Karen Akers

Roy Sander
"Akers Sings Porter: 'Anything Goes!'" Oak Room at the Algonquin  -  September 22 – October 24 No one in his right mind would challenge the assertion that Cole Porter was one of the greatest songwriters of all time. However, someone who has been around the New York nightlife scene for a while and has, therefore,...

Gay Marshall

Elizabeth Ahlfors
"Gay Marshall Sings Piaf" Metropolitan Room  -  September 15, 22, 29, October 1, 8
 In her tribute to French icon Edith Piaf, Gay Marshall says that Piaf "...started out singing to live and later lived to sing." Tiny, taut and wired with energy, Marshall captures that Piaf spirit in her current show. She has the theatricality...

Jennifer Sheehan

Roy Sander
"You Made Me Love You" Laurie Beechman Theatre  -  September 18, 20, 25 Jennifer Sheehan has come a long way artistically since she made her promising New York cabaret debut at Danny's Skylight Room in 2005. Though manifestly still an ingénue, she performs with considerably more authority: there is more weight to her voice, her interpretations have greater depth,...

Jack Jones

Roy Sander
Oak Room at the Algonquin  -  September 9-19 Jack Jones's current show is a tribute to the great lyricists Marilyn and Alan Bergman. When going to a Jack Jones performance, I don't think it's possible—at least not for me—not to feel something akin to awe at the man's career and accomplishments. He has been in show business...

Adam Shapiro

Roy Sander
"It Starts When We're Kids"  The Duplex - September 12, 18 I've seen Adam Shapiro perform many times, but until now, only in open mic appearances. With a solid baritone voice and the ability to be hilarious with comic material, strikingly dramatic with big ballads, and sweetly tender in gentler ones, in these performances he nearly...

Joelle Lurie

Roy Sander
"This Time Tomorrow" Metropolitan Room  -  September 10, 12 Before making this Metropolitan Room return engagement, Joelle Lurie played a principal role in Jerry Springer: The Opera at Boston's SpeakEasy Stage Company, so I assumed that she would have a good voice. She certainly does: from a gutsy alto to a lovely, limpid mezzo. She has...

KT Sullivan

Roy Sander
Kathleen Downey's Granite Room  -  August 20, 27, September 3, 10 Clad in an exquisite formal dress cut low in the back, she stands at a delicate swag railing near the edge of the stage, awash in light. With utmost poise and simplicity she sings "Kiss Me Again." The stage image is reminiscent of the balcony...

Michael Feinstein & Christine Ebersole

D4vidFinkle
"Good Friends" Feinstein's at Loews Regency  –  September 8 - 12 It makes sense (and much accumulated cents) to have Michael Feinstein—who lends his name to the Feinstein's at Loews Regency tag—appear several times during the cabaret season. He's guaranteed to pack the house or almost pack it at every performance, a boon during stressed...

Jane Scheckter

D4vidFinkle
"Play a Simple Melody – A Tribute to Irving Berlin" The Metropolitan Room  -  September 1, 2, 8, 13 Right off the bat in her Irving Berlin tribute, "Play a Simple Melody," Jane Scheckter distances herself from her title and from what she apparently considers the canard about the iconic tunesmith's being a simple, not...

Eric Michael Gillett

Roy Sander
"Widescreen – Songs From and About the Movies" Feinstein's at Loews Regency  -  September 1, 2 Film is one of the dominant forces in popular culture. Is there a soul in the modern world for whom going to the movies was not one of the chief pleasures and most vividly memorable experiences of growing up?...