September in New York is when the city snaps back to life, and the cabaret rooms and conversation stages are already filling with some seriously intriguing names. Sylvester Stallone, Heated Rivalry, Ariana DeBose, Linda Eder and Tony Danza are among those bringing star power, stories and music to the month ahead. From intimate performances to conversations that take us behind the celebrity curtain, September offers plenty of reasons to pull up a chair and listen. T2C takes a look at who’s talking, who’s singing and where you’ll want to be.

54 Below: 254 West 54 St. 9/8 – 9: Claybourne Elder: Can I Tell You Something?; 9/11-12; Charles Busch Sings Johnny Mercer; 9/13: Ben Franklin In Paris; 9/16: Michael Cerveris: The Other Part; 9/18 -19: Ute Lemper: Celebrating Marlene Dietrich’s 125th Birthday; 9/22: Seth Sikes with Tedd Firth: Together at Last! Feat. Marilyn Maye; 9/23 and 27: Linda Eder; 9/24 and  26: Orfeh: Unbound and 9/29 – 30: Jeanna de Waal: Songs I Love to Sing.

92 Street Y: 1395 Lexington Ave. 9/9: Jaclyn Smith in Conversation: Beyond Charlie’s Angels; 9/17: STARZ’s Outlander: Blood of my Blood; 9/18: Cabaret Conversations: Lindsay Mendez; 9/23: StarTalk Live! with Neil deGrasse Tyson: Lost in Space; 9/27: Gloria Steinem in Conversation with Katie Couric: An Unexpected Life; 9/28: CBS Sunday Morning at 92NY: Sylvester Stallone in Conversation with Tracy Smith: The Steps; 9/29: Harry Connick, Jr. in Conversation — Babe: Elaboratio and 9/30: Fashion Icons with Fern Mallis: Ian Schrager.

Eliane Elias

Birdland Jazz: 315 West 44 St. Every Monday Jim Caruso’s Cast party; Every Monday and Tuesday: Vince Giordano leads The Nighthawks; Every Sunday Gabrielle Stravelli Trio;  9/ 15 – 19: Eliane Elias; 9/21: A Night With Nicole Henry and 9/28: Karen Mason.

Karen Mason Photo by Maryann Lopinto

Carnegie Hall: 881 7th Ave at 57th St.

Chelsea Table & Stage: Hilton Fashion District Hotel, 152 W 26th St. 9/9: An Evening With Mairéad; 9/13: Charlie Romo.

Dizzys Club Coca Cola: Frederick P. Rose Hall, Broadway at 60th Street. 9/4 -6: Ann Hampton Callaway I Get A Kick Out Of Cole.

Don’t Tell Mama: 343 W. 46 St. 9/9 and 16: Jeff Harnar: Blame It On My Youth; 9/10: Tanya Moberly: Repertoire With Sean Harkness; 9/24: Tanya Moberly: Repertoire With Ian Herman; 9/26: Steven Carl McCasland: Everybody Rise!

Laurie Beechman Theatre: at the West Bank Café: 407 West 42 St. 9/5:Lillias White Live At The Beechman; 9/8: Alice Ripley and John McDaniel; 9/12: Andrea McArdle’s Broadway On Demand; 9/16: Lorna Luft; 9/16: Lauren Marcus; 9/24: Lorna Dallas and 9/27:Donna McKechnie.

Donna McKechnie

Madame George: 45 West 45th: Broadway Night Mondays.

Ariana DeBose Photo by Genevieve Rafter Keddy

The Café Carlyle: 35 East 76 St. at Madison Ave. 9/8 – 19: Tony Danza: More Standards & Stories; 9/21 -26: Susanna Hoffs: and 9/29 – 10/3: Ariana DeBose.

Alicia Witt

The Cutting Room: 44 East 32nd St. 9/12: ALICIA WITT; 9/14: BROADWAY TAKES ON THE 80S; 9/17: BROADWAY SINGS ABBA

The DJango: 2 Avenue of the Americas. 9/18: Lee Taylor and 9/29: People of the Earth.

