Cabaret

Music News: Sara Bareilles, Santino Fontana, Karen Mason and Jesse Harris

Published

8 months ago

October 5, 2022

This Thursday, October 6th, Grammy award winning singer-songwriter Sara Bareilles will be performing at the legendary Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, NY. The show is a benefit concert that marks the Pace Women’s Justice Center (PWJC) 30th Year of uplifting and protecting the rights of domestic violence victims.

Bareilles’ self-described “piano based pop soul” and powerful lyrics give voice to the difficult journey from victim to survivor for PWJC’s clients. “It is thrilling to have Sara Bareilles collaborate on our benefit concert to raise awareness for victims of domestic violence,” states Cindy Kanusher, Executive Director for PWJC. “At a time when the rights of so many are being challenged it is imperative to continue our work, protecting the rights of women and victims of abuse.”

Pace Women’s Justice Center is a nonprofit legal center located at Pace University. The self-funded center provides legal services to over 3,500 victims and survivors of domestic abuse. PWJC offers services, community partnerships, education, and awareness.

For more information about the benefit concert, and for tickets, visit The Capitol Theatre’s website

Tony Award^®winner Santino Fontana is back in NYC for his first live show celebrating everything from Rodgers and Hammerstein to James Earl Jones to Ryan Gosling. Fontana has cemented himself as one of Broadway’s favorite leading men. Fontana was last seen starring on Broadway in his tour de force dual role in Tootsie for which he received the 2019 Outer Critics Circle, Drama Desk, and Tony Awards.

He is perhaps best known to audiences as the voice of villainous Prince Hans in the Academy Award Winning Disney film Frozen. Television audiences saw him on the most recent season of “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” and recognize him from “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend,” “Shades of Blue,” “Mozart In The Jungle,” “Fosse/Verdon,” “Royal Pains,” “Nurse Jackie,” and more.

His other Broadway credits include Hello, Dolly!, Act One, Cinderella, The Importance of Being Earnest (Clarence Derwent Award), Brighton Beach Memoirs (Drama Desk Award), Billy Elliot, and Sunday in the Park with George. He also received Lortel and Obie Awards for his off-broadway performance in Stephen Kvaram’s Sons of the Prophet.

Santino Fontana plays 54 Below (254 West 54th Street) on November 14, 16, & 18 at 7:00pm. Karen Mason brings back 30… And Counting on November 1 & 2 at 7pm. This encore performance celebrates her thirty-year long artistic collaboration with Music Director Christopher Denny. Mason performed her first concert with Denny on August 5, 1992 and they have continued the working together to this day. A few years later, director Barry Kleinbort was added to the mix, and this triad of talent have been creating brand new arrangements and shows ever since. This evening will highlight some of their favorite arrangements including “Help/Being Alive,” “Watch What Happens/I Will Wait for You,” and “Finding Wonderland,” with many more surprises. Tom Hubbard joins on bass.

Karen Mason was recently seen playing Mrs. Marsh on Ryan Murphy’s “Halston” on Netflix. On tour, she was last seen as Madame Giry in the North American premiere of Love Never Dies (Andrew Lloyd Webber’s epic sequel to The Phantom of the Opera). On Broadway, she starred as The Queen of Hearts in Wonderland and originated the role of Tanya in Mamma Mia! (2002 Drama Desk nomination as Best Actress). Her other leading roles include Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard on Broadway and in Los Angeles for three years; Velma von Tussel in the Broadway company of Hairspray; “Monotony” singer and Mazeppa in Jerome Robbins’ Broadway. In regional theater, Karen starred in Chasing Rainbows (Paper Mill Playhouse), A Christmas Story as Miss Shields; White Christmas (St. Louis Muny Opera); Side by Side by Sondheim (Coconut Grove Playhouse in Florida); Gypsy (Sundance Theatre in California); Company(Huntington Theatre in Boston). Off-Broadway, she won the Outer Critics Circle Award for her performance in And The World Goes ‘Round.

She is a 14-time MAC Award winner, and was the recipient of the 2019 MAC Lifetime Achievement Award. She also won 3 Bistro Awards. Her eight recordings include the single “It’s About Time,” written by Paul Rolnick and Shelly Markham; her 2009 MAC Award-winning Right Here/ Right Now, The Sweetest of Nights, When the Sun Comes Out, Christmas! Christmas! Christmas!, Better Days(featuring the 1998 Emmy Award-winning song “Hold Me”); and Not So Simply Broadway. Also, Wonderland (original cast); the film Jeffrey (Varese Sarabande); Wonderful Town (JAY Records); the cast album of And The World Goes ‘Round (RCA Victor). www.karenmason.com

On October 13 at New York’s Roxy Cinema, Jesse Harris — the Grammy-winning songwriter who’s worked with Norah Jones, Bright Eyes, Lana Del Rey, Maya Hawke and so many more — will debut a series of video accompaniments to his new album Silver Balloon (out October 21) inspired by avant garde film from Jonas Mekas and Warhol to Chris Marker (La Jetée).

