Cabaret Theater Reviews: Best Shows & Critic Recommendations Page 6

Review: Joe Fox Tells His Story In DON'T CRY FOR ME MY YESHIVA at Don't Tell Mama
by Analisa Bell - August 01, 2024

As it says on his promotional material, Joe Fox traveled to Maine in 2009 where he made a documentary on same sex marriage. While scenes from the documentary play during the performance, it is Fox’s story that is the feature of this fascinating show, which is less cabaret and more of a theatrical pi...

Review: Jeff Harnar's SAMMY CAHN THE SECOND TIME AROUND Delights at 54 Below
by Rebecca Kaplan - August 01, 2024

Jeff Harnar's Sammy Cahn show was a delightful escape into another era of music performed by a master and his very talented friends (Clint Holmes, MOIPEl and Grammy winner Nicole Zuraitis). Harnar's new Cahn album is out now from PS Classics....

Feature: Monthly Musical 'Birthday' Salute: TAKE THE QUIZ!
by Rob Lester - August 01, 2024

Have a little fun, take a little bit of a lucky guess, and learn a little more about famous music folks all born in August. Our Broadway World cabaret birthday hunter couldn't decide on just one person to salute in the usual 'born this month' feature, so instead there's a trivia quiz that name-drops...

Review: An Enjoyable PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK Was Had At Joe's Pub
by Analisa Bell - July 31, 2024

On Thursday evening, July 25, Greta Gertler Gold and Hilary Bell showcased musical numbers and the synopsis from their 29-hour reading for an enthusiastic crowd at Joe’s Pub....

Review: NOAH MARLOWE A NATURAL IN NIGHTCLUB DEBUT AT 54 BELOW
by Stephen Mosher - July 30, 2024

It was high marks for Marlowe....

Review: Learning From The Best At 92NY SUMMER CABARET CONFERENCE With Faith Prince
by Analisa Bell - July 30, 2024

A fantastic team of cabaret experts were on hand to empower participants to showcase the most authentic version of themselves on stage!...

Review: 54 SINGS THE RINK Pays Tribute to a Kander & Ebb Gem at 54 Below
by Rebecca Kaplan - July 27, 2024

Charles Kirsch, host of the Backstage Babble podcast, produced Monday night’s 54 Sings The Rink concert, featuring an array of talent who all had some connection to the 1984 musical. The Rink was a treasure, and this concert was a treasure, too, featuring Karen Ziemba, Mary Testa, Caroline O'Connor ...

Review: Laura and Linda Benanti Take A Glorious Trip Down Memory Lane at 54 Below
by Sharon Ellman - July 23, 2024

Together Laura and Linda Benanti, a truly remarkable mother-daughter singing duo, took to the stage and brought an unsuspecting audience into their own unique world filled with love, laughter and of course, song. The sold-out run continues with two more shows tonight and tomorrow....

Review: Lucie Arnaz Celebrates A Life On Stage with I GOT THE JOB at 54 Below
by Analisa Bell - July 22, 2024

Lucie Arnaz has had a long and varied career. The crowd at 54 Below on Thursday, July 20 was treated to a setlist of songs from a bevy of roles she has played or desired to play. Overall, Arnaz proved why she indeed got so many jobs, and how she continues to shine on stage today!...

Review: Nicole Henry's Return Engagement Plays To A Packed House At Birdland
by Bobby Patrick - July 19, 2024

Singing to a completely packed house (if there had been any more patrons, they would have had to hang them from the ceiling, my lambs!), La Henry stayed on the older jazz back roads with a set list to please any American Songbook aficionado....

Review: Talia Suskauer Heats Up Joe's Pub with SONGS FROM MY SHOWER
by Analisa Bell - July 15, 2024

The premise of Talia Suskauer's July 8th show was simply songs that Suskauer sings in the shower, and judging by the crowd’s enthusiasm, all were thrilled that she was bringing them to the stage!...

Review: Liz Callaway & Jason Graae's HAPPILY EVER LAUGHTER Is a Hit at 54 Below
by Rob Lester - July 05, 2024

There's a perfect pair this week at 54 Below: a dazzling, delicious, dynamic, dynamite duo. Decades-long friends Liz Callaway and Jason Graae sparkle with real chemistry and connection. The opening on the night on July 3rd had plenty of fireworks of its own. Their bang-up job continues on July 5 and...

Review: Jenn Bornstein's Touching Tribute DIARY OF A PIZZA BAGEL'S DAUGHTER at Don't Tell Mama
by Analisa Bell - July 05, 2024

Entering with a rousing mash-up of Michael John LaChiusa’s “Welcome to my Party” and “I Love Being Here with You” by Peggy Lee and Bill Schluger, Bornstein set the tone with a hilarious and touching homage to her father, who sadly passed away during the pandemic. The show is a touching homage to a w...

