather Villaescusa returns to the New York cabaret scene with "What I Did for Love" at Don't Tell Mama. The show—no big surprise—focuses on matters of the heart. (Isn't a cabaret performance that doesn't deal with love-related themes something of a rare bird—perhaps even a dodo or passenger pigeon?) Villaescusa wisely...

Jay Brannan

Gerry Geddes
Jay Brannan walked out on stage at Joe's Pub in his recent performance as if he were entering his living room to greet some friends who had stopped by to hang out. In t-shirt and jeans, with red sneakers, carrying a guitar and smiling a sly, shy smile, he sat on the lone stool, center...

Eddie Sarfaty

Mark Dundas Wood
Eddie Sarfaty is an emphatically Jewish, comic, one whose cultural identity stays front and center throughout his set. His show "Playing in Traffic" (at the Metropolitan Room) features jokes about having been a depressed kid, about harboring envy of Gentiles (whose holidays were so much more festive and fun than the ones he celebrated), and,...

Molly Pope

Roy Sander
A few years ago, Molly Pope cast off the hard-edged bitch-diva persona that had made her the darling of camp followers, and allowed us to see the person underneath. The form she chose then was a scripted, theatrically stylized presentation of her experiences breaking into show business; it was both a welcome development and a...

Alice Ripley

Robert Windeler
In her "All Sondheim" show at 54 Below, Alice Ripley has managed to differentiate herself from the seeming plethora of cabaret performers who offer entire sets devoted to that particular deserving composer. She has done this by relating some charming personal anecdotes linking herself to most of the songs she sings here. As a kid...

Melissa Hamilton

Gerry Geddes
It's an increasingly rare occurrence to encounter a vocal jazz performance at which, after only a bit of the first number, I can just relax in the realization that I am in the presence of a master of the form, that I will gladly put myself in his or her hands and let them take...

Rita Rudner

Mark Dundas Wood
A very persistent shoosh-ing could be heard throughout an extended portion of Rita Rudner's final performance at her recent 54 Below engagement. It was unclear who, exactly, this self-appointed guardian of silence was trying to police—but the shoosh-er was certainly far more audible than the shoosh-ee. For a while, Rudner ignored the strange commotion. But finally,...