The Iridium: 1650 Broadway. 8/29: Papa Chubby

The Pierre Hotel, Two E Bar & Lounge: 2 E 61st St.

Sony Hall: 235 W 46th St. 9/21: Twin Peaks: A Conversation with the Stars

The Triad: 158 W. 72 St. Street. 9/5L: The Dozen Divas Show

The Town Hall: 123 W. 43 St. 9/27: Roger Daltrey A Great Night Out; 9/28: Stagedoor 50: A One-Night-Only Concert celebrating 50 Years of Stagedoor Manor Benefiting the Entertainment Community Fund and 9/29:  Heated Rivalry! Release

G.H. Harding

A WORLD WITHOUT DOLLY? — Pundit-Roger Friedman may have summed it up the best by saying: It’s hard to imagine but country superstar Dolly Parton has died. The great singer, songwriter, actress, philanthropist was 80 years old. She’d been ill for some time but retained her sense of humor and joie de vivre no matter what.

Tributes have poured in (all the linear networks immediately scheduled specials on her) – including everyone from Elton John; Paul McCartney and Jane Fonda, and Harry Styles in his opening show Wednesday night at his Madison Square Garden residency (30 shows!) did a special tribute to her.

Condolences to her family, friends, and legions of fans around the world. This is a huge loss. Parton was such a monumental fixture in our lives for what seemed like many lifetimes. “Jolene,” Whitney Houston; Dollywood; “Islands In The Stream”; 9 to 5 … the list goes on and on.

When she fell ill and numerous cancellations came in, the writing was on the wall. Trump, in maybe his first good humanitarian deed ever, had all the flags lowered for a week. Here in NYC, the Empire State Building turned its lights pink at 9:25 PM. Get it, 9-to-5.

More to come.

Tim Curry

TIM CURRY PASSES ON WEDNESDAY — If Parton’s passing on Tuesday weren’t enough, the terrific Tim Curry passed on Wednesday. He hadn’t been well since a severe stroke in 2012, but still, what a shock. I must confess, I never really got the whole Rocky Horror thing, but when I finally saw it and him in it, it was pure magic.

Personally, I always thought he was sensational in The Hunt For Red October with Sean Connery and Alec Baldwin. I also enjoyed his 3 albums on A&M Records; especially the third, Simplicity, produced by the late-great Michael Kamen.

What a week!

SHORT TAKES — Last week’s Tornado damage to Long Island beach club Sun and Surf was rather astounding as I really didn’t think they were still a thing. I know PR-pasha David Salidor first saw The Who in 1967 at the Lido Beach Club, but you really didn’t hear all that much about them

Bill Ayres

Bill Ayres, former radio-personality and organizer of WhyHunger -with Harry Chapin- has passed at 85. WOR’s Tom Cuddy first introduced me to him and he was just a delight. All things Must pass for sure. Check out their web-site here: https://whyhunger.org/team/bill-ayres/

Alison Martino (Spectrum 1) will introduce Micky Dolenz at his official 60th Anniversary Show on September 12 at The United Theater on Broadway in LA … (Via Forgotten Hits) Linda McCartney is going to be honored with a series of postage stamps featuring her photos. Now it’s true that Linda DID photograph some of the most important rock stars in rock and roll history, but none of those photos are being featured on the stamps. Instead, we get a series of five different “still” shots with nary a rock star in sight. The stamps will become available on September 25th.