Using Super 8 film, still photography and digital cameras, Harris and his Silver Balloon collaborator Kenny Wollesen shot and edited everything themselves, creating a visual companion to the album that emphasizes its ephemeral and otherworldly collision between man and machine — a retrofuturist fantasia of sight and sound. Harris and Wollesen will do a short Q&A with program director Illyse Singer following the films and perform a few songs from the album.

Recorded over 8 days with collaborator and drummer Kenny Wollesen (Norah Jones, Tom Waits, Bill Frisell) in Harris’s home studio, Silver Balloon uses harmonizers and vintage Turkish synthesizers to create a technologically mediated world of waltzes, folk songs, and experimental new jazz standards.

Utilizing a loose, anything-goes approach, Harris and Wollesen were able to capture serendipitous moments of genius throughout Silver Balloon. Whether it’s a smoky minimal blues (“On This Lonely Night”) or torch songs embossed with pixelated distortion and robotically-processed saxophone (“Hummingbird”), these 10 exquisite songs beckon you to examine their inner workings over and over again, just to figure out what exactly makes them tick.

New single “Yankee” is a drum-machine propelled bossa nova that paints a portrait of a character whose wandering days seem to be coming to an end, though the bubbling percussion and slightly ominous chord changes leave it unclear as to whether it’s a begrudging retirement or an untimely demise. It’s an enticing and writerly sketch, filled with a sci-fi-addled mystery befitting a project that Harris says was written in the midst of a deep Philip K. Dick fascination.

Listen to “Yankee” here.

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Suzanna Bowling

Suzanna, co-owns and publishes the newspaper Times Square Chronicles or T2C. At one point a working actress, she has performed in numerous productions in film, TV, cabaret, opera and theatre. She has performed at The New Orleans Jazz festival, The United Nations and Carnegie Hall. She has a screenplay and a TV show in the works, which she developed with her mentor and friend the late Arthur Herzog. She is a proud member of the Drama Desk and the Outer Critics Circle and was a nominator. Email: suzanna@t2conline.com

Cabaret

Cabaret, Talks and Concerts For June

Published

5 days ago

May 28, 2023

Suzanna Bowling

The summer nights bring excitement to the clubs and cabarets. Here are picks for June.

92 Street Y: 1395 Lexington Ave. 6/1: Music Icons: Graham Nash in Conversation with Anthony DeCurtis; 6/2 and 4: California Dreamin’: Jessica Vosk Sings the Songwriters of Laurel Canyon; 6/12: A New York Evening Celebrating Peggy Lee and 6/16: Focus Features’ Asteroid City: Bryan Cranston in Conversation with MTV’s Josh Horowitz.

Birdland Jazz: 315 West 44 St. Every Monday at 9:30pm Jim Caruso’s Cast Party; Every Tuesday at 8:30pm The Lineup with Susie Mosher; Every Saturday at 7pm Eric Comstock with Sean Smith (Bass) & special guest Barbara Fasano (Voice); 6/5, 12 and 26: Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks in the Theater; 6/5: Billy Stritch & Gabrielle Stravelli “Mel and Ella Swing!”; 6/6 – 10: Stacey Kent; 6/8: Phillip Officer: “Second Time Around” in the Theater; 6/12: The Brat Pack and 6/19: Natalie Douglas: “Freedom Songs: Juneteenth Jubilee”

Cafe Carlyle: 35 E 76th St. until 6-10: Sutton Foster; 6/13 – 17: Mira Sorvino and 6/20 – 24 Megan Hilty.

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

Chelsea Table + Stage: Hilton Fashion District Hotel, 152 W 26th St. 6/4: Reeve Carney; 6/7: Nicolas King; 6/26: Samantha Pauly and 6/27: Marieann Meringolo.

