David Mills’s “glamour + despair”

Gerry Geddes
Comedian/actor/writer David Mills describes glamour + despair, his new show at Pangea, as a cabaret entertainment. He was born in America but has spent over 20 years in the U.K. developing a career as a stand-up comedian and actor.  He has now moved back to the States (Brooklyn to be more specific) and while continuing...

Tim Di Pasqua

Gerry Geddes
Genuine sweetness is a rare and precious commodity, especially in 2023, and it was evident everywhere in songwriter Tim Di Pasqua’s long overdue return to the cabaret stage at Don’t Tell Mama— in the songs, in the playing, in the singing, in the spirit and energy that filled the stage.  The sense of community, generosity,...

Lisa Vroman’s “Ingénue…Ingé-not-so-new!”

Gerry Geddes
The title of Lisa Vroman’s triumphant new cabaret show, Ingénue…Ingé-not-so-new!, was inspired by the fact that she played Christine in The Phantom of the Opera for over ten years (in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and on Broadway), looking and sounding every inch as much the ingenue in her final performance as she did in her...

Darwin Del Fabro’s “Revisiting Jobim”

Gerry Geddes
Hard as it may be to believe, I do not spend all my time going to/writing about/directingcabaret.  In my spare time, I am a horror film fan as well. In 2022, I saw a terrific little indie film called They/Them (if the title is said aloud, it is “They Slash Them”). It was, as that...

“Reeve Carney Sings the Divas”

Gerry Geddes
Since we live in a time of multiverses and mirror dimensions, bear with me for a moment and imagine a world in which Jimi Hendrix joins forces with Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin to create a tribute to Stephen Sondheim. This might begin to describe the experience of Reeve Carney Sings the Divas at The...

Lena Moy-Borgen’s “It’s a Man’s World— Gender Studies…but with Show Tunes”

Gerry Geddes
The implicit and explicit sexism and misogyny in the worlds of Broadway and pop music is certainly a timely concern in this age of “me too,” MAGA madness, and ex-Presidential convictions. Singer Lena Moy-Borgen used that concern as the inspiration for her latest show, It’s a Man’s World—Gender Studies…but with Show Tunes), which she presented...

Danielle Ferland’s “Sing for Your Ghosts”

Gerry Geddes
Sometimes a performer strikes gold by mining a very specific moment in time, or a specific show, and that very specificity shapes and refines the story and limits detours to other times and shows. But more often than not, the structure is that of a song-filled survey of school, then amateur productions, then touring and...

Club Review: Paula West

Gerry Geddes
I have been an avid fan of singer Paula West for decades. Her rich, smooth sound and knowing way with lyrics were always perfectly suited to dusting off even the most moribund of standards and presenting them with an exciting modernity and a revived energy.  I have lost track of her over recent years through...

Club Review: Natasha Bergman and Eli Greenhoe’s “Bergman & Bloustein”

Gerry Geddes
In the stand-up comic tradition in America, most of the duo acts have been made up of men: Martin & Lewis, Abbott & Costello, Laurel & Hardy, Rowan & Martin, and so many others.  The number diminishes greatly when one moves on to duos made up of a man and a woman but the few...

Club Review: Brian Letendre

Gerry Geddes
Within moments of the first song, the Scissor Sisters’ “I Don’t Feel Like Dancing” (Elton John, Jason Sellards, Scott Hoffman) in Brian Letendre’s delightful return to the New York stage at 54 Below, it was obvious to everyone that he is a dancer, in spite of what the lyrics proclaimed.  The swirl of the mirror...