Odd for sure, but at least the cover photo of the McCartney album is included … Kent Kotal’s totally enjoyable Forgotten Hits online-site starts a two-part interview with celebrity-biographer Mark Bego on his 2 Michael Jackson books: Michael! and On The Road with Michael. It might seem that the Jackson-furor has subsided somewhat since the release of that billion-dollar movie in April, but it’s available on cable right now and talk of a sequel remains in play. Check it out here: https://forgottenhits60s.blogspot.com/2026/08/a-forgotten-hits-exclusive-author-mark.html … Say what you will about AARP, but their current issue (with Danny DeVito) on the cover has article about The Triumph Of Discothat briefly recounts its heyday. Interviewed are Nile Rodgers; Howie Casey of KC & The Sunshine Band; Thelma Houston; and a short, but sweet piece on Studio 54 by Ron Tannenbaum. They also reference disco’s biggest hits, including Houston’s anthemic “Don’t Leave Me This Way.” They also mentioned The Village People …  Lindsey Buckingham did a surprise set at L.A.’s Club Largo Wednesday night, He sounded a tad-rusty, but great that he’s back out there again … and Happy Bday Debbie Gibson.

NAMES IN THE NEWS — Bruce Carbone; Anthony Sanfillippo; Perry Cooper; Linda Ferrando; Patti Conte; Steve Leeds; Tom & Lisa Cuddy; Race Taylor; Scott Muni; Dave Mason; Ed Kipling; Bill Ayres; Amanda Naylor; Steve Singer; Thomas Silverman; Thomas Jay; Gayle King; Carlos Santana; Chick Corea; Bruce Haring; Lyndsey Parker; Anthony Pomes; Sting; and Linda Bellamonte; Dan Zelinski and BELLA!

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Fantasy football is about to get considerably more stylish. This fall, The Addison, one of Midtown’s newest dining and nightlife destinations, is teaming up with Sleeper to give New York’s fantasy football crowd something it has desperately needed: a home field that doesn’t involve balancing wings on your laptop while yelling at a television over somebody else’s questionable draft pick.

Beginning Thursday, September 10, The Addison will launch Sleeper Thursdays, a weekly Thursday Night Football series combining the fantasy sports platform with an actual game-day destination. Think less neighborhood sports bar, more fantasy football with velvet seating, crafted cocktails and a 28-day dry-aged burger.

Located at 214 West 39th Street, The Addison was designed as a hybrid sports lounge and supper club, pairing large-format television screens with deep cobalt interiors, Art Deco gold detailing, marble and velvet. In other words, this is where you can obsess over your quarterback while maintaining a certain amount of dignity.

Throughout the season, guests who show the Sleeper app on their phones will unlock special food and beverage offerings, while QR codes around The Addison will allow newcomers to download the app and join in immediately. Dedicated Sleeper specials will include select food and drink pricing, shareable platters, group packages and branded giveaways. Better still, the game-day specials won’t be limited to Thursday nights; they’ll be available whenever NFL or college football is being played.

And then there are the drafts.

The Addison will become a home base for fantasy football draft parties, with groups able to run their Sleeper drafts directly from the venue while taking advantage of dedicated food and beverage packages. This seems infinitely more civilized than gathering around someone’s kitchen table while one member of the league takes 17 minutes to make a pick everyone else knows is terrible.

Sleeper has built its following by making fantasy sports particularly social, combining fantasy leagues and real-time updates with league chats and interactive game-day features. The Addison partnership essentially takes that digital clubhouse and gives it a physical address—along with someone else to make the drinks and clean up afterward.

The collaboration will continue beyond the games themselves with social content, Reels, giveaways, branded swag, behind-the-scenes moments and special programming throughout the football season. The idea is to create a recurring community rather than another bar promotion that disappears after opening weekend.

The Addison has the menu to make lingering through four quarters fairly painless. Its current offerings include East Coast oysters, braised short rib tacos, a Maine lobster roll and that dry-aged burger, alongside cocktails, wine, beer and mocktails.

New York has never lacked places to watch football. What makes this partnership interesting is that The Addison isn’t trying to become another sports bar. It is taking the rituals that already surround fantasy football—the draft, the trash talk, the statistical obsession, the triumphs, the catastrophically bad trades—and giving them a more polished place to happen.

So assemble the league, charge the phone and prepare your excuses for whatever disastrous decision you make in Week One.

Fantasy football has officially come off the couch and apparently, it has discovered Midtown.

The joy that arrives when very famous, very fit athletes are handed a spoon, a mountain of toppings and permission to be silly is particularly giddy. That was indeed the mood on Tuesday evening at The Parliament, tucked inside the marble-and-cream elegance of The Benjamin Royal Sonesta in Midtown East, where US Open Fan Week kicked off with with a serve of scoops. Ice cream, that is.

Players Flavio Cobolli, Matteo Arnaldi, Elena Rybakina and Karen Khachanov attended The Pros Serve at The Parliament, The Benjamin Royal Sonesta’s signature restaurant, while celebrating the arrival of the US Open to NYC.

The invitation promised “a fun night off the court” and for once, the invitation undersold the event. Top-seeded pros Elena Rybakina, Flavio Cobolli, Karen Khachanov, Paula Badosa, and Matteo Arnaldi turned up for a friendly ice cream sundae challenge and the room, predictably, lost its collective mind.

Flavio Cobolli, direct from his win over Serena Williams, and Matteo Arnaldi dish up the fun. Photo Gabi Porter for The Parliament.

The Parliament’s usual luxe hush gave way to full tennis regalia: a leafy step-and-repeat backdrop stood sentinel for the selfie set, rackets ready to prop.

The Benjamin Royal Sonesta Hotel hosted “The Pros Serve”, a US Open fan week event at The Parliament. Photo courtesy Gabi Porter.

The Honey Deuce

The signature Honey Deuce (Grey Goose, raspberry liqueur, and a little summer sass) flowed alongside a sprightly elderberry mocktail for those pacing themselves before Queens.

The Parliament’s beefy sliders.

Parliament’s kitchen did not hold back. Beefy sliders, chicken satay skewers, arancini crisped to crowd-pleasing perfection, and an impossibly delicate rice paper–wrapped shrimp number circulated in waves, punctuated by the requisite melon balls. The parade of passed plates was so thoroughly delightful that T2C’s own editrix Suzanna Bowling declared, on the spot, that Parliament’s restaurant program deserves a feature all its own. Consider it assigned.

A DJ spun an optimistic, ’80s-tinged set before shifting into full East Harlem–style hype mode, complete with a mohawked break dancer in pink satin Lacoste tearing up the floor. The midtown crowd, pleasantly lubricated, found itself moving in something resembling rhythm.

Break points on the dance floor.

Enter the Pros

Then came the moment everyone was waiting for: the athletes filed in to a bright pink wave of tennis towels, monogrammed and ready, and the Sundae Scoop Down officially began.

“The Ice Queen” aka Grand Champion Elena Rybakina, melts sweetly for US Open fans. Photo courtesy Gabi Porter for The Parliament.

What followed was chaos in the best possible sense. Chocolate piled onto vanilla with real abandon. Great gobs of marshmallow fluff appeared and reappeared. A stray strawberry crowded out the Oreo crumbles. Someone made a genuinely questionable case for caramel-drenched pineapple. Joy, it turned out, is a universal language and it was shouted in several of them at once.

Artist David Brooks

“For someone known as ‘The Ice Queen,’ Elena Rybakina sure is smiling a lot!” observed artist David Brooks, watching the two-time Grand Slam champion build her creation with unmistakable delight. He wasn’t wrong — there was no trace of competitive tension in the room, just whooping fans and athletes who seemed genuinely thrilled to be judged on sprinkles instead of serve speed.

Karen Khachanov paused mid-sundae, repeatedly, to pose for photos with fans who clearly weren’t going to get a better opportunity. Matteo Arnaldi arrived fashionably late, having just come off another win on the Queens courts — proof that a title match and a fluff explosion can, in fact, coexist on the same day.

Screaming for ice cream.

The pros’ signature sundaes won’t be a one-night novelty. Per the event’s organizers, each player’s creation will land on The Parliament’s menu for the full run of the US Open, so anyone who missed the live spoon-to-spoon combat can still taste the sweet results.