Tim Di Pasqua

Don’t Tell Mama: 343 W. 46 St. 6/3: Tim Di Pasqua and 6/16: Tanya Moberly

Dizzys Club Coca Cola: Frederick P. Rose Hall, Broadway at 60th Street. 6/11: Songbook Sundays Fats Waller

The DJango: 2 Avenue of the Americas. 6/9: Jason Tiemann Quartet

54 Below: 254 West 54 St. 6/1 -4: Clint Holmes: Between the Moon and New York City- The Songs of Peter Allen, feat. Nikki Renée Daniels!; 6/5: Charles Strouse’s 95th Birthday Show! Feat. Stephen Schwartz & more; 6/6: Hands on a Hardbody 10th Anniversary Reunion Concert; 6/8 and 10: Jenn Colella: Out and Proud; 6/12, 14 – 17: Joe Iconis & Family, feat. Lauren Marcus & more!; 6/13:Jeff Harnar & Alex Rybeck: Our 40th Anniversary Songbook; 6/21 – 25: Shaun Cassidy: The Magic of a Midnight Skyand 6/29 – 7/1: Amber Gray

The Green Room 42: 570 10th Ave. 6/10 and 26: Janinie LaManna

Sony Hall: 235 W. 46th St. 6/9: The Manhattan Transfer 50th Anniversary & Final World Tour w/ Special Guest The Diva Jazz Orchestra; 6/23 and 24: Sergio Mendes and 6/26: Broadway Sings Lady Gaga

Theatre at the West Bank Café: 407 West 42 St.

The Triad: 158 W. 72 St.

The Town Hall: 123 West 43rd Street. 6/3: Bruce Hornsby & The Noisemakers; 6/6: PAGEBOY with Elliot Page and 6/12: Irish Repertory Theatre Gala 2023 | All My Loving The Lyrics Of Paul McCartney

Broadway

Broadway’s Samantha Pauly and Reeve Carney Come To Chelsea Table and Stage

Published

6 days ago

May 27, 2023

Suzanna Bowling

On May 29th catch Samantha Pauly for Memorial Day. Best known for originating the role of Katherine Howard in Broadway’s smash hit SIX the Musical, and her captivating performance as Eva Peron in Jamie Lloyd’s critically acclaimed revival of Evita on London’s West End, Samantha Pauly has carefully crafted an evening that reflects the last few years of her life. Join this Grammy nominee and Drama Desk Award winner as she revisits some career highlights, Broadway classics, pop/rock favorites, and all the fun stuff in between.

Grammy-winning singer-songwriter and actor Reeve Carneyreturns to Chelsea Table + Stage June 4th to perform a night of music honoring the artistry of the legendary rock n’ roll supergroup Led Zeppelin. Carney is best known for his portrayal of Dorian Grayin on Showtime’s Penny Dreadful, Riff Raff in Fox’s Rocky Horror Picture Show Reimagining, as well as originating the role of Peter Parker in Julie Taymor/U2’s Spider-Man Turn Off The Dark. He is currently starring in the Broadway blockbuster, Hadestown. Reeve Carney delivers a one-man-show cabaret that feels more like an invitation-only after-party than a traditional concert performance. Don’t miss this special performance from one of Broadway’s leading actors!

Cabaret

My View: It’s Richard Jay-Alexander’s Birthday!

Published

1 week ago

May 24, 2023

Stephen Sorokoff

If there’s anyone who deserves to be featured in TIMES SQUARE CHRONICLES, on this particular day, May 24, it would be this guy, Richard Jay-Alexander. Born in 1953, today he turns 70 years old, here in New York City. He has walked these city streets more than most, as he pursued and has enjoyed a 49 year career, working on Broadway, in most theaters, clubs and majestic musical institutions, such as Carnegie Hall and The MET. He’s touched many, many lives and has a passion for this business that continues to burn and just this past Sunday, he helmed a thrilling evening, celebrating BroadwayWorld.com‘s 20th Anniversary, at midtown’s historic Sony Hall. On the eve of his birthday, he attended his favorite Tuesday night happening, Susie Mosher’s The LINEUP at Birdland Theatre, and treated the audience to a couple stories, observations on this important birthday and then, with Billy Stritch at the piano, John Miller on Bass and Clint De Canon on drums, performed a moving and heartfelt (THEY LONG TO BE) CLOSE TO YOU by Burt Bacharach and Hal David. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house. Richard clearly has a gift and a passion for the stage and for music and we are all the better for it, on the receiving end.

Happy Birthday, Young Man! Here’s to many more.

