Peggy Eason

Kevin Scott Hall
Peggy Eason's latest show, "I'll Show Them All," was all about defiance and overcoming, mixed in with an unfettered joy of living. Dressed regally in a shimmering black and silver checkered gown and purple jacket, along with her trademark sunglasses, Eason took to the stage and planted herself firmly in the center and, like a...

Paul Chamlin and Rochelle Breyer Chamlin

Mark Dundas Wood
Right at the top of Paul Chamlin and Rochelle Breyer Chamlin's new Jule Styne tribute show, "Gems by Jule," at the Laurie Beechman Theatre, the performers set up the personas that will carry them through the evening. They start out musically with a Fanny Brice / Nick Arnstein duet from Funny Girl, "I Want to Be Seen With...

Joshua Dixon

Roy Sander
At one point during the opening night performance of his show "Fly Up!" at The Duplex, Joshua Dixon mentioned how nervous he'd been all day in anticipation of making his solo cabaret debut. He needn't have had any fears, for his show is nothing less than a triumph. Not only is it an exceptionally impressive...

Teresa Fischer

Kevin Scott Hall
Teresa Fischer's latest offering, "Destinations and Detours," isn't what you might think: It's not so much a travelogue of songs about different destinations; rather, it seems to be Fischer's own time-travel back to a simpler time and place, growing up in Missouri amidst dime stores, Dairy Queens, and a favorite black Schwinn bicycle. "When you...

Hal Linden

Roy Sander
In his Café Carlyle debut show, Hal Linden celebrates nostalgia and commemorates his six-decades-and-counting career in show business. At age 83, he still has a sturdy baritone, and the evening has many first-rate moments. Linden's big Broadway break came in 1957, when he understudied and then replaced Sydney Chaplin in Bells are Ringing, and he...

Clark Warren

Robert Windeler
A self-described member of "the geezerhood," Clark Warren surely deserves a nicer-sounding appellation. After all, this gentleman of a certain age evinces many of the admirable qualities of advanced years: self-confidence, curiosity, a firm grasp on his field of endeavor, a spirit of adventure, and no-nonsense delivery of whatever he wants to say or sing,...

Carol Shedlin

Tonya Pinkins
An evening with Carol Shedlin's new show, "Child of the '30s," is a walk into a black-and-white movie. Her opening number, "Are you Having Any Fun?" (Jack Yellen, Sammy Fain), perfectly conjures her 1930's childhood built of make believe as her parents "lived in style and grace as the money dwindled." Shedlin cuts a striking...

Linda Miller

Kevin Scott Hall
Actress and singer Linda Miller, who recently played Ronnie Spector in the HBO film Phil Spector, brings her imitative powers to life at Stage 72 with her show "Legendary Ladies of Music." Not content to just vocally mimic the legends, Miller has a costume and wig change for each one, making a remarkable transformation into...

Libby York

Mark Dundas Wood
There's something to be said sometimes for the loose, anything-goes quality of a song set in a jazz club, as opposed to the more formal ambience of a cabaret show. A "go-with-the-flow" vibe presides. There's less concentration, it seems, on the tidiness and polish of the whole package and more focus on what happens as...

Frank Torren

Mark Dundas Wood
There are cabaret shows that challenge and even rattle an audience's sensibilities. And then there are shows that comfort and reassure. Frank Torren's "Moment to Moment" falls decidedly in the latter category. Call Torren's approach old-fashioned and you won't be wrong. But that deep, smooth, and warm voice of his is a tonic without a...