Review: Shannon Daley Thrills in LOVE AND LET DIE: CONFESSIONS OF A BOND GIRL at Don't Tell Mama
by Analisa Bell - July 04, 2024

On Friday June 28, the audience at Don’t Tell Mama was taken on a journey of theatrical storytelling by singer and actress Shannon Daley. This highly original, intriguing piece of theater (which worked surprisingly well in a cabaret space), was well worth another run. This reviewer hopes Daley and h...

MONTHLY BIRTHDAY TRIBUTE to a major music figure!
by Rob Lester - July 01, 2024

He was known as 'the man who owned Broadway': Born the first week in July, he wrote/produced/starred in dozens of Broadway shows and a statue of him stands in a key spot in the theatre district. His legacy still shines every 4th of July. We salute this writer, dancer, singer, actor, and producer, Ge...

Review: James Beaman Is Full of Love & Laughter in LIVED EXPERIENCE at the Triad
by Rebecca Kaplan - June 28, 2024

James Beaman is fabulously himself in his new solo show. LIVED EXPERIENCE takes a tongue-in-cheek look at everything from Gen Z’s and millennial’s obsession with “safety” and trigger words to Beaman’s own life and long career in acting, cabaret and drag performance....

Review: Alexis Michelle Shines in HEROINE WORSHIP at Joe's Pub
by Nathan Johnson - June 27, 2024

Michelle paid tribute to Barbra Streisand, Liza Minnelli, Chita Rivera, Stockard Channing, Dionne Warwick, and many others, each song revealing new sides of Alexis and showcasing her range as both a singer and an actress. With the change of a lyric, she could shift from funny to touching, from charm...

Review: Zoë Van Tieghem's OUT OF THE BOX at Green Room 42 Was Joyously Queer
by Lydia Singer - June 26, 2024

Zoë Van Tieghem, no stranger to the performing arts, gracefully strode onto the stage on June 18th, where she hosted a wonderfully gay evening at the Green Room 42. From the first note of her opening number to the final notes of the closer, she makes performing look effortless....

Review: Death of Classical Presents BEETHOVEN STRING QUARTET OP. 132 at Green-Wood Cemetery
by Eliana Sara - June 26, 2024

Death of Classical is known for curating classical music and opera performances throughout NYC’s prettiest crypts and cemeteries. This performance of Beethoven’s Final String Quartet was a part of DoC’s Angel’s Share concert series, which took place at Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery from Thursday th...

Review: Linda Eder is Breathtaking at 54 Below
by Nathan Johnson - June 22, 2024

Linda Eder is a talent so magnificent, she doesn't seem real. Song after song, with a constant sparkle in her eye, Eder drops to the lowest lows and soars to the highest heights with ease. To be in a room with that voice is a privilege. One moment, her rich tones carry you away; the next, they break...

Review: Broadway's Own Honor Their Italian American Heritage at 54 Below
by Sharon Ellman - June 22, 2024

This reviewer was thrilled and still humming the tunes while leaving the famed venue after THAT'S AMORE on June 20th at 54 Below. Bravissimo, I say!...

Review: TRIBUTE TO MALTBY & SHIRE Is a Triumph at The Cutting Room
by Rob Lester - June 21, 2024

A 'Big' salute to songwriters Maltby & Shire, hosted and music-directed by Michael Lavine, brings us 'Closer Than Ever' to perfection. As tributes go, the one filled with the songs of Maltby and Shire, as they were bestowed the Lifetime Achievement Award, was tops. Filled with theatre and cabaret pe...

Review: ALICIA WITT The Coolest Of Cool at Joe's Pub
by Stephen Mosher - June 17, 2024

One of today's best and most poetic singer-songwriters played one of her rare New York appearances and it was a cool night of groovy storytelling....

Review: ONE FOR JOHNNY MERCER at Dizzy's Was One Fine Show
by Rob Lester - June 18, 2024

ONE FOR JOHNNY MERCER at Dizzy's was another treat in the Songbook Sundays series. Johnny Mercer had a way with words. Stritch, Blackhurst, Stravelli and Lee have a way of singing and winging them. Duke Ellington's turn comes in August....

Review: Robert Bannon's PRIDE PLAYLIST at 54 Below Is a Celebration!
by Nathan Johnson - June 16, 2024

Robert is a party and always has a genuine smile on his face, as if, in his own impish way, he is inviting anyone with joy in their hearts to join him. I will say, there is one major flaw with every Robert Bannon show, at least the two I’ve seen: they aren’t long enough!...