It was, happily in the end, exactly what the invitation promised: top-ranked athletes, off the clock, being unapologetically human over ice cream, Honey Deuces and a whole lotta love. 

“The Pros Serve” was held Tuesday, August 25, from 6–8 PM at The Parliament at The Benjamin Royal Sonesta, 125 East 50th Street, as part of US Open Fan Week.

Photo: Jenny Anderson

Not surprising, one night with the original Broadway revival cast of Falsettos was never going to be enough. The 10th Anniversary Reunion Concert of William Finn and James Lapine’s beloved musical sold out Carnegie Hall in a remarkable 90 minutes, and now a second performance has been added for Monday, November 2 at 7 p.m. at Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage.

And yes, the gang really is all coming back.

Tony Award winners Stephanie J. Block, Christian Borle and Brandon Uranowitz, Tony nominees Andrew Rannells and Betsy Wolfe, and Emmy nominee Tracie Thoms will reunite to reprise the roles they played in Lincoln Center Theater’s acclaimed 2016 Broadway revival. Anthony Rosenthal, the production’s original Jason, will also make a special guest appearance.

The originally announced October 18 concert was intended to be a one-night-only event. Broadway audiences apparently had other ideas. Once tickets disappeared almost immediately, “one night only” became considerably more negotiable.

There is another lovely full-circle element to the reunion. Tony-nominated director and choreographer Ellenore Scott, who served as assistant choreographer on the 2016 revival, will return a decade later—this time as director of both Carnegie Hall performances.

“Ten years ago, I had the gift of watching these brilliant actors work, and helped bring this beautiful show to life on Broadway as an assistant choreographer,” Scott said, describing the company as having since become dear friends and her return as director as “the most beautiful full-circle moment.”

Vadim Feichtner also returns as Music Director and Conductor, leading a band that will include most of the revival’s original musicians, while Cory Pattak will design the lighting.

The reunion carries particular poignancy following the death of composer and co-creator William Finn in 2025. Falsettoshas always possessed that rare ability to be screamingly funny until suddenly it isn’t. Beneath the neurotic family dynamics, sex, jealousy, baseball, Judaism and glorious messiness lies a story about love confronting mortality—and about the families we inherit, create, fracture and somehow continue to love.

The musical grew from Finn and Lapine’s one-act works March of the Falsettos and Falsettoland, eventually becoming Falsettos, which opened on Broadway in 1992. Set against the emergence of the AIDS crisis, it centers on Marvin, his former wife Trina, their son Jason, Marvin’s lover Whizzer, psychiatrist Mendel and the wonderfully described “lesbians from next door,” Dr. Charlotte and Cordelia.

Lincoln Center Theater brought the musical back to Broadway in 2016 under Lapine’s direction, opening at the Walter Kerr Theatre on October 27. The revival received five Tony Award nominations and was subsequently filmed for PBS’s Live From Lincoln Center, allowing a production with a relatively limited Broadway run to find an audience far beyond West 48th Street.

Ten years later, that audience clearly hasn’t gone anywhere. There is something particularly fitting about Falsettos returning through a reunion rather than a conventional revival. This is, after all, a musical obsessed with the complicated meaning of family. Bringing these particular actors and musicians back together isn’t simply nostalgia; their chemistry became part of what audiences loved about the 2016 production.

Both Carnegie Hall performances will benefit The BroadwayEveryDay Foundation and Family Equality, adding another layer of purpose to an evening already steeped in memory, love and chosen family.

Tickets for the newly added November 2 performance go on sale to the general public Wednesday, August 26 at 11 a.m. ET through Carnegie Hall, by phone at (212) 247-7800, and at the Carnegie Hall Box Office at 57th Street and Seventh Avenue.

Considering what happened the first time around, anyone planning to attend might not want to spend 11 a.m. leisurely contemplating the decision.

Apparently, Falsettos fans move fast.