RICHARD JAY-ALEXANDER

BILLY STRITCH & RICHARD JAY-ALEXANDER

RICHARD JAY-ALEXANDER & SUSIE MOSHER

RICHARD JAY-ALEXANDER

SETH SIKES, NICOLAS KING, CARLOS CLEMENZ, RICHARD JAY-ALEXANDER, STEPHEN SOROKOFF, EDA SOROKOFF

DOUG MIDDLEBROOK, RICHARD JAY-ALEXANDER, EDA SOROKOFF

BILLY STRITCH, KATE SHINDLE, President Actors’ Equity Association, RICHARD JAY-ALEXANDER

SUSIE MOSHER & RICHARD JAY-ALEXANDER

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RJA

Cabaret

My View: A Glamorous Celebrity Filled Night With Lorna Dallas at The Laurie Beechman Theatre

Published

2 weeks ago

May 18, 2023

Stephen Sorokoff

It was a celebrity filled audience last night and the glamor of Manhattan Cabaret nightlife was in abundance for Lorna Dallas and her show at the Laurie Beechman Theatre titled “Glamorous Nights and Rainy Days

Ms. Dallas returned to New York City with a wonderful new show. This was Ms. Dallas’ first appearance in this town since she performed at the Bistro awards prior to the lockdown of 2020. The three years respite has done nothing to dim the luster of Ms Dallas’ exceptional instrument. She stayed in fine voice all evening long. But she is more than just an excellent vocalist. She is also a compelling actress. Her show, skillfully crafted by director Barry Kleinbort, and sensitively accompanied by one of this city’s best musical directors, Christopher Denny, was a joy from start to finish. The star studded audience at the Laurie Beechman theater responded heartily to every one of Lorna’s numbers. Evening high points ran the gamut, from standards like “I Have Dreamed,” to “When the Sun Comes Out;” from an hilarious “By Strauss” by the Gershwin’s to a dramatic “Silent Spring” by Harold Arlen and Yip Harburg. She also premiered a new song written especially for her by Ann Hampton Callaway and Amanda McBroom, “In My Dreams,” which wowed the savvy New York crowd. Hopefully, Lorna Dallas will return to these shores on a more regular basis. Three years is too long a wait for this powerful soprano’s next appearance..

LORNA DALLAS

CHRISTOPHER DENNY & LORNA DALLAS

LORNA DALLAS & DONNA McKECHNIE

LORNA DALLAS & MELISSA ERRICO

MARILYN MAYE & LORNA DALLAS

LORNA DALLAS & CHARLES BUSCH

PENNY FULLER & LORNA DALLAS

MELISSA ERRICO & EDA SOROKOFF

DAVID ZIPPEL, LORNA DALLAS, JAMIE deROY

LORNA DALLAS & REX REED

LORNA DALLAS & KT SULLIVAN

SUSIE MOSHER & LORNA DALLAS

DAVID SABELLA & LORNA DALLAS

CRAIG RUBANO & LORNA DALLAS

MARIEANN MERINGOLO & LORNA DALLAS

GEORGE DVORSKY, LORNA DALLAS, ROSIE BENTINCK

EDA SOROKOFF,MARILYN MAYE, CHARLES BUSCH

KT SULLIVAN & ELIZABETH SULLIVAN

KURT PETERSON, LORNA DALLAS

ANN TALMAN &LORNA DALLAS

LORNA DALLAS & SANDY MANLEY

JOYCE BREACH & REX REED

LORNA DALLAS & RICHARD HILLMAN

BARRY KLEINBORT, DIRECTOR

LORNA DALLAS

CHRISTOPHER DENNY & LORNA DALLAS

Cabaret

My View: David Yazbek and Norbert Leo Butz at 54 Below

Published

2 weeks ago

May 17, 2023

Stephen Sorokoff

Tony, Grammy, and Emmy award winning composer/writer/musician David Yazbek and his band were on the stage of 54 Below last night playing some of his new songs from an upcoming album. They also played some great music from the Yazbek songbook and from his Broadway musicals.

In addition to being an award winning composer and lyricist David Yazbek is a formidable pianist possessing a fearless technique generating an extraordinary combination of intoxicating melodious dissonance. . A highlight of the evening for me was when he displayed his unique harmonic and rhythmic pianistic concepts on the Great American Songbook Standard “Over The Rainbow”. Norbert Leo Butz also starred in the the 54 evening titled “David Yazbek and The Bludgeoneers” and he brought the house to it’s feet with the “Dirty Rotten Medley”

The Band: Javier Diaz (Percussion), Tony Orbach (Sax), Sam Sadigursky (Clarinet), Dean Sharenow (Drums), Chris Tordini (Bass), Paul Vercesi